Classic Audiobook Collection - The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emanuel Swedenborg ~ Full Audiobook [philosophy]

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg. Section 1 The translator's preface by Frank Sewell From the author's statement in his preface to the treatise on the soul, as well as from the tenor of his scientific and philosophical writings throughout, it is unmistakably clear that the search for the soul was the real end in inspiring motive of all his labors, The ardor with which he sought as precious knowledge is evinced by the frequent tentative and preliminary essays scattered through his writings,

Starting point is 00:00:38 in which he records his fragmentary glimpses of his subject and pursues, as it were, the fleeting vision of a sublime figure, forever alluding his grasp. Thus, in his prologue to the work entitled The Animal Kingdom, the author publishes a summary of his intended work, in the course of which after a series of anatomical studies is placed an introduction to rational psychology consisting of new doctrines through the assistance of which he remarks we may be conducted from the material organism of the body to a knowledge of the soul which is immaterial these are the doctrine of forms the doctrine of order and degrees also the doctrine of series and society the doctrine of influence the doctrine of influence and the doctrine of influence inflex, the doctrine of correspondence and representation, lastly the doctrine of modification. This introduction to rational psychology, the author had actually furnished already in the first part, Chapter 8, of the economy of the animal kingdom, published some years previously. In this projected summary, the introduction was to be followed immediately by the rational

Starting point is 00:01:52 psychology itself, which should comprise the subjects of action. of external and internal sense, of imagination and memory, also of the affections of the animus, of the intellect, that is, of the thought and of the will, and of the affections of the rational mind, also of instinct, lastly, of the soul and its state in the body, its intercourse, affections, and immortality, and of its state when the body dies.

Starting point is 00:02:22 The work to conclude with the concordance of systems. In the series as published, however, we find the introduction to rational psychology actually followed by the chapters one and two of the second part of the economy, treating of the motion of the brain and of its cortical substance, and these are again as abruptly succeeded by a chapter on the human soul in beginning which the author refers to his previous endeavor to expound a doctrine of series and degrees by way of introductions to a knowledge of the soul.

Starting point is 00:02:57 I could not but think, he says, with mankind in general that all our knowledge of it, the soul, was to be attempted by a bare reasoning philosophy, or more immediately by the anatomy of the human body. But upon making the attempt I found myself as far from my object as ever, for no sooner did I seem to have mastered the subject, then I found it again, eluding my grasp,

Starting point is 00:03:21 though it never absolutely disappeared from my view. Thus my hopes were not destroyed but deferred. Speaking of the doctrine of series and degrees as only teaching, the distinction and relation between things superior and inferior or prior and posterior, and as unable to express any adequate terms of its own things, which transcend the sphere of familiar things, he declares the necessity of our having recourse to a mathematical philosophy of universal, a kind of universal science, to which all other sciences and arts are subject, and one which

Starting point is 00:04:01 advances through their innermost mysteries, as it proceeds from its own principle to causes, and from causes to effects by its own, that is, by the natural order. But even if it were granted, he continued, that the doctrine of order and the science of universals were carried by the human mind to the acme of perfection, nevertheless it does not follow that we should by these means alone be brought into a knowledge of all that can be known for these sciences are but subsidiary serving only by a compendious method and mathematical certainty to lead us by continued abstractions and elevations of thought from the posterior to the priorsphere or from the world of effects which is the visible to the world of causes and principles which is the invisible hence in order that these sciences may be available we must have regourse to experiments and to the phenomena of the senses without which they would remain in a state of bare theory and bare capability of aiding us for these reasons i am strongly persuaded that the essence and nature of the soul its influx into the body and the reciprocal action of the body can never come to demonstration without these doctrines of series orders

Starting point is 00:05:22 and universals combined with the knowledge of anatomy, pathology, and psychology, nay, even of physics, and especially of the oras of the world. And that unless our labors take this direction and mount from phenomena, thus we shall, in every new age, have to build new systems, which in their turn will tumble to the ground without the possibility of being rebuilt. This and no other is the reason that with diligent study and intense application I have investigated the anatomy of the body and principally the human so far as it is known from experience, and that I have followed the anatomy of all its parts in the same manner as I have here investigated the cortical substance.

Starting point is 00:06:07 In doing this I may have gone beyond the ordinary limits of inquiry so that but few of my readers may be able distinctly to understand me, but thus far I have felt bound to venture, for I have resolved, cost what it may to trace out the nature of the human soul. He therefore who desires the end ought also to desire the means. He then proceeds to arrange into chapters what he calls the first fruits of my psychological labors. The reverence and cautious modesty which everywhere tempers the ardor of the author in the quest of his sublime object are apparent in the mention which only four years later In the work on the animal kingdom, he makes of the same prodromus on the human soul.

Starting point is 00:06:56 Thus he writes, Not very long since I published the Economy of the Animal Kingdom, a work divided into distinct treatises, but trading only of the blood, the arteries, and the heart, and of the motion of the brain and the cortical substance thereof, and before traversing the whole field in detail, I made a rapid passage to the soul and put forth, the prodromus respecting it. But on considering the matter more deeply, I found that I had

Starting point is 00:07:25 directed my course thither, both too hurriedly and too soon, after having explored the blood only and its peculiar organs. I took the step, impelled by an ardent desire for knowledge, but as the soul acts in the supreme and innermost things, and does not come forth until all her swathings have been successfully unfolded, I am therefore determined to allow myself no respite until I have traversed the universal animal kingdom to this soul. Thus I hope by bending my course inward continually, I shall open all the doors that lead to her, and at length contemplate the soul herself by the divine permission.

Starting point is 00:08:07 Prologue to the animal kingdom number 19. Accordingly in the work on the animal kingdom, the author proceeds to examine and detail the various parts of the human body, omitting those which have been treated of already in the economy, etc., namely the heart, the vessels, and the blood. Prologue to Part 3, Animal Kingdom No. 469. Part 1 treats of the organs of taste and of digestion, of the glands, the gallbladder, the kidneys, etc. Part 2 treats of the viscera, of the thorax, or the organs of the superior region.

Starting point is 00:08:44 Part 3 of the skin, the senses of touch and taste, and organics. forms generally. It is noticeable that the brain is neither mentioned by the author as having been already fully treated of in the economy, nor included in the three parts of the animal kingdom, as translated and published in the volumes bearing that name. The treatises on the brain which fell so conspicuous a place in the projected summary of the author's labors above-mentioned were designed by the author to constitute the succeeding division of part four of the work on the animal kingdom. It appears from his assertion at the close of number 468 in the prologue to part three of the same work. The extensive manuscripts

Starting point is 00:09:29 left by the author covering this great division of his work have been in minor portions brought to light through the translations of Dr. J.J. Wilkerson and are now in process of being translated and published entire under the editorship of Dr. Rudolph L. Teifal. At the close of the prologue. here referred to, the author once more intimates his intention to ascend by degrees to the supreme sphere from whence we may legitimately deduce the principles of things and where we may speak of the soul with comparative certainty and definiteness. In order that from the higher knowledge thus attained, we may more intelligently treat of a subject which according to his original

Starting point is 00:10:12 plan of the work would here have its place, namely that of generation and the organs by means of which new forms are conceived in the image of the form preceding them. This intention he carried out in treating of the brain in which cortical or centurotitious substance the soul resides as in its principles. Animal Kingdom No. 468. And also in those treatises edited by Dr. Emmanuel Tafel, Tubingen 1848, in the Latin, entitled also part four of the animal kingdom which treats of the corotids of the senses of smell hearing and sight of sensation and affection in general and of the intellect in its operation an abstract of these treatises hitherto untranslated particularly of the author's epilogue on the senses or sensation in general of his general exposition concerning sensation and affection of its rules of harmony and and music and his conclusion concerning the intellect and its operation,

Starting point is 00:11:21 we have added to the present work, forming Appendix 2. Descending now, as he had promised, from these first principles again into the body, the author discusses in succeeding parts of the animal kingdom, the periostrium, and the mame. De Periosto and de Mamis, Tafel, Tubige, 1849, and generation in its organs, the generation that Partibus genitabellus uterus sextus and formos fetus in uteril, at Tafel-Tubingen 1849, translated by Wilkinson, London, 1852. and at length having surveyed the entire field of the human anatomy and physiology, he reaches in the treatise now offered to the reader the long-anticipated rational psychology itself,

Starting point is 00:12:18 which according to his plan drawn up in the prologue to the animal kingdom, should conclude the whole series of treatises and should comprise the subject of action, of external and internal sense, of imagination and memory, also of the affections of the animus, of the intellect, that is of thought, and of the will, of the affections, and of the rational mind, also of instinct, lastly, of the soul, and of its state in the body, its intercourse, affections, and immortality, and of its state when the body dies. All the subjects here named are treated under the proper heads in the work now before us, with the exception of action.

Starting point is 00:13:01 A special treatise on this subject, together with other brief papers, was published both in Latin and in English translation, in London, 1847, by Dr. J.J. G. Wilkinson, under the title of Pustumous Trex. Besides the treatise on action and another on sensation, or the passion of the body, this volume contains three brief transactions, all pertaining immediately to the subject before us, but evidently written. at intervals and at a time previous to the date of the present work. These three are a brief essay entitled The Way to a Knowledge of the Soul, a paper in four chapters on the origin and propagation of the soul, and a treatise of considerable length called a fragment on the soul. Even as early as 1734 in the work entitled Outlines on the Infinite, which immediately succeeded the Principia.

Starting point is 00:13:59 The author devotes the second part of the, the treatise to a philosophical argument on the mechanism of the intercourse between the soul and the body. Finally, among these preliminary glances at the great subject aimed at, should be here mentioned two chapters on the soul and the chain and bond of uses, the latter treating of the cerebrum as the medium of intercourse between the soul and the body. These are found in Codex 58 of the manuscripts, photolithographed MSS, Volume 6, pages 81 to 92, and inserted by Dr. Rudolph L. Tafel in volume 1 of the above-mentioned work on the brain. See page 13. An explanation of these frequent and scattered unfinished essays on the soul is afforded in the author's address to the reader,

Starting point is 00:14:51 with which he introduces the above-mentioned fragment on the soul. he says i was for some time in doubt whether to comprise in a single volume all my long meditations on the soul and the body and their reciprocal action and passion or whether it would be better to divide the work into numbers and publish it seriatim after the manner of transactions to declare the nature of the soul to exhibit its state to show the mutual intercourse and actions subsisting between it and the body and the connection of each with each in the bonds of harmony. In other words, to display philosophically, analytically, geometrically, and anatomically the entire animal kingdom in its parts with the functions and offices of each. This is a labor of some years and must extend over several volumes. I have thought it most prudent to divide the labor and to take up my pen at short intervals, allowing myself occasionally a little risk bite to draw breath and enable me to attain to a time.

Starting point is 00:15:55 pinned to my other duties for the mind is even as the pen too much usage blunts its point and wears away its fineness such gentle reader is the reason which will move me to recur at frequent intervals to the task i have prescribed for myself and to intrude myself often upon your presence probably not less than five or six times a year with my publications or as they may properly be called psychological transactions. By this means I hope after a few years to gain the end and to be in a condition to declare the state of the soul when its connection with the body is dissolved by death and it is left to its own disposal. That work now before us, de Anima, is the author's long-deferred rational psychology and the final summary of all his studies on this subject, forming also the conclusion and culmination of the great series entitled the Animal Kingdom seems abundantly apparent from the agreement of its contents with those subjects indicated in the closing numbers of the author's projected scheme of his work, from the almost universal reference in the minor treatises to a fuller and final one to come, and from the distinct statement in the author's preface to his work, that it is only after completing his survey of the human anatomy that, he now feels himself enabled to really advance and penetrate into the hitherto hidden knowledge

Starting point is 00:17:26 of the soul itself. He refers to his preliminary studies including the introduction to a rational psychology as having been finished and, so now at length he writes, we may treat of the soul from principles or synthetically. And finally, whereas he has hitherto warned as reader and himself from daring prematurely to enter the sacred precincts of this supreme knowledge, he now boldly invites to enter, believing that his reader, if he shall have deigned to follow him thus far, will perceive what is the soul, what is its state in the body,

Starting point is 00:18:04 and what after the life of the body, that the work forming the culmination and conclusion of the whole series of scientific and philosophical works of Swedenberg should have lain hidden away in manuscript, years before being brought to light as it then was in the latin edition of dr j f emmanuel taffel seems remarkable and hardly less so that nearly half a century has passed before an english translation has been furnished the transcendent importance of the work if we may judge from the relative estimate placed upon its subject matter by the author himself or from the diligence and ardour with which he prosecuted the laborious studies to its production appears plainly enough from what we have here adduced. We desire to add a few reflections on its value as viewed in the light of the relation this

Starting point is 00:19:00 work sustains to the history of philosophy in general, and also in particular to the subsequent and theological portion of the author's writings. The one desire and aim animating the entire series of Swedenberg's scientific and philosophical writings was, as we have at the outset remarked, his search for the soul. This single aim furnishes us the key to Swedenberg's mission in the world of science, of philosophy, and of theology. To know the nature of spirit and its relation to matter, or as the author so frequently puts it, a knowledge of the soul and of its intercourse with the body, was the twofold object of his search. If we regard the body in the sense of the larger body, the natural world,

Starting point is 00:19:50 and the soul as meaning the larger soul, the spiritual world, the knowledge of the soul and its intercourse with the body, becomes identical with that of the spiritual world and its relation to the natural world. And this is preeminently the subject of the descriptive portion of our author's theological writings. Where did he seek this knowledge of the soul,

Starting point is 00:20:14 in its own realm, in the living, and not in the dead? human body in the kingdom of uses as exhibited in the beautiful order harmony and activities of the human anatomy and physiology the animal kingdom meant to Swedenberg the kingdom of the anima the realm over which the soul presides as queen the relation of this soul to her body or her own kingdom and world was what we first sought to know and through that to know the nature of the soul herself the the knowledge he obtained in these labors, while not all that he aimed at, was nevertheless that which peculiarly and preeminently qualified his mind to be the recipient of the greater knowledge of the true nature of spirit and of the relation of the spiritual to the natural world.

Starting point is 00:21:05 The doctrine of correspondence as a science was naturally and not supernaturally revealed to Swedenberg. It was a deduction of his own reasoning, or a part of his own philosophy, as was the doctrine of order, series, degrees, and modification on which it rests. This is unmistakably apparent from his own statement and from the repeated applications of and reference to these doctrines of his scientific writings. The doctrine of correspondence became manifest to Swedenberg in his search for the mode of the soul's intercourse with the body. It was here in the human soul's own province

Starting point is 00:21:43 that our author found the key which was to solve the problem of the ages, and open the minds of men to a truly heavenly knowledge of the relation of the spiritual to the natural world, of spirit to matter, of earth to heaven, of the written word to eternal and essential truth, and of man to God. To Swedenberg, correspondence meant, in its first sense, the correspondence of the body to its physical environment,

Starting point is 00:22:11 and then that of the soul within to its corporeal, that is its fibrous and sensuous environment. The history of this doctrine of correspondence carries us back to the origins of philosophy among the Greeks and especially brings into prominence the relation of Swedenberg and Aristotle. The historic antecedents of the doctrine of inflex or the intercourse of the soul and body, Swedenberg himself has outlined in several of his theological works,

Starting point is 00:22:46 but especially in his brief but wonderful treatise de commerccio anima et corpus, on the intercourse of the soul and the body. Swedenberg, as no other writer, deserves the proud title of the Aristotle of modern philosophy, for as Aristotle, with his inductive and scientific method, seated to the idealism of Plato, so after the speculative and ideal systems of Descartes in France and Leibniz and Wolf in Germany, came Swedenberg with his severely practical method, his reasoning from experience, climbing by the ladder of knowledge a posteriori,

Starting point is 00:23:27 up to the higher and interior principles, from which again he might descend into a true philosophy of nature and of man. the coincidence of the researches of aristotle and swedenburg on the subject of the soul cannot but strike the attention of the historian not indeed so much in the resemblance of their contents although this is in instances remarkable as in the similarity of method or their ways of approaching the remotely hidden object of their quest both used the experimental method and this led them into very similar paths of investigation As evidence of this, notice the contents of that series of Aristotle's writings in which his works on the soul occurs. They are as follows. Four books on the parts of animals. Five books on the generation of animals, to which are added treatises on the walking of animals, on the motion of animals, and on the spirit. three books on the soul to which are added treatises on sense and the sensitive on memory on sleep and dreams on length and shortness of life on youth and old age on life and death and on respiration

Starting point is 00:24:45 that our reader may compare at a glance the method of discussion as well as the thoughts advanced by these two great inductive psychologists the leaders of ancient and of modern learning respectively i have thought it admissible to introduce as an appendix to the present work a series of extracts made at random from taylor's translation of aristotos de anima etc see appendix three great however as was swedenbird's admiration for his illustrious master and predecessor in the line of inductive research so that to him was assigned the highest place among the world's great teachers as evinced by the titles the chief philosopher of the Gentiles and our philosopher so often and so endearingly bestowed and alluding to him. Yet was Swedenberg no blind follower of even so revered a teacher, nor did he hesitate to differ from him on the important question of the manner of the intercourse of the body and the soul. Three doctrines had hitherto prevailed in the learned world regarding the intercourse of mind and matter. The first, called by Swedenberg, that of physical influx, was taught by Aristotle, and afterwards during all the earlier period of Christian learning by the schoolmen.

Starting point is 00:26:09 After this came the doctrine of spiritual or occasional influx, as taught by Descartes and his disciples. At last came Liebnet's, with his, as he believed only reconciling, doctrine of pre-established harmony. Swedenberg, agreeing wholly with neither, sought to reconcile the three by extracting and combining the gist of truth in each, and the resultant doctrine he named the doctrine of correspondence, a doctrine which rests upon the equally philosophic and scientific doctrines of series, orders, degrees, and modifications. Correspondence as seen in the plane of nature only, and it was only on this plane that Swedenberg,

Starting point is 00:26:54 up to this time had discovered it, consists in such a mutual adaptation of inner and outer, higher and lower, grosser and more subtle spheres or bodies, that there may be a reception, communication, and transference of motions and affections from one to the other. It is therefore the name we give to that kind of intercourse which is not bodily influx or to the union that exists, not by continuity or confusion of substance, but by continuity and modification of state. It is the relation of the affluent waves of ether to the eye, of the eye to the sensory fiber, of the cortical gland, of the gland to the common sensory, of the sensory to the imagination, of the imagination to the intellect to the soul,

Starting point is 00:27:49 of the soul to God. By correspondence, the outline, the outline, the ultimate, the soul to God. By correspondence, the outer affects the inner without becoming one with it. By correspondence, things totally different in degree and in substance are nevertheless so adapted that motions or tremulous vibrations in one may be continued through the other, or converted into some modification of the other state. So the soul corresponds in general and in every particular to its body. This doctrine of correspondence, thus learned by Swedenberg from the human body and its relation to the soul, was afterward applied by him to all things material and spiritual, and thus to the natural and spiritual world.

Starting point is 00:28:35 Does it therefore follow that what Swedenberg has delivered in his theological writings as divinely revealed is, after all, reducible to a purely natural and scientific knowledge? Swedenberg laid no claims, indeed, to any supernatural illumination while elaborating these doctrines of correspondence, of degrees, of theories, etc., in his scientific works. And yet on these doctrines rest logically the whole scheme of the spiritual metaphysics embraced in his theological works. The answer to this question is a matter of grave importance, involving as it does the whole subject of the nature of that illumination,

Starting point is 00:29:16 to which Swedenberg lays claim and the relation of his philosophical to his theological or illuminated writings. A brief answer we think may be formulated thus. It is not the knowledge of correspondence that is revealed or supernaturally discovered, but the knowledge of the things that correspond. Like the science of arithmetic,

Starting point is 00:29:41 of algebra and of logic, so the science of correspondence is a product of the human, human reasoning power. Indeed, correspondence may truly be called the logic itself of the universe or of creation. But as bare logic or bare mathematics, it would be utterly barren of results where they're not the field of experimental knowledge to which to apply it. This experimental knowledge is afforded in two planes of experience, the physical and the spiritual. The spiritual experience, or that knowledge derived from things heard and seen in the spiritual world was granted to Swedenberg by divine permission and afforded the true, the loftiest, the final field for the application of those great sciences elaborated by the long years of such arduous discipline in the schools of nature.

Starting point is 00:30:34 No one is more emphatic and clear than Swedenberg himself in defining this difference between a doctrine as a method and the substantial knowledge to which that doctrine is applied. Nor need we wonder if when these doctrines as scientific formula or later rendered substantial living knowledges being clothed upon by the great facts of a spiritual world and the human life of its inhabitants, all former knowledge, even of the doctrines,

Starting point is 00:31:04 themselves as illustrated in mere nature alone seemed to Swedenberg as naught or as empty shadows. The senses whose phenomena were to be the field of exploration for the doctrine of correspondence and discrete degrees were the senses of the spiritual body. By this experience, the nature of the soul was substantially learned in the spiritual world, but never by Swedenberg in this natural world, nor by the deductions of reason alone, and the soul in its true nature being there, and for the first time, seeing and known, the mode of intercourse between the soul world and the matter world is detected at a glance by means of this already acquired knowledge of inflects, of degrees, and of correspondence. What then is the real gain achieved by the

Starting point is 00:31:56 present work, that even after all his laborious assent he has failed to attain to any satisfactory knowledge of the essence of the soul itself, and that what is advanced is but conjecture and guesses of the reason is virtually confessed by the author in the remarkable utterance in number 524 of the present work. Said here in secretes sunt, non-nisi quam conjecture sunt, which hikli videt ratio hec sole ume when to aname vivismus no ipsos fortasis ridabimus quothom infamitar devenar inos but while the substance of the soul remains a secret its mode of intercourse with the body particularly in the outer degrees of its life as well as its actual manifestations in the conscious acts of the imagination the intellect and the will are here presented with a fullness and a clearness unsurpassed,

Starting point is 00:33:00 if ever approached, by the psychological writers of any age. The physiological basis of psychology is here presented with the exactness of mathematical demonstration. The subjects of innate ideas, of instinct, of freedom of the will, of the higher and lower minds are all here elucidated in an argument at once so logical and beautiful as to make the study of these difficult themes a delight. But even these features are of subordinate value when compared with the great chief gain here accomplished in, namely the author's clear apprehension of the doctrines of correspondence

Starting point is 00:33:40 with its related doctrines of series, degrees, of orders, of uses, and of society. In these grand logical structures we find lay at the foundations of a truly spiritual science, or of that theology which makes the knowledge of God a positive knowledge, and this not by materializing the divine, but by illuminating the material and the natural with a celestial light, and actuating these with the divine imminence. While contending that it is the knowledge of the things which correspond that is supernatural in Swedenberg's disclosures,

Starting point is 00:34:18 and not the science of correspondence itself, we feel that even here it will be worth our while to distinguish a little more carefully than has hitherto been the habits of the readers of swedenburg between revelation in its highest sense as afforded in the opening of the spiritual senses of the word and those knowledges of the spiritual world from things heard and seen which while truly supernatural cannot in the same sense be called revealed it has been customary to allude alike to the author's relations of things heard and seen by him in the spiritual world and to his exposition of the internal sense of the scriptures as a matter of revelation but between the two classes of truths there is according to the author himself a marked distinction strictly speaking it is only those doctrines which as the author declares he received not from any angel but from the Lord alone while reading the word, that is, to be called revelation. It is here the truth is taught synthetically and a priori in the fullest and sublimest sense. The knowledge is, on the other hand, which the author imparts in his narration of his own experience

Starting point is 00:35:36 by virtue of his conscious intermission into the spiritual world and of things there heard and seen, these while in a true sense supernatural knowledges are nevertheless knowledge is gained by a purely experimental method and therefore as strictly inductive and analytic as the knowledge is acquired in the pursuit of any branch of natural science it is this fact which distinguishes the theology of swedenburg from all previous theological writing in giving it not only a strictly scientific form but a positive content absolutely free from speculative elements this twofold character of his writings is indicated in the titles of his various works thus that of the archana reads as follows arcana celestial that in septuria sacred su verbo dominie are delected hick primum quite in ginesce unacum marabellus in visa are in mundo spiritum and in chiole angolorum the interior truths of the word are uncovered detecta the things of the spiritual world are seen In the same way, the exposition of the Book of Revelation in the New Testament is called the Apocalypse Revealed.

Starting point is 00:37:06 Apocalypseis reveleta and quadetagunter archanaeibs predicta sunt and hecunus recondita Loreonta. Here again our mysteries uncovered in the fullest sense of revelation and those uncovered things of the word are the primary source of that doctrine which the writer gave to the churches as verily descending from God out of heaven. Therefore again, in his tract entitled, The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine from Things Heard from Heaven, ex auditas achilo, he gives in the introduction this explanation regarding the doctrine to follow. This also is from heaven, being from the spiritual sense of the world.

Starting point is 00:37:55 word, which is the same with the doctrine that is in heaven. Number seven, and in the brief exposition of the doctrine of the new church signified by the New Jerusalem in the revelations, in the opening paragraph he says, the apocalypse having been revealed, he is preparing to lay before the world a complete view of the doctrine of the Lord's New Church. In calling attention to this distinction in the contents of Swedenberg's spiritual writing, it is not our intention to detract in the least from the validity of one classes compared with the other, but to maintain even in this upper realm of his labors the same distinction into the analytic and the synthetic,

Starting point is 00:38:39 the experimental and the a priori, or absolute truth, which everywhere characterizes his researches and his teaching, The ladder planted on earth seems to lose itself in the dazzling heights of heaven, but it still remains a ladder of two-fold passage, of ascent as from the body we have climbed to the soul and its substantial world, so from it again as a new basis of actual experimental knowledge, we climb to those principles of essential truth, love, and life,

Starting point is 00:39:14 which constitute that internal sense of the word, is in heaven. Thence there remains but one further vision for the adoring soul, that which reaches up to him, who is the eternal word, who in the beginning was with God and was God, by whom all things were made. And yet it is solely by virtue of this descent, all the while into the author's mind of that truth which he received from the Lord alone while reading the word, and from no angel, and from no spirit that his writings acquired their synthetic unity, their a priori authority, their power and meaning as revelation. We behold the eye, seeing in light, the face of its own creator. We see in all this splendid accumulation of scientific and philosophic knowledge, and in this laboriously acquired method,

Starting point is 00:40:09 and these subordinated sciences, the most perfect of instruments capable of being constructed, out of the elements of human reason, the divinely prepared organ, and the living responsive human agent by which a veritable science of God was to be made possible to men, and things hitherto concealed were to be made known. Even in the world beyond, there will still remain the axioms, the necessary assumption, the truths a priori, the distinct realm of the distinct realm of, revealed is entirely different from experimental knowledge as here. But as truly there will be a world of actual sensitive life where knowledge will be acquired by observation and the reason will find a higher and nobler field of exercise than it has ever found in all the heights and depths of nature. Even in the spiritual world, what is revealed remains forever distinct from what is heard and seen. it were possible for any man should god permit by the opening of his spiritual senses to have conscious knowledge of the spiritual world as was the case with the prophets and evangelists

Starting point is 00:41:28 with paul and with swedenburg what they might communicate of things heard and seen in this world might seem to us indeed and might worthily be called a supernatural a miraculous kind of knowledge and yet it would consist of things wholly within the scope of human observation and discovery although of an extraordinary kind not such is the knowledge of truth revealed which can come from one source alone the word and god speaking through it to the mind worthy and capable of receiving such a revelation the relation of swedenberg's scientific or inductive writings to his theological writings finds its explanation therefore in the more subtle but similar relation born by his descriptive to his doctrinal theological writings. In the one we have the truths in the inductive or ascending order, in the other in their deductive order and descent from principles to application and corroboration. The ultimate knowledge, the ultimate discovery, is after all alone in God and from God, as all life is from him alone so is all truth and all knowledge and therefore in one sense all knowledge is revelation but while we are allowed to procure some knowled from without and as of ourselves in order that we may enjoy that individuality and personality

Starting point is 00:42:57 essential to our having any moral and rational quality there are other knowledges that can be given us only in that revelation wherein god manifestly speaks and human sense and human reason, listen and obey. So we are kept mindful of God and of our own insufficiency, lest we too should desire to become as gods, knowing good and evil. So is the vista ever opening above us, inviting us to endless aspiration, longing, hope, and adoration. That Swedenberg fell short of his quest in failing to find in nature the real quality and substance of the soul is true, but this is a truth in which he and the world have reason to rejoice. Had he reached that shore too soon, there would his career have stopped. While the soul, like an undiscovered continent, remained still hidden from view, here in this

Starting point is 00:43:53 stupendous series of works, the great ship was being constructed, which was indeed at last over waters all unknown to carry the bold navigator hither. in this ship the sublime doctrine of correspondence by favoring winds of heaven he was carried to the great world of spiritual substance and spiritual life and thence by the same vehicle so wondrously constructed he is brought to men an intelligible account of this new and interesting realm and enabled them to read the deep arcana hitherto hidden but now revealed which lie equally in all things of nature and in the word of god finally has the science of to-day ought to learn from the lesson of swedenburg's heroic labors and their result is it the lesson of a sublime tragedy of a vast hole crushed of a magnificent structure which fell because of its too near approach to the skies in other words shall we regard the stupendous scientific and philosophic achievements of swedenburg as of no worth seeing that they failed to bring him to his desired goal a true knowledge of the soul far otherwise do we read the lesson of these pages the utterance they give forth is that of cheer and of hope they speak alike for the science of to-day as for that of a century ago the glorious promise of a reward to be reached higher even than that sought for

Starting point is 00:45:31 of an end whose realization only blindly striven for in the ascending ladders of knowledge finally fills and illumines all the subordinate science with a light a warmth a beauty inconceivable before for all truth is one and human science on every plane is but the enfolding of the higher and diviner forms of truth in those which are lower and more within the grand grasp of man's varying intelligence. Every scientific fact and every true philosophic deduction is a stone laid and a scaffold raised for the building of that great temple in which humanity is yet to worship its creator and its God. Into this natural knowledge as into all manner of precious stones, the light of divine revealed truth shall flow, and, and and thus the glory of God shall lighten the whole domain of the human intellect. The scientists of today, with their careful elaboration of the facts of sensuous knowledge,

Starting point is 00:46:44 are building wiser than they know, their own aims, the particular theories they seek to establish, are of minor account. They are the bibles placed before the child to induce it to walk. Even the selfish incentives of pride and glory are useful in stimulating minds otherwise idle and sluggish to great achievements. How much more so shall be the sincere love of truth for its own sake and the desire of a genuine advancement of humanity which inspire the minds of many of our greatest thinkers and workers.

Starting point is 00:47:23 As in the case of Swedenberg, the divine wisdom knows how to use for its own ends, which are the final elevation and blessing of mankind, these results of human research and study. Not only is the earth thereby made new, but there are created also new heavens in which righteousness shall dwell, and in whose society and kingdom of uses man shall realize the end of his creation and the true glory of God. Frank Sewell, Urbana, Ohio, October 22, 1886 End of Section 1 Section 2 of the soul or rational psychology

Starting point is 00:48:08 This is the Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The soul or rational psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell 1837 to 1915 and others. Section 2 Translators preface to the third edition.

Starting point is 00:48:38 The call for a third edition of Swedenberg's treatise on the soul or rational psychology de anima is another indication of the widening interest among scholars in his psychological and philosophical writings. Its appearance is the more opportune at this time in view of the greatly extended researches now being made into biological and psychological phenomena, and also especially because this edition is coincident with the publishing for the first time in English

Starting point is 00:49:13 of Swedenberg's treatise on the census. another and hitherto untranslated portion of the great series entitled the Animal Kingdom, regnum anomal. The treatise on the fiber, now in process of publication, and the supplementing of the hitherto untranslated fragments of the extensive work on the brain, de cerebro, will practically complete the publication of Swedenberg's remarkable studies of man's physical, psychological, anatomical, and psychological nature.

Starting point is 00:49:54 They furnish the student with a scientific and philosophic basis for the better understanding of the great theological series which followed. The work which best marks the transition from the first to the second period of the author's writing will perhaps be found in the very recently published the worship and love of God, De Coulte et Amor De. Treating from the point of view of the authors earlier or philosophic speculations of the origin of the earth,

Starting point is 00:50:29 paradise and the abode of living creatures, also the birth, infancy, and love of the firstborn, or Adam, and of the soul, the intellectual mind, the state of integrity, and the image of the life, God. A monumental edition of all of Swedenberg's works in their original Latin or Swedish texts under the title Operaumnia Iman. Swedenborg is now in process under the auspices of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm and the special editorship of Mr. Alfred H. Stroh. and together with this the securing for perpetual preservation by photographic reproduction of all of the manuscripts of Swedenberg is now contained in the Royal Library of Stockholm.

Starting point is 00:51:24 Frank Sewell, Washington, D.C., May 1914 End of Section 2 Section 3 of the Soul or Rational Psychology. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915 and others. Section 3.

Starting point is 00:52:04 Preface of the Editor of the Latin Edition. The original manuscript of this posthumous work, which with two others I was enabled by the liberality of the Royal Academy at Stockholm to borrow in the year 1848, was thus described by the learned librarian of that institution. Quote, this book which is in Swedenberg's own handwriting, contains 130 leaves folio max. On the back it has the title printed by the binder, Physiologia et Metaphysica, and it bears the same title also in the old manuscript catalog of our library. Folio 110 is wanting, which makes it doubtful whether the dissertation on the state of the soul, etc., is complete or not. For the same reason, the heading and beginning of the next dissertation, which is,

Starting point is 00:53:05 is contained on folios 111.11, page 4, is wanting. The remainder of this book, from folios 118 to 127, page 20, is occupied by a dissertation, which has the title ontology prefixed to it at the head of Folio 118. From the commencement of this dissertation, certain subjects are considered in general, and are afterwards treated severally under various heads. As for the manner of treatment, the opinions of Wolf, Baron, and others

Starting point is 00:53:44 are for the most part stated first and the author's own opinion then given, or at least intimated. But like many other things contained in Swedenberg's MSS, this ontology is not complete, being only a sketch which the author proposed to develop afterwards. The whole book is closely written and in some parts in a cramped hand and will be difficult to read and decipher. End quotation. According to the vote of our society, the Swedenberg Association founded 1845, which is the patron of these three publications, we have omitted in the present treatise the attached folios 118 to 127 inscribed ontology. The chapters of this omitted dissertation are, 1. Form formal cause.

Starting point is 00:54:39 2. Figure. 3. Organ structure. 4. State. Mutation of state. 5. Substance. 6. Matter. Material. 7. Extent. Extension. Continuous. Contiguous. Part. 8. Body. Corporial. essence essentials ten attribute eleven predicate twelve subject thirteen affection fourteen accidents fifteen contingents sixteen modes modification we have given this work the title on the soul and also designated it as part seven of the animal kingdom because it forms a supplement to that work and the author himself according to the index prefixed by him to that work intended to treat in part 16 concerning the soul and its state

Starting point is 00:55:43 in the body its intercourse its affection its immortality also concerning its state after the life of the body end of section three section four of the soul or rational section This is a Libravox recording. All Laborvox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Amelia Chesley The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenborg, translated by Frank Sewell 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 4 An introductory essay on science and theology in the writings of Swedenborg. The one desire and aim manifest throughout all the scientific and philosophical writings of Swedenborg may be described in brief as his search for the soul. This is indicated in the fragmentary treatises on the soul, which frequently occur throughout the series of his works,

Starting point is 00:56:48 and is manifest in the projected scheme of his works outlined in his prologue to the Regnum Anomale. There, the soul forms the last of the great series. The subject is to be approached slowly, by arduous steps, reverently and in awe of its sublimity, but with eager and never-flagging desire. This desire was executed to the extent of the scientific and philosophic resources of human knowledge in the de anima, or rational psychology, the work on the soul with which Sweeneborg concluded his great career as a scientist, and summed up the results of his labors in the fields of natural, physiological, and psychological science. In this search for the soul, we find what

Starting point is 00:57:31 we may call the key to the genetic development of all Swedenborg's system. I say development because this implies a unity in what proceeds and follows, and a shaping of final results by certain interior ends, even though these be unconsciously entertained. The process is like that of nature, which at itself unconscious conceals the most profound, definite, and unerring purpose. To know the nature of spirit and its relation to matter, but especially through, first, a knowledge of the soul and of its intercourse with the body, was the twofold object of our author's constant search. If we now regard the body in the light of the larger body, the natural world, and the soul, as meaning the larger soul, the spiritual world, the knowledge of the soul and its intercourse with the body becomes identical with that of the spiritual world and its relation to the natural world. This occupies a prominent place in his later theological writings. Where did Swedenborg seek this knowledge of the soul?

Starting point is 00:58:33 In the soul's own realm, the soul kingdom, regdom animale, in the living, not dead human body, in the kingdom of uses as exhibited in beautiful order, harmony, and activities of the human anatomy and physiology. The animal kingdom meant to him the kingdom of the anima, the realm over which the soul presides as queen, The relation of this soul to its body or its own kingdom and world was what Swedenberg sought to know. The knowledge which he obtained was that which pre-eminently qualified his mind to be the recipient of the great knowledge of the true nature of spirit

Starting point is 00:59:09 and the relation of this spiritual to the natural world. Through its influence upon his contemporary Kant, see Kant's inaugural dissertation de Mundo Sensibility and Mundo Intelligibility Also, Professor Vahinger's Kant Commentar, Volume 2 Archive for Gashikta de Philosophy, Berlin, 1895, Professor Heinz's observations on Kant's lectures on metaphysics in Abhandle, Sachschaelschaft de Wieschenchafter, Leipzig, 1894, etc., etc. Swedenborg's doctrine of the two worlds may be said

Starting point is 00:59:49 have formed the basis of modern transcendental psychology, or of that phase of modern idealism, which accords to the spiritual and supernatural, a substantial and causal existence distinct from matter. When, now, we consider what a stupendous role this doctrine of the human body and its soul is called upon to perform in the doctrine of the divine humanity of heaven and of the order prevailing there, we begin to realize the providential significance of these scientific treaties, and see, in what basic relations these sciences stand to the whole realm of spiritual doctrine. And since the body can be studied only in its own environment, or as a part of that great extended body, which is the entire elemental universe, therefore, to this ultimate basis of all

Starting point is 01:00:37 extended Swedenborg's exhaustive survey and the grasp of his mighty system, as witnessed in the work on chemistry, 1721, and the Principia, 1734. The doctrine of the doctrine of of correspondence was derived by Swedenborg first naturally, that is, as a science. It was a deduction of his own reasoning regarding the elemental relations of the universe, a part of his own philosophy, as was the doctrine of order, series, degrees, and modifications on which it rests. This is unmistakably apparent from his own statement and from the repeated applications of and references to these sciences in his animal kingdom and elsewhere, especially in his introduction to the rational psychology and in that work itself. The doctrine of correspondence became manifest to Swedenborg in his search

Starting point is 01:01:25 for the moat of the soul's intercourse with the body. It was right here in the human soul's own province, in the relation of our souls to our bodies, that Swedenborg found the key which should solve the problem of the ages and open our minds to a truly heavenly knowledge of the relation of the spiritual to the natural world, of spirit to matter, of earth to heaven, of the written word to the eternal and essential truth, and of man to God. Correspondence, in its first sense, meant to Swedenborg the correspondence of the body to its surrounding spheres, and thence of the soul within to the surrounding body. The history of the doctrine of correspondence carries us back to the origin of philosophy among the Greeks, and especially brings into prominent

Starting point is 01:02:11 notice the relation of Swedenborg and Aristotle. The historic antecedents of the doctrine of influx, or the intercourse of the soul and body, Swedenborg himself has outlined in several of his theological works, especially in his little but wonderful work de commerccio, etc, or the intercourse of soul and body. Swedenborg, as no other writer, deserves the proud title of the Aristotle of modern philosophy, and yet while himself assigning to Aristotle the highest place in all the line of great teachers, calling him the Prince of Philosophers, and by the almost endearing title of our philosopher, he does not hesitate to differ from him on the important questions of the intercourse of mind and manner, on philosophic grounds, and later from the standpoint of revealed knowledge.

Starting point is 01:03:01 The three systems of psychology, which had chiefly occupied the learned world before his time, were represented by the three philosophers seen by Swedenborg in the spiritual world as related in the work de Comercio, Aristotle, Descartes, and Leibniz. These three systems sought to explain the relation of mind and matter, that is, to solve the one great problem, which, as we have said, Swedenborg had set before himself, and to the solution of which the whole philosophical series of his works is devoted. These three systems are known as those of, one, physical, influx, two, occasional or spiritual influx, and three, pre-established harmony. These three Swedenborg sought to reconcile by extracting and combining the gist of truth in each,

Starting point is 01:03:48 and the resultant doctrine he named the doctrine of correspondence, a doctrine which rests upon the equally philosophical and scientific doctrine of series, orders, degrees, and modifications. Correspondence, as seen in the plane of nature, is the mutual adaptation of inner and outer, higher and lower, grosser or more subtle spheres or bodies, so that there may be reception and communication and transference of motion without commingling or confusion of bodies. It is, therefore, the name we give to that kind of intercourse which may exist between things necessarily and perpetually discreet. It is that intercourse which is not material influx, but a mode or avenue

Starting point is 01:04:30 for the influx of force. It is intercourse by contiguity and not by continuity or confusion of substance. Such a correspondence in nature is the relation of the wave of ether and its spiral motion to the eye as the organ of vision, then of the eye to the sensory fiber within, then of the sensory fiber to the cortical gland, of the cortical gland to the inner common sensory of the imagination, of the imagination to the intellectory, of the intellectory to the soul, of the soul to God. By correspondence, the inner may affect the outer without commingling or becoming one with it. By correspondence, things totally different in degree or substance are nevertheless so adapted

Starting point is 01:05:16 that motions in the tremulous vibrations in one may be continued through the other, and so cause and effect be made possible by contiguity, since the prolongation of effect or is retrocession on its own plane never converts it into its own cause. This doctrine of correspondence learned by Swedenberg from the human body and its relation to the soul was afterwards applied by him to all things material and spiritual, and thus to the natural and spiritual worlds. If this be true, what then is revealed in Swedenborg's writings, or what is there that is not, after all, the outcome of purely human reasoning and philosophy? Does it follow that what Swedenborg has delivered in his theological writings as a divinely revealed science is, after all, reducible to a purely natural and scientific knowledge,

Starting point is 01:06:07 seeing that in the doctrines of degrees and correspondence as set forth in the philosophical works, Swedenborg laid no claim to any supernatural illumination as their source. And yet on these doctrines rest the whole scheme of the spiritual metaphysics embraced in his theological works. The answer to this question is of the greatest importance, involving as it does, the whole subject of the relation of Swedenborg's scientific and philosophical to his theological writings. We think it possible to formulate an answer in these words. It is not the knowledge of correspondence that is supernatural or revealed, but the knowledge of the things that correspond. It is not the knowledge of discrete degrees that is supernatural or revealed, but the knowledge of the things that are supernatural or revealed, but the knowledge of the things that compose those degrees, that the knowledge of degrees was a philosophical knowledge. See Animal Kingdom

Starting point is 01:07:00 1, number 10, 11, 133, and 2, number 333. Swedenberg thus speaks of correspondence after his illumination. In AC, number 1523, he states that the ear corresponds to the air and to sound. The eye is formed correspondingly to the modifications of the ether and light, and all the organs and viscera correspond to the things which are in nature. In AC No. 51.31. There is a correspondence of sensuous things with natural ones, of material things with spiritual ones, and of spiritual with celestial ones, of celestial things with the Lord. There is a succession of correspondence from the divine down to the ultimate natural.

Starting point is 01:07:48 It is known from philosophy that the end is the first of the cause, and the cause is the first of the effect. The effect must correspond to the cause, and the cause must correspond to the end. And as they correspond, the end can be in the cause and actuate it, and the cause can be in the effect and actuate it. Consequently, the end through the cause can actuate the effect.

Starting point is 01:08:12 Everything in man and nature is successive, like cause and effect, and when they correspond to each other, they act as one. Compare this doctrine with, the scientific statements on the intercourse of the soul with the body in the work on the soul chapter twelve at the close of the philosophical period of swedenborg's writings the soul like an undiscovered continent remained it is true still hidden from his view but the great ship that was to carry the bold navigator thither was built and with supreme human skill by his marvellous mind secretly guided by the divine hand on that ship of the sublime science of correspondence by the

Starting point is 01:08:52 By the favoring winds of heaven, he was carried to the great new world of spiritual substance and spiritual life. Thence, by the same vehicle, he has made intelligible to us this new and interesting country, and enabled us to read the deep arcana hitherto hidden but now revealed, which lie equally in all things of nature, and in all things of the Word of God. That the relation of the scientific to the theological system is genetic, or that of an orderly growth and development, is perhaps the most, wonderful of all the aspects of Swedenborg's teachings. It is the most perfect illustration and corroboration of his wonderful doctrine of discrete degrees. His science is not theological. His theology is not

Starting point is 01:09:36 scientific, and yet they are related by a perfect correspondence. So far was he opposed to any a priori system of science, that is, to a science constructed to suit or prop up some prospective theory of philosophy, that he would not trust to his own experiments in natural science, but used those instead of other accepted authorities of his time. His inductions were his own. He pursued his search according to the threat of reason, secondum dukem intellectum supailum rationis, and reverently shrink from giving the name of divine revelation to any of these results of his own investigations. That his science was not only not built with a conscious intention, of furnishing a substructure to his theology, but was in some particulars in actual conflict

Starting point is 01:10:24 with a later teaching from Revelation, in those realms where it transcended nature and presumed to construct a system of spiritual science, is evident from what the work on the soul teaches regarding the condition of the soul after death, as that it has no particular form, but may assume any form, or that it may take wings and fly as a bird, or assume any other shape suited to its imperial and sovereign desire, being free from all limitations of nature or natural heredity. See the soul or rational psychology, number 521 and 522. Notice also what he says in this work about the final consummation of the world and the purging fires which shall finally sever the soul from the last entanglements of the body.

Starting point is 01:11:10 These are instances where his science undertook to be prophetic, that these predictions were regarded by Swedenberg himself as outside the realm of pure science, and thus as forming no part of his own system as a science, is evident from his remark in number 524 of the same work, that we shall probably laugh in the other world at the guesses we have here indulged in about the future state of the soul. Had he been the usual sort of natural philosopher, he would have insisted on having his subsequent theological system harmonize with these predictions, not so in the case of a veritable seer. When the curtain fell, revealing to his vision the real spiritual world,

Starting point is 01:11:51 the world which is the inner or spiritual world of this human world of ours, he saw the soul in its truly human aspects and entirely relieved those habiliments which it had inherited from pagan philosophers and medieval schoolmen. Man after death is a spirit in perfect human form, he says, such as it had in this world. The end of the world, he tells us now, when speaking as the inspired interpreter of the Holy Word, is the consummation of an age of human experience introductory to a new spiritual dispensation among mankind. This blank contradiction of his own statements, written within a space of, say, five years,

Starting point is 01:12:31 is convincing proof that whatever relation exists between his scientific and theological writings, it is a strictly natural and not a contrived or purposed one. Borg and either constructed a science with a view to building thereon a theology, nor did he adapt his theology to a previously constructed science. Each system stands in its own plane, and the agreement between them is that of the correspondence which is between things of natural growth, i.e. the agreement of truth appearing in several planes of divine order. As the science is not theological, so the theology is not scientific. The science rests on its basis of reason and experiment, the theology on its basis of revelation in the word. The two do not agree by fusion,

Starting point is 01:13:17 but they do agree by the correspondence that exists between the discrete degrees of things in their divine order. The result of this agreement is that the warfare between science and religious faith is at an end, as it never could have been except for this truly wonderful providential reconciliation. And the natural course of things, as they tended, except for this, theology had got so out of touch with science that men who loved natural truth and sought for a deeper knowledge of the wonders of nature were almost driven to the rejection of revealed religion. The only course for theology was to lose itself in politics or in sociology or occultism. And so, in the guise of purely natural science, still keep its hold on the attention of men, if even meanwhile it was losing their reverence

Starting point is 01:14:02 and their respect. At the same time, science might be posing as the sacred vestal of the Temple of Truth, and claim to be the only object of real reverence or worship still left to man. In Swedenborg, the normal order and the complete trine of mental life is restored. Science, philosophy, theology, the study of effects, of causes, of ends, each of these finds itself unhampered by the cramping of any human system, and at the same time placed in a purely harmonious relation to the other two. The secret of universality has been reached, by which the principles of the utmost simplicity and clearness, open paths of application to an infinity of details.

Starting point is 01:14:44 The earth remains the solid, tangible and durable earth as of old, but it glows with a new light and beauty when seen through Swedenborg's lens, subspecy alternatis. Heaven, the Mundus intelligibilis of Kant's inaugural dissertation, is not an unhuman and unreal world, it is only the one world seen with another vision. Nature, spirit, God are to these respective planes of knowledge and faith, the distinct but harmonious elements of the trinal unity of the one. Frank Sewell, Washington, D.C., December 1899. End of Section 4. Section 5 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain.

Starting point is 01:15:38 For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 5 Author's Preface It has been my purpose studiously to investigate the nature of the soul and the body and their intercourse, and also the state of the soul in the body, and its state after the life of the body.

Starting point is 01:16:14 But in order to attain the end, the means must also be sought, and, while I was meditating in what way I might proceed, whither I should look, in what way I must direct my course as to the goal, I at length became aware that there is no other field of exploration than that of the anatomy of the organic body of the soul, for in this she disports herself and runs her course, and for what she is, in her own field, she must be inquired after in her own domain. For this reason I have treated, first of all, of the blood and the heart, and at length of the particular organs and the viscera of the body, then of the cerebrum, the cerebellum,

Starting point is 01:17:00 the medulla oblongata, and the medulla oblongata, and the medulla. Spinalis. Supported by these investigations, I may now make further progress. I have pursued this anatomy solely for the purpose of discovering the soul. If I shall have furnished anything of use to the anatomical or medical world, it will be gratifying. But still more so, if I shall have thrown any light upon the discovery of the soul. For the body itself, and especially the human body and all its organs and members are so wonderfully harmonized that nature has here brought together and infused all her art and science and whatever is inmostly concealed so that if one desires to investigate nature here in her supreme and inmost recesses he must explore these particulars and the longer he lingers

Starting point is 01:17:55 the more wonders and mysteries are brought to light and if thrice the age of Nestra were his, they would still be unexhausted. It is like an abyss, and only wonder remains at last. Thus, in order to explain the soul, I must unroll these manifold coverings which hide her as a residing inner midst from our view. I must proceed by the analytic way, or from experience to causes, and through causes to principles, that is, from posterior to prior. This and no other way is granted us to the attainment of the science of the higher grade.

Starting point is 01:18:39 As soon as, therefore, by this way we shall have arrived at genuine principles, then first may we proceed by the synthetic way, or from priors to posteriors, which is the way of the soul herself, acting in her own body. This is the angelic way, for then they see from the prior or first things, all posterior things as subject to themselves. Therefore, before I treat of the soul synthetically or a priori, or from first principles, it is necessary that I acquire experience and effects by this human or analytic way through posterior things, or by that ladder which leads us up to those principles and to that heaven. Hence to mount to the soul is only possible through those very organs by which she descends into the body,

Starting point is 01:19:34 thus only through the anatomy of her body. But still it was not permissible to pass over from the organic and natural body to the soul, or to the spiritual essence, which is also immaterial, unless I might first lay down some way, which should lead me thither. Therefore I have been obliged to work out certain new doctrines, such as the doctrine of forms, the doctrine of order and degrees, the doctrine of correspondences, and of representatives, and finally the doctrine of modifications,

Starting point is 01:20:11 doctrines hitherto unknown, which are the companions and leaders without whom we shall attempt this passage in vain. concerning these we have written in the fifth treatise or in our introduction to the rational psychology and so now at length we may treat of the soul from principles or synthetically the learned world from the earliest ages up to the present time when that which has been so long conceived is now to be put forth and born has labored constantly after this attainment to first principles for this has been existed all sciences both philosophical and physical for this has been tried every experiment which might afford illustration here culminates the desire of the world of learning whether it be that we may speak from genuine first principles and treat synthetically of posterior things for such are angelic perfection and celestial science and the highest natural science and such as therefore the innate ambition of us all or that we may emulate the integrity of our first parent who from prior determined all posterior things and thus not only saw universal nature beneath himself and even commanded her as his subject for it is the pride of erudition to judge of effects from principles hence it appears how much is involved in attaining to true principles which can by no means be done except in the

Starting point is 01:21:48 so far as these be learned by the posterior way or that of the senses and of the sciences and of the sciences and arts which are human these however are not of the soul itself in which nevertheless they are all grounded and from which they flow but the way from experience through the sciences both physical and philosophical to prior things and principles themselves is not only an arduous one but most lengthy nor is one field only, but many to be explored. More than the ages of Nestor are needed, for there will constantly occur such things as will confuse the mind, and persuade it to feel all as the sense impresses it. Then it believes it has grasped the thing accurately because it operates according to the testimony of the senses, which reasoning is just so full of hypothesis and errors. nay such is the higher nature that it is the more hidden from us in the degree that we consult the senses for the sense darkens the mind the more its rays are concentrated upon it

Starting point is 01:23:00 the senses are themselves as so many shadows so that it seems as if the light itself of the sight and of the imagination fled away that we may plunge into these shadows and the shadows become lighter in the degree that we can dispel the rays of sense for they are, as it were, in another sphere of light, and thus can the light of physical sight and of intelligence mutually extinguish each other. Wherefore also some of us do not love the light of wisdom, because it dims the light of imagination, according to the saying of Plato. Therefore I have labored with the most intense desire

Starting point is 01:23:42 that I might transcend from one to the other, and therefore, kind reader, if you will deign to follow me thus far i believe that you will perceive what is the soul what is its state in the body and what after the life of the body but the path is difficult only may my companions not abandon me midway but if you will leave me i pray nevertheless that you will grant me your favor and this you will do if you are persuaded that the end before me is the glory of god and the public good and nothing whatever of selfish gain or applause end of section five This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org The Soul, or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 6. Part 1 The Senses.

Starting point is 01:25:02 chapter i the simple fibre that it is celestial in its nature one the successive formation of the blood vessels from the simple fibre the simplest fibre is the form of forms or that which forms the other fibres succeeding in order the simplest fibre by its circumflection forms a certain perpetually spiral surface or membrane which is itself the second, the medullary or nervous fiber of the body, and is simply a little channel constructed from the simplest fiber, but together with the fluid which permeates it, constituting a fiber. This fiber, therefore, because it descends from the prior, or is the prior fiber thus convoluted, and therefore nothing else, then the simple fiber itself flows by a spiral or perpetually circular flux.

Starting point is 01:26:02 This fiber, when it falls into the provinces of the body, again forms a kind of little gland, not unlike the cortical from which proceeds the bodily fiber, and this forms the little tunic, which enfolds the arterial vessels. The fiber further descends into the greater arteries, and there also forms glands, which again send out fibers from themselves, and from these is produced, the muscular, tunic. Thus the nervous, glandular, tendinous, and muscular tunics with the membranous constitute the arteries and veins, all in each being formed of fibers. Thus the blood vessel is produced from the simple

Starting point is 01:26:49 fiber by continuous derivations. The arterial vessel can accordingly be called the third fiber, the medullary fiber, the second, and the simple fiber, the first. in this respect also the first fibre may be called the first vessel then the second vessel and finally the vessel properly so called or the blood vessel so with the fluids themselves that flow through them the first vital essence is the super imminent blood or that of the supreme degree that which is of the second fibres is the middle or the purer blood and that which is the arteries is the blood properly so called or the red blood therefore is the simple fibre the proper animal essence the form of forms two there is nothing else continuous in the whole body or its whole form is the simple fibre alone all that is continuous in the body or essentially determined that is formed is a simple fibre for there is nothing in the medullary fibre but the simple fibre there is nothing in the blood vessel but the medullary fibre there is nothing in the whole body which is not woven together of vessels and fibres even what does not so appear as the tendons cartilages and bones yet this also experience shows to have been woven from the vessels and fibres originally

Starting point is 01:28:28 thus there is nothing in the entire body but simple fibre which is its whole form nor does there enter into it anything continuous or coherent except the simple fibre the only continuous substantial arguing further if the simple fibre is an animate product from its first essence it follows that there is nothing in the entire animal form going to form it but this essence itself the fluids of various kinds which are in the medullary fibres and in the blood vessels as the serious fluids do not constitute the form since the forms constitute the fibers but these fluids flow within the fibers and vessels three if that essence is the soul it follows that this alone is what constitutes the form four the simple fibre is of a celestial name nature, what the body is. Now inasmuch as every part or individual of the first substance is of a celestial form, and corresponds to the substance of heaven or to the first and most universal aura, it follows that there is nothing in the simple fiber which is not a celestial form, and this alone

Starting point is 01:29:48 is ruled by spiritual forms. This form, because it is above other forms, cannot be touched at all by them. still less can it be hurt. It is most secure from all injury. How can a compound act upon the simples, of which it is compounded? It is most remote from them, nor are they dependent upon it. 5. This fiber, therefore, is not terrestrial, as Aristotle teaches, but of a celestial nature, essence, and form. 6. Hence it is immortal, nor can it perish, because it cannot be touched. 7.

Starting point is 01:30:29 What is terrestrial and corporeal is not the fiber, but rather that part of the red blood, and of the middle blood in the globule, which served there for an instrumental cause, in order that the first essence of the blood may descend in series by successive derivation and be in the midst of the outmost world, or in a word that it may constitute the bloods

Starting point is 01:30:54 in which, nevertheless, that selects, material form reigns. 8. That from which the bodily blood exists is only corporeal, nor does it contribute anything to form, except that it runs through these fibers and adapts them so that they may enter into forms. 9. This part, or this corporeal, is mortal, and relapses to Earth when the globules of blood are dissolved,

Starting point is 01:31:23 but not so the fiber, which of itself passes away, while the body remains under the form of a corpse. 10. Paradox concerning the simple fiber. 11. Concerning the universal circular of the fluid of the body, or the circle of life, concerning the perpetual solution and composition of the blood. 12. Concerning diseases of the fibers.

Starting point is 01:31:54 13. Concerning the derives. of the diseases of the animus into the diseases of the body and vice versa. 14. Concerning the arachnoid tunic. End of Section 6. Section 7 of the soul, or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording.

Starting point is 01:32:19 All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 7. 2. The senses. 15. The external organs of the senses, as the ear and the eye, are instruments of the modifications of the air and of the ether, and these modifications are the principal causes to which as to mediate organs the sensations exactly correspond as to the ear this is the instrument which receives the modulations of the air

Starting point is 01:33:11 for it receives and applies to itself every form and mode of the forces flowing to it the same is true of the eye in relation to the ether the ear in this respect differs from a musical or a acoustical instrument in that it not only receives but also sends out and further extends the sounds. So does also the eye differ from optical instruments. The eye is indeed like the camera obscura, which reproduces most exactly the images transmitted from the object deposed, without changing them into other forms and other colors. But in the eye, these modifications do not simply pass over to the retina. the operations of the eye excite, the essential determinations to acting likewise, even to the leased retina, from which through the optic nerve in the same site is propagated to the common sensory.

Starting point is 01:34:11 Thus the sensations correspond exactly to the modifications of the organs, likewise in taste and smell. From the external form of the parts which is generally either round or prickly affects the papyrgy, affects the papillet of the tongue or nostrils. The organ is affected by these touches, which are innumerable, and thence a similar sense results. 16. The sensory fibers leading to the common sensory are exactly accommodated to the form of the modifications flowing in

Starting point is 01:34:46 and affecting them. Thus, the sensations flow by a natural spontaneity from the circumfluent world through the fibers, in the animated world, even to the soul. In the inquiry as to what is the form of the modifications of the air and of the ether, we are led to conclude from experience that there can be no other modification of form than that of the form of the parts. For the volume is composed of the parts,

Starting point is 01:35:16 and if the parts are changeable a like condition ought to result in the whole volumin of what is set in motion, as in the single parts, which are so many symbols of the common motion. The form of the modifications of the ether is spiral or perpetually circular, and that of the modifications of the air is simply circular, for such are the external forms of the parts, as may be demonstrated by numberless proofs. It may be asked then,

Starting point is 01:35:48 what is the form of the fluctuations of the fibers? It has been proved in the treatise on the fibers that the form of the fluxions of each compound fiber is spiral, and that the form of the fluxions of many fibers, taken together, is circular. Thus, the one form exactly corresponds to the modifications of the ether, and the other to the modifications of the air. But the form of the higher ether is vertical, and this corresponds to the substantial form of the substantial form of the matter. the spiraled glandule. Thus, when modifications of the oras flow into the miniature world

Starting point is 01:36:28 or the animal system, they continue their flow in a similar nature, nor are their essential determinations changed. 17. The sensations are carried from the external organs to the internal organs, as if from a heavy to a lighter atmosphere, or from a lower to a higher region. Light Bodies are raised from the center toward the surface and emerge, but those which are heavy fall to the center and seek to bottom. So do sensations strive from the outermost to the innermost or from the lowest to the highest, while actions fall from the innermost to the outermost or from the highest to the lowest.

Starting point is 01:37:10 Thus sensations may be compared to the lighter and actions to the heavier bodies. The cortical brain holds the inmost and the highest, for to climb thither is upward, but thence toward the surface of the body is downward. That the cortex of the brain also occupies the highest region of the body may appear from the fibers themselves and their nature. The most fluid and the softest fibers are near to the cortex, or to their first source. Those more remote from the cortex are harder and more stationary. and as if being more compressed when rising to a softer fiber, they rise to the pure region and vice versa,

Starting point is 01:37:54 which also is the reason why the nerves or the sensory fibers are soft, and the motor fibers are somewhat harder, and that the softness increases, according to the ascent. 18 The sensations do not arrive at any special glandules or glandular congeries in the brain, but at the universal cortex, so that there is not a single cortical glandule in the entire brain which does not become a participant of each sense and of its least movement, degree, and difference. This, the anatomy of the brain, declares with sufficient distinctness, for each nerve and each fiber when it is emerged in the medullary lake of the brain,

Starting point is 01:38:39 so merges itself with all the neighboring ones that all differences will not. disappear. For one fold is continually connected with another, a certain subtle membrane intervening between every fiber and every vessel and the one next to it, which membrane joins and binds fiber to fiber and artery to artery. Those intervening threads in there being drawn out from the fiber, we call the emulous vessels of the fiber, and these are inserted the most delicate threads drawn from the piamater. Thus it may clearly be seen that in the brain, in the cerebellum, and in either medulla, there is nothing whatever that is discontinuous or disjoined. And the sensation which is a most subtle kind of trembling of a certain atmosphere

Starting point is 01:39:31 is not able to press solely upon a single fiber or any particular fibers as far as to their origins, but is compelled also to pursue its journey through all that is continuous from the fiber, and this is true as well of the trembling and vibrations of harder bodies. The same appears from the special investigation of each sensory fiber, for the optic nerve diffusing itself in the beds of the optic nerves cannot help pouring itself upon the entire circuit of the brain, since the fibers drawn forth from this circuit and concentrated on a firmer base, unite upon the beds of the optic nerves, and if the sensations follow the flux of these they cannot but terminate in the common surface of the brain.

Starting point is 01:40:20 The olifactory nerves from the continued pituitary membrane so immersed themselves in the oval center, or meduller globe of the brain, that they have their origins from all, for the mammillary processes being inflated expand the whole medulla of the brain the acoustic or auditory nerves emerging from the annular protuberance associate themselves with all the fibres which are sent out from the brain and from the cerebellum and so in other instances wherefore the ratio of the sensations is the same as that of the modifications for these having begun in the least center diffuse themselves about into the entire periphery from these considerations it follows that there is no part of the cortex which does not become participant and conscious of the inflowing sensation the most distinct sensation exists in the cortex of the brain especially the sensation of sight perception and understanding where the cortical substances are most delicate and most expanded there the sensations should be the more perfect and distinct for that the cerebrum feels perceives and understands but not the cerebellum is because the cortical clangules like so many little censories are in a state of perceiving modes distinctly in either protuberance or vertex of the brain that is in its supreme lobe

Starting point is 01:42:00 this cortex is distinctly divided for an infinite number of fissures and furrows separate the congeries by which means the cortex may be expanded and drawn in any direction so that when the distinction is the more perfect there is also the more perfect sensation this is the reason too why all the convolutions and bendings of the cortex concentrate themselves in this are tend hither by a continual flux and you This is observed as well in outward as in inward intuitions. We even direct our contemplations toward this prow of the brain. Also, when this is injured, the faculty of clearly seeing and perceiving is changed according to the degree of injury, as appears from various diseases of the head. Thus, sensation belongs indeed to every cortical glandule, but it is more perfect in one way. perfect in one part of the brain than in another.

Starting point is 01:43:03 For in one it is more particular and single, according to the divisions of the brain, while in another part it is more general, and hence the sensation is more indistinct and obscure, as in the lowest layers of the brain and in the cerebellum. 20. No cortical glandial in the whole brain is absolutely like another, hence neither are the little sensor.

Starting point is 01:43:29 similar to each other, which are so many cortical glandules. But a certain variety intervenes, which nevertheless is so harmonious that not the least difference occurs in the mode of any sensation, but what is perceived more perfectly in one glangual than in another, that there occur infinite mutations of state, both essential and accidental, of the cortical glandules which are so many internal sensories, has been sufficiently demonstrated in the treatise concerning those glandules, for there are larger and smaller glangules, harder and softer,

Starting point is 01:44:07 consisting of more or less fibers. There are those whose state is more constricted or more expanded. Some associate with more, some with less, but to enumerate every difference would be two prolics. The cortical glandules in the brain are of one kind, those of the cerebellum are of another,

Starting point is 01:44:27 and those of still another in the medulla oblongata and the medulla spinalis, also they are of different species of the brain itself, in its vertex, in its borders, on the outside, near to the piometer, and on the inside, around the ventricles. All the cortical glandules, the beginning of the fibers, the little sensors and motors, are internal. Now, in order that the brain may be free to receive all sensations and feel every difference it is necessary that there should be order among its censories. This order must be wholly harmonious. Even if one glandule receives a pure, another a grosser mode, nevertheless we must communicate the sign of its sensation to the others

Starting point is 01:45:16 as a part to the whole. This is called the harmonious variety, which is so proper to nature that it deserves to be called the nature of nature. Such a variety exists in the particular fibers, in the particular muscles, in the single parts of the atmosphere. For similarly, are the lowest atmospheres more compressed than the higher, in such a way, nevertheless, that between all there is a certain harmonious variety. Thus the particulars contribute each in its own part to the common and public estate, 21. The sensations diffused throughout the whole brain are to be conceived of as winding themselves

Starting point is 01:46:00 around in a spiral manner, or according to the form of motion, of a circuit, and of the cortical substances, and the pure sensations revolve vertically through the cortical glandule, hence according to the most substantial form itself of the sensory organ. The convolutions of the cortical glandules in the brain flow into the form of the most perfect spiral and because the sensations touch every point every fiber and every cortex of the brain hence we must conceive of a similar circumvolution and whirling motion of the sensations for then an easy flexion and propagation of these proceeds from a part into the whole in the same manner the modification takes place in each individual cortical

Starting point is 01:46:50 gland whose form is perpetually spiral or vertical. For every active force impressed upon an organic substance flows and is determined most exactly according to the form of the latter. To flow otherwise would be contrary to the stream and current of its nature, or contrary to the rotation of its axis. Also the sensation circumgirates by a similar form when it follows along its fibers, therefore also when it emerges from it, so are the forms of affliction and that of its atmosphere or of its modification similar. So do the macrocosm and the microcosm mutually

Starting point is 01:47:35 correspond and impress the same modes upon each other. Such a whirling motion openly appears in the external organs also when the mind is inebriated or the brain affected by a like disease or delirium. From these statements it may appear with what winding about and circumgirations the inmost sensation or the understanding is carried on, the form of whose flexion is celestial and so on. Twenty-two. We may perceive by ourselves and naturally the harmony and the disharmony of sensations, that the soul naturally apprehends and is conscious of everything harmonious or inharmonious which occurs to any sense appears from the phenomena of each sense. Harmony of touch in the utmost skin tickles and excites laughter.

Starting point is 01:48:29 Harmony of taste and smell flatters and gratifies the organs in such wise that it creates a pleasure, sweetness, and appetite. Harmony of hearing so pleases the ear that one smiles at what is heard said. So with harmony of sight. whence is beauty comeliness and delights but disharmines produce the contrary effect for these sadden the soul and the mind and induce a certain horror even hurt and thence aversions even in the imagination and the thought a similar concord of truths which are so many harmonies is likewise produced by nature herself without science to direct and without art as a mistress then succumbs that those whose minds are more healthy and who are imbued with some knowledge apprehend natural truths at once and lend them their approval but that the same truths are opposed is the result of a vicious state of their mind that the soul perceives the harmony or disharmony of images and ideas at the first glance appears plainly enough in the brute animals

Starting point is 01:49:45 for birds know of themselves how to ingeniously construct their nests to choose the food most proper to themselves and to avoid what is harmful the spider weaves its web with the most perfect geometry not to speak of other instances which are effects of the natural perception of harmonies even the organs themselves are not only soothed by harmonies and pleasant things but are also restored by them while on the contrary they are injured by those which are inharmonious the reason is that the soul is pure intelligence and is the order and truth of its own microcosm hence the cognition of order and of truth is a faculty born with us and one that is rarely learned neither can the senses otherwise exist for in order that there be a sense there must be the harmonious mixed with the inharmonious. From the difference of these and their connections and their situation arises sensation. In the same way, from commingled truths, fallacies, and falsehoods arise rationation, thoughts, discourse, controversy, opinions. Without these, there would be very little speech and neither schools nor sciences, and the shelves of the libraries would remain

Starting point is 01:51:10 empty. In the same inmost sensory organ, the end of the sensations and the beginning of the actions meet. The cortical glandule is the last boundary where sensations terminate, and the first prison house whence the actions break forth, for the fibers, both sensory and motory begin and end in these glandules. Sensations penetrate from the outmost to the inmost, but actions run from the inmost to the outmost. Thus the cortical gland is as well a little internal sensory as a motory organ,

Starting point is 01:51:52 and both active and passive, as are all the more perfect organic substances. To suffer as well as to act is the perfection of natural bodies, whence comes elasticity. and the forces and powers thence resulting. The superior forms receive every assailing force and return a similar. If a comparison be instituted with the censories here described, sensation itself is the passion to which a similar action corresponds.

Starting point is 01:52:26 The object of the action may be to determine what is felt into act or to represent through the act the idea perceived, for action is the action. representation of the idea of the mind this is the reason why the perceived idea so quickly breaks forth into act as in speech it would be otherwise if both action and passion did not meet in one and the same organ End of Section 7. Section 8 of the Soul or Rational Psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain.

Starting point is 01:53:11 For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg. Translated by Frank Sewell, 18377. to 1915, and others. Section 8. 3. The intellect and action. 24.

Starting point is 01:53:39 Intellection, which is the ultimate of sensations, does not immediately turn itself into will, which is the primary of actions, but a certain thought and judgment intervenes. Thus there are intermediate operations of the mind, which connect the last of the one with the first, of the other. There is a certain progressive series of gyra as intellection passes over into will. Undoubtedly, there intervenes the thought which is the last involution of things perceived and

Starting point is 01:54:11 understood, and the calling forth of like things from the recess of the memory. But the judging or judgment is the reduction of the things thought into a certain rational form, those things being cast out which have nothing to do with the matter in question at length comes the conclusion and so the will the intellect is the first part of the operations of the intellect the thought is the second part judging is the third conclusion is the fourth all of these taken together are designated by the one word intellect but this gyra is often accomplished with such presence of mind and velocity, that it hardly appears that there are so many intermediate parts between the first rational perception and the beginnings of actions. It is sometimes run through in a single moment. That there is a similar series of operations in single substances, gifted with perfect elasticity to which the above might be compared, I do not doubt. It may be that the

Starting point is 01:55:19 elitory of nature when it is subjected to a force or impetus resolves and restores itself by similar intermediate operations to a similar act although it may seem to be instantaneous but we cannot further enlarge upon the subject here twenty five there is such a connection of the rational perception or the intellect with the will that is of the passion with the action in one mind, that as the one is, so also is the other, and that a mind deprived of perception is also deprived of will. The perception of the mind can be compared with passion, but the will with action, hence the perfect mind with the perfect elitary in nature. For it is a faculty of the elitary, that its elastic force is greater as the body is more compressed, that the elitary is equal to the compressing force, that the force of an elastic body is

Starting point is 01:56:23 determined by the actions of the compressing body, that the elitory liberated from the compressing force is restored at once, to a former condition, that the body in which there is a perfect elastic force, however much it may be compressed, loses nothing of its own force, but always restores it, and puts forth as much as it has its south. suffered so that a similar force and impetus is diffused into what is immediately around and thence into the nearest vicinity and thence everywhere that in the striking together of elastic bodies the centre of gravity before the conflict and after is moved with the same rapidity when moved at all so that in the meeting of elastic bodies the state of the centre of gravity is preserved besides many other things which might be compared with this organic substance and its rational operation and might be explained by correspondences to the apprehension of the intelligent in the meanwhile that the will is such as is the intellect or the perception appears from the phenomena or the affections of the mind of the animus or of the brain for the will increases with perception itself in youths and in a doubt

Starting point is 01:57:42 when one perishes the other perishes for they meet in the same organ when the brain is injured compressed with foreign matter or disturbed in its order not only does sensation become unsteady according to the degree of injury but also action as in loss of memory in catalepsy in lethargy in sleep and other conditions the reason is that nothing can be carried into the will which does not come from the perception or the will is the conclusion of the thoughts, and to it belongs the power of acting in accordance with the ideas of the thoughts. 26. The first perception cannot be at once transferred into thought, still less into will, unless some force accede which incites and promotes, and that without this exciting and promoting, forced perception would at once be extinguished, and with the perception the thought, the two

Starting point is 01:58:40 going hand in hand. that the first perception is a bare interior sensation or mere passion follows quite as well from description as from reflection or that the images of sight pass over through the eye and the fibres of its nerves to a common sensory or a certain interior sensation is what is experienced whenever the eyes are opened it is the same with sound and its modulations in the air with taste in the tongue and smelling in the nostrils and touch in the body. But in order that this perception may become a sensation interior still, and that the rational sensation, which is called intellection, may pass over into thought and from this stage into will, this cannot take place without some accessory and stimulating force. What these forces are are here added. I will proceed to state. twenty seven the first force is the harmony itself and the pleasure and sweetness thence preceding which is perceived in the external and internal sensory organs at the first impression of an object

Starting point is 01:59:52 and which so affects the animus and mind and vivifies the perception that this cannot help being continued even into the will the facts are clear in themselves for what is beautiful and comely at once affects the eye or internal sight with a certain latent pleasure. At the harmony of similar sounds, as also the sweetness of taste and odor, and even the blandishments of touch, the mind is immediately pleased, wherefore its perception is not quiet, but is at the moment actuated, and calls forth from the inmost of the memory similar ideas. Whence comes thought, and this is followed by will. 28. Another force is the love of self-preservation, or the love of self, which kindles the internal sensations, or, from the first perception even to the last, excites these sensations into the beginning of action, and without the accession of such a force, our intellect would be deprived of its life, and would languish away.

Starting point is 02:00:59 If we examine interiorly the natural harmonies themselves, which are first perceived in the sensory organs of the body, it will appear that these are so many conservative forces of the body, and not only do they afford blandishments to the sense, but also they restore whatever is defective in them, as may be demonstrated from many phenomena. For harmonies revived the soul, the vernal greenness and various hues of the meadows restore the sight because these exhilarate the aramis so also symmetries affect the hearing but the contrary things offend and bring injury hence the body suffers and the animus grieves

Starting point is 02:01:44 it follows from this that there is a certain impelling and active force in the natural harmonies because they contribute to the preservation of the body the love of self is the first of all that the first of all the loves of the soul of the desires of the mind and of the cupidities of the body all desires of ends proceed thence as though from their source there are also loves diverted as streams from their source which are excited by particular perceptions these are doubtless so many forces lives or heats which vivify the operations of the mind and excite them even to action this is the reason why each one is strong from his own love and desires and each one lives from his own life and that those who are deprived of such loves and desires are also dull of disposition stupid and dry stocks possessing without doubt a spirit and a blood equally cold and sluggish twenty nine from these loves are borne the desires of some end which desires are the forces themselves present in the intellect and in the will. There is no intellect or rational perception, and therefore no thought or judgment,

Starting point is 02:03:05 and still less a will, which goes hand in hand with perception without the intuition and desire of a certain end. Without this or without an end, the will is never determined into act. Wherefore, in order that there be a will, it is necessary that there be in it an end which the mind contemplates.

Starting point is 02:03:25 But there are superior and inferior ends. The superior ends are those only of the human mind, nor do they look solely to the preservation of the body or of self, but they regard the preservation of that society in which the mind forms apart and many other things beside. In place of these rational ends, there are with beasts, corporeal ends, the desires of which are called lusts and pleasures.

Starting point is 02:03:55 These ends are solely for the sake of self-preservation. It may be of the body simply. Such an end, because it does not descend from a certain source and principle of reason, prefers the preservation of self to the preservation of society as a whole. But we must treat of these ends hereafter, when treating of the animus and the mind. 30. There is nothing innate in the human mind except a perception of order. and of harmonies and of truths in forms and in substances in forces and in modes by which the rational mind is affected in so far as they concern the preservation of self

Starting point is 02:04:38 but other things even the forms themselves the substances the forces the modes the truths are to be learned by the aid of the senses whence come discipline and the arts it is otherwise in the brute animals it has been shown above that the harmonies themselves are innate with us or that we perceive them without a teacher as the sweetness of taste and smell the symmetries of sound the excellencies and beauties of nature in a word the very order of things or the harmony of modes forces substances and forms thence also we may perceive the very truth of things for these correspond to order itself in nature and this is the reason why order is called the transcendental truth this we clearly perceive in our intellect for we seize truths as it were at their bare assertion without any demonstration and therefore some persons are said to have in them as innate the seeds of virtue and of beauty but the form itself and the perfection of the form are different things by way of the senses and of discipline we have to procure for a form of a form of different things by way of the senses and of discipline we have to procure for a ourselves scientifically and experimentally the form but not the very harmony itself and the order itself of the determinations in the form the harmony and the order are natural because they agree with the form itself of our organic substances and of their sensations and perceptions and thus they allure them that they may soften titillate and pleasantly affect them but the form itself thence resulting is something to be acquired this is why the dispute has arisen among the learned whether ideas are innate in us or altogether acquired

Starting point is 02:06:34 the same also is proved by the reflection of our own thought imagination and speech for an order that there may be thought and speech an infinite number of things are requisite which concern order alone and this order is so strictly observed and maintained by children that the entire peripatetic and pythagorean schools could not in ten years reduce to rules and sciences what this or that boy brings forth naturally and of himself in less than a moment's time we also assent to truths themselves without any demonstration a posteriori at their very first announcement in so far as there is in them a natural harmony and one that gratefully affects the mind. Besides the harmonies, the order, and the naturally implanted truth, there are also loves which all proceed from the love of self, although it is from doctrine alone that it can be known whence these loves proceed, and of what quality they are. But it is otherwise with the brute animals. In these there are still more possessions which are innate, be it single ideas themselves, or

Starting point is 02:07:48 or forms, modifications, and so on, for they are born into their sensations, perceptions, and they stand alone as soon as they are put forth from the womb or the egg. 31. The external senses are very obtuse, gross and feeble, and thence fallacious, so that they deceive the internal senses themselves in innumerable phenomena, taken for truths and appearing to be truths. This is because these internal senses penetrate rather into the causes and principles of things, wherefore the science of the senses is purely animal, but not such is a science which is rational

Starting point is 02:08:30 and truly human. There is indeed no other way of knowing and of understanding given us than by the sensations or by experience, that is, by the posterior which is called the analytical way. our sensations are perfected first, then the internal perceptions, and finally the intellect, the judgment, or the knowledges of the true end do not come until late in an adult life, and because this way is natural and alone permitted, we have to depend upon our observing and collecting of experiments and phenomena of nature. Thus the optic science is most familiar with the organism of the eye, and still knows no rules

Starting point is 02:09:15 except those derived from science cultivated by experiment so with the acoustics of the ear the very truths causes and principles of natural things yea even of moral things must be learned the same way although we may be pleased when objects present themselves to us still we do not know them any more interiorly than we do the beauty itself of a flower conspicuous for the fair mingling of a flower conspicuous for the fair mingling of its colors and symmetry of its parts. For in the blooming rose we of ourselves perceive nothing except the beauty, the order and the truth, the form itself, what is its color, what the relation and position of its parts. This is not possible to explore without the experience of the senses. For the soul itself, which alone understands the objects presented to the senses, is itself order, law, and truth. Thence whatever is agreeable to its reason pleases it, while other things it shuns and abhors. But that there are infinite things which to the senses appear to be that

Starting point is 02:10:26 which they are not may be seen sufficiently from examples. For instance, it is an appearance that the sun, stars, and planets are little molecules instead of Earths as large as ours, that we are absolutely at rest, although our terrestrial globe rotates and revolves around the sun, just as it is in a ship in which we seem to be at rest, although within an hour, we may be borne away under full sail some miles from the port. It appears as if the antipodes could not possibly stand on their feet, as if the blood did not circulate, as if the cerebrum did not animate, and as if the ventricle did not have a peristaltic motion.

Starting point is 02:11:12 It does not appear to the senses that a certain fluid flows very swiftly through the least fibers or that the atmospheres are divided into parts since they seem to be like waters, either continuous or as nothing. It also seems to the senses as if there were an attraction,

Starting point is 02:11:31 a vacuum, a single atmosphere, and as if the ray were an atom, as if there were no supposition, as if a body very swiftly moved were continuous as if providence fate and fortune are mere happenings of accident as if insanity were wisdom fallacy truth the becoming equally with the unbecoming honesty and vice versa as if license were free will pleasures and allurements of the senses the highest felicity and greatest good it appears as if art were more ingenious than nature as if philosophers were possessed of a better common sense than the plebeian world and as if they were the wise who talk more elegantly and are skilled in languages and mingle their sharp criticisms or else who keeps silence or express only half the meaning of what is to be understood as if we were to estimate people according to the opinion of others whom we believe to be possessed of judgment.

Starting point is 02:12:36 Infinitely more things occur in the discriminations of the true and the false, the good and the bad, the beautiful, and the becoming. These very discriminations, which do not appear to the senses, we believe to be not, so long as they are concealed, be they in reality ever so numerous and striking in form, so in other instances. From these things we may conclude that if we have faith in our senses only, we shall be more like animals than rational beings.

Starting point is 02:13:10 For the brute animals are easily deceived by fallacious visions or by appearances, and that, therefore, in the degree that we are the more rational or the more truly men, in that degree we shall dispel the clouds and fallacies of the senses, and penetrate clearly into truths themselves, or enter into causes and principles, and the same faith we shall deny to our body that is we shall withdraw ourselves from the shadows of the sensations therefore it is not for man to become wise by means of the senses or experience alone thirty two the soul concurs with every sensation perception and intellection but so sublimely universally and secretly that we can scarcely learn what flows from the soul and what from the body for the senses are what inform the mind in order that the rational may hear since without the experience of the senses we can understand nothing but that we are able to understand yea even the power and faculty of understanding and of reducing the several ideas to their order is not a property of the body or of the external senses

Starting point is 02:14:30 but is of the soul the soul may be compared with the light which surrounds the eye without the light there could be no discrimination whatever between the less luminous and the shady between those differences in objects whence arise colours and forms so is the soul that which pours in a certain light in order that verities may appear as verities while the sensations on the other hand add certain doubtful phenomena which as it were cast a shadow on the verities thence arise ideas and truths mixed with falsities and from these again opinions hypothesis conjectures discussion discourse and speech if the bare verities shone forth unobscured there would be no reason and no ratiocination for no one could help acknowledging what another said and thus one would feel in and think just as the other. Such a state would be a most perfect one, like that of those souls whose speech is directed solely

Starting point is 02:15:38 to the praise and glory of their deity. In order, therefore, that there may exist a society of bodies, it is necessary that our intelligence be mixed and not pure, but we will treat of this more at length when we treat of the intellect. 35. The causes of both the external and internal,

Starting point is 02:16:01 and internal sensations flow universally from hints, that the soul is conscious of something that agrees or disagrees with itself. A certain body soothes or aids it, and other pains or injures it. The one pleases, the other displeases. By these it is delighted, by those grieved. Thus all the senses flow from the cause of self-preservation, and the more interior ones from the love of self. the truth of this proposition appears from examination of the phenomena of the several senses in the taste we observe the pungent properties such as those of the saline acid of uranus and other prickly substances

Starting point is 02:16:48 and also those which soothe such as the sugary and sweet those injure these delight from the mixture of the prickly and the rotund arises the bitter the sweetness of wine semisement such flavors, thence come so great variety. The same holds true of the sense of smell, for this sense takes in a similar variety of parts, even more subtle than those above mentioned, which fly and flow about in the atmosphere. The hearing is a sense still more sublime, for this perceives only the harmonies and disharmines of the modules of the air, those which are natural and in agreement are soothing, those which disagree, such as the disharmines, produce pain, likewise the sight, whose objects are the modifications of the ether

Starting point is 02:17:41 or of the superior atmosphere. These senses come nearer to the nature of the soul. They recede, as it were, from bodily things. They insinuate themselves as mediators and messengers into the spiritual. the internal senses such as the perceptions and intellections likewise exhibit this law for whatever agrees with their nature and order pleases and that which disagrees displeases and because natures are dissimilar therefore in order that the nature of one may never be absolutely the same as the nature of another and indeed natures in themselves perfect are easily perverted by the airs and the fact that the nature of one may never be absolutely the same as the nature of another and indeed natures in themselves perfect are easily perverted by the airs and the fallacies of the senses it comes to past that what pleases one person displeases another still all the senses flow universally from the cause of the preservation of one's state and order for the soul has provided its body with sensations that it may know whatever touches its surroundings

Starting point is 02:18:48 in order that it may be informed most particularly about every change of the state of its body which it desires to preserve but the internal senses flow from the love of self for love is spiritual even as the soul itself is and from this cause it seeks praise glory a life of fame felicity in the body and after the death of the body by the love of all these things it is led these things gratify the mind and are most grateful to the inmost senses and chiefly flatter them thirty four in the degree that forms are the more perfect they are the more grateful and pleasing to the senses and vice versa in taste and smell all angular forms are harsh and displeasing unless the angles are so disposed that they may represent some more perfect form and excite some sense, which the mind judges to be conformable and adapted to restoring the state of the body. This is the reason why the salty and the bitter often give pleasure, and the sweet and aromatic displeasure. But the more perfect forms, such as a circular and spherical, which are next to the angular imperfection, and those still more perfect, naturally pleased because they are soothing,

Starting point is 02:20:13 as, for instance, the sweet and sugary substances. The forms which affect the hearing are chiefly circular, for such are the forms of the modifications or of the fluctuations of the fluctuations of the air. These, as they more nearly approach the circular forms, are in that degree the more harmonious and grateful. Still more delightful do they become as they approach the perpetually circular, or the spiral form, such as the form of the modifications of the ether or of vision but in the degree that they depart from these harmonies or approach the angular forms so that they become sharp prickly in a word not rounded just so far do they become disagreeable

Starting point is 02:21:00 likewise with the sight as its forms or those of its images become in and among themselves more perfectly spiral and in this way mingled as light and shade so are they the more grateful and indeed most as they approach the forms of the higher and interior sense namely that which is perpetually spiral and vertical then succeed the superior forms such as a celestial and spiritual in which each part is, as it were, perpetual, and everything angular is cut off and removed. Thus every organ has its own form, which looks up to a superior and is related to an inferior one. And of every form there are infinite changes of state, and hence arise the infinite varieties of sensation.

Starting point is 02:21:54 End of Section 8 Section 9 of the Soul or Rational Psychology This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 9

Starting point is 02:22:28 4. The sense of touch. 35. The touch is the lowest and truly corporeal sense, whose innumerable organic substances are spread over the entire cuticle and surface of the body, and taken together constitute the organ of touch. Under the skin within minute folds, as in their own beds, there lie concealed molecular papillus of pure,

Starting point is 02:22:56 their medical shape, protected by the epidermis. They exist in such numbers that they may be found scattered throughout the entire cutinous covering of the body, and not a point exists anywhere which these do not partially occupy on the surface, and when they apply themselves to receiving a sense, they as it were, fill that point, for they can be contracted and expanded, thence they can draw themselves in or out, and so render the entire skin sensible with themselves. Thus the organ of touch is not a continuous one, but concrete, made up of an infinite number. For everything continuous is contrary to nature, since nature is more perfect in the degree that she is more

Starting point is 02:23:43 distinct and singular in her products and compositions. For in the smallest particular, nature lies hidden, and thrives as if left to herself, but not in those concrete things in which her order form and harmony perishes. 36. The perfection of the sensation of touch depends on the quantity, quality, position, and connection of those organs, that is, on the particular form of each and on the general form of all together, as also on a certain variety, since no one is absolutely like another, just as is the case with the perfection of the cortical glands to which these things of the body correspond.

Starting point is 02:24:30 For the papillet, or those organic substances of touch, are very soft and are accommodated to every tactile force, and they withdraw into themselves as soon as touched by anything that injures or offends, but extend themselves when they are excited and pleased with the round forms. Hence they erect themselves and they become relaxed, exactly according to the qualities of the shock they receive. As regards the quantity, the more they are in number, the more minute discriminations, and the more subtle distinctions they recognize. As to quality, the softer they are, the more applicable to every tactile force, hence the more sensible they are. their perfection therefore consists in their faculty of changing their states and of applying themselves to the forms of bodies with which they come in contact for this reason they are moist and furnished with a constant very slight humour as of a medullous nature and there are glands from which corporeal fibres proceed continually imbibing and transmitting this humour from the surrounding air

Starting point is 02:25:43 as to their situation and connection or their particular and general form so far as they are more perfect in themselves so much the more powerful are they in producing or seizing the sense but the bare power of individuals cannot produce the effects unless all in which there be a similar power conspire to the same effect and in order that they may conspire a positive and mutual connection in requisite whence may proceed in order and regard for the whole so that for instance one may regard the other as the companion of its own sense so the entire form will concur with the particular form or the form of each one this is the reason why where the sense is most acute as in the fingers of the hand and the toes of the feet and near the nails the ridges of the skin lie in a spiral direction and that they do not stretch upward but are extended lengthwise and thus by their greater conformity bear mutual aid as to their variety however as for instance no one of them is precisely like another this is evident from the difference in the sensations of touch for the mind at once perceives these wherever the touch occurs for the sensation is more dull, or it may seem more acute in the hollow of the hand or of the foot or of the finger than on the back, on the side, then on the breast, on the neck, then on the head.

Starting point is 02:27:19 This variety, in order that the sense may be most perfect, will be an harmonious one, such indeed that the variety of the one may correspond to the variety of the other, or that a common harmony may result from the variety in particulars, like that of the corticol glands of which we have treated thirty seven the organs of the sensation of touch correspond to their corticoc glandules in the spinal medulla and the oblongata as also to their corticoc glandules in the covering of the brain that the papilla which are the organic substances of touch correspond with the corticoc glandules of the medulla spinelis and oblong as with those of the brain itself appears very plainly from anatomy as inwardly examined for the papilla are those extremities of the nerves or fibres complicated into such organic forms since there are infinite fibres running to the skin and there branching out as appears especially from the bodies of infants and since each fibre derives its origin from a certain cortical glandial of its own in the medulla spinalis or oblongata it necessarily follows that each papilla refers to its own gland as to its proper parent

Starting point is 02:28:47 every sensation creeps along following the extension of its nerve or fibre define the beginning of it and does not terminate except in this origin or in the corresponding gland thence it follows along the whole axis of modulus banalus and emerges even at the cortical covering of the brain for the sense as was shown above is diffused not to one gland alone but from one into all the glands thus is the brain rendered a participator in every sensation and so can judge of their differences there seems moreover to intervene also another and more immediate communication of the papillae of the touch with the cortical glands of the brain, besides that which we have named, which is rather immediate one. For it can be demonstrated that these organic papilla are so many glands which imbibe a most subtle humor

Starting point is 02:29:44 from the circumfluent air and ether, and carry the same by their emissaries even to the cortex of the brain. I have called these emissaries the emulous vessels of the fiber, or corporeal fibres which weave together the inmost tunic of the arteries and at length terminate in the cortical glands to these they carry and supply this purest humour from which is elaborated the animal spirit in this manner these papillais which are thus so many glands correspond to the cortical glands of the brain communicate with the corticous surrounding of the brain whence comes the sensation of touch i wish to add that these pepola or glands which furnish the soul of the foot with its acute sense of touch seem to be composed of those fibres of the brain itself which flow along the whole length of the modulus even to its extremity and finally into the nerves so that the sense of touch in the soul of the foot communicates more immediately with the brain than that of other parts of the body wherefore this has a more acute sense than other parts and a change of its state is at once carried to the brain and thus also in the bodily system are first and last things united

Starting point is 02:31:11 the soul perceives most particularly every change which goes on in the whole body and particularly and universally it encounters these things which bring any harm to the organic forms or to the body but that we are not conscious of any other changes than those which affect the cortex of the brain in particular what strikes a fibre runs to the beginning of the fibre and as it were announces the change made in it for every sense emerges or is elevated as if from the heavier to the lighter in being elevated to its origin the origin itself is the cortical gland for whether it be one of the brain brain or of the cerebellum, or any gland of the medulla oblongata or medulla spinalis, there is a likeness of the gland in every minute portion of the fiber, just as there is a likeness of the heart in every particle of an artery. So is there a gland present, serving as a beginning in every least part of its fiber, wherefore each part is rendered conscious of a change. There is nothing organic in the whole body which is not constructed from fiber and vessel.

Starting point is 02:32:31 The fiber itself is the producer and the formative substance of the vessel, whence it follows that nothing changeable can exist in the whole bodily system as formed of fibers, only of which the cortical gland or its soul may not be rendered conscious. But the cortical glands perceive otherwise than do the medulla spinalis, and medulla oblongata and those in the cerebellum otherwise than those of the cerebrum the former perceive in a general and obscure manner but these particularly and distinctly thence arises a sense which does not reach the consciousness of our intellectual mind the cortex of the brain must be reached particularly if it is to perceive differences from this follows that unless the brain be affected in particular we cannot be rendered conscious of changes the sense of touch affects the cortex of the brain both immediately and immediately as already indicated likewise the sense of taste of which presently it is also evident from the mammillary process which is affixed to the brain itself that the sense of smell likewise affects it

Starting point is 02:33:50 the sight extends directly into the cerebrum by the optic nerve seeing therefore that the soul becomes conscious of all the changes of its body and that sensation is passion to which there is a correspondent action it thence necessarily follows that the soul concurs with every change for as it suffers so also it acts its natural force is such that the organism the order, harmony, and form, which it has constructed, it also preserves and protects. For the organs subsist from the same source from which they exist. They even subsist in the same manner. For the soul remains in a perpetual state of formation, and what has been formed it regards as to be formed, and that which is to be formed as formed already.

Starting point is 02:34:49 End of second. Section 9. Section 10 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others.

Starting point is 02:35:25 section ten five the sense of taste thirty nine the taste is a superior sense of touch and discerns those figured parts or angular forms which are more simple and which flow in a certain liquid in the tongue are contained popola almost similar to those above described among the pores of the skin but there is observed a threefold difference under the skin of the tongue itself and under a certain nervous membrane they lie concealed but they stretch forth and reach out when the appetite is excited and the mind desires to perceive the quality of meats and drinks this is the reason why in the dead they are withdrawn and hidden the outermost sheath is netted pervious and full of holes in order that the parts which press and are rolled upon the tongue is may be able at once with their points and corners to meet the membranes and little extended tongues of the papilla. This effect could not be produced unless the particulars, which are to be discerned by the taste, should be in solution and flow in some liquid. This is the reason why the tongue itself and the neighboring glands,

Starting point is 02:36:48 as those of the whole mouth or of the jaws and palate, pour forth a kind of saliva, for the dry tongue possesses only a dull and feeble sense very much such as that of the touch only that the sense of taste is a superior sense of touch appears from this that the touch cannot be far perfected that it can perceive the effuvia floating in moist places and their little points still less the order and arrangements of the angles among themselves and as mixed with the rounded surfaces for there are degrees of the angular parts or forms as of the more or less composite or simple those which are composite are of that inferior posterior and imperfect kind which the touch perceives while the taste perceives those which are more simple prior superior and more perfect but in general it is to be observed that the three senses touch taste and smell do not take in anything more than the figures of the parts or of the angular forms that is of the inert and heavy they do not take in the forms themselves and their essential determinations as do the sight and hearing forty the sense of taste is intermediate and truly corporeal its innumerable organic substances are dispersed throughout the entire tongue and taken together constitute the organ of taste, as asserted and shown above concerning the touch,

Starting point is 02:38:26 for papilla of diverse forms are scattered through the entire tongue and over its surface, but nevertheless when taken together these form but one organ and one sense. The perfection of the sensation of taste depends upon the quantity, quality, situation and mutual connection of those organs that is upon the particular form of each and the general form of all as also upon a certain variety which must be called harmonious just as said above concerning the sense of touch the same law belongs to both for the objects of both are figured corpuscles hard and inert but those which affect the sense of taste are the simple or less composite of the same kind or of the angular bodies as regards the variety of those organs they are of a triple composition and nature the more numerous the softer the more perfect are in the apex of the tongue than those which are in the sides then the more coarse and imperfect about the roof of the tongue thus there is a harmonious variety and difference of all for the perfection of similar organs in the same tongue increases and decreases so that there is nothing whose figures may not be detected by this sense

Starting point is 02:39:55 forty two the sense of taste just as a sense of touch refers itself immediately and immediately to the cerebrum as its common sensory immediately by the nerve of the fifth pair which is the common nerve of the organ of the sense arrived from the medulla of the cerebrum itself. We must distinguish whether the taste arises from the nerve of the ninth pair or from that of the fifth pair, for everywhere it approaches and enters the tongue together with the nerve of the par vagum. But because the tongue is not only muscular and filled with motor nerves, but also papillus and sensitive, and because the fibers of the said nerves are wonderfully folded together in the tongue, so that it is difficult to know the office of each,

Starting point is 02:40:48 therefore we must explore the subject by the aid of other signs which may reveal the truth. It has elsewhere been observed that the nerve of the ninth pair is the speaking or locatory nerve, and that the nerve of the eighth pair of the masticating nerve, and the nerve of the fifth pair, the sensory nerve. So far as regards further the nerve of the fifth pair, it is the common nerve emerging from the angular protuberants, in which are concentrated the fibers both of the cerebellum and of the cerebrum. This nerve is both soft and hard, according to the observations of Ridley,

Starting point is 02:41:31 therefore both the sensor and motor nerve, as is the nerve of the seventh pair or that of the hearing besides it enters the several organs of the sense the sight hearing smell and taste thus it seems to serve the same use in the head which is served by the intercostal nerve in the cerebrum as that in other words unites in its own mode the several senses so this unites the several actions or muscles it may be demonstrated from a anatomy that the universal nerve of the senses is one which arises immediately from the cerebrum, just as that the universal nerve of the natural motions of the body, or the intercostal nerve, as also the nervous vagus, arise from the cerebellum. Moreover, many phenomena prove the nerve of the ninth pair to be the speaking nerve, or that of the muscles by the aid of which the tongue speaks.

Starting point is 02:42:31 Thus, so far as the nerve of the fifth pair is continued from the medulla of the cerebrum or arises from its cortex, it follows that all the differences of touch in the tongue may be perceived in the cerebrum. It would be otherwise if there were no immediate communication with the cerebrum. End of Section 10. Section 11 of the soul, or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain.

Starting point is 02:43:11 For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 11 6. 43. The sense of smell is a still higher sense of touch and discerns those figured parts or external angular forms which are still more simple and which float and are borne about in the aerial atmosphere. The organs of the sense of smell are scattered throughout the whole pituitary or mucus membrane

Starting point is 02:43:58 which lines not only the cavities of the nose but at the same time covers the walls of many of the cellules. Besides the cavities of the nostrils, there are also the frontal sinuses cut out between the tables of the frontal bone, as also the antra of hymore in the upper jaw, then the cellules of the cuneiform bone, and besides there are caverns and spongy and dilabarantine spaces which all communicate with the nostrils and are covered with a common membrane and periostium. Through this membrane in the head and the widest spaces there creep myriads of vessels and glandular and round corpuscles are interwoven in great numbers. There are six cavities of the sinuses and four cellules of the spongous bones which communicate with each other

Starting point is 02:44:58 and are furnished and filled with similar organs or glands. This whole expanse derives its origin from the olfactory nerves. These nerves, called otherwise the mammillary processes, affixed to the anterior part of the brain, are attenuated around the ethmodial crest, and are transmitted by certain perforated lamina, called the cibroform and cibrus plate. It accompanies these fibers outward also, even beyond the meninks,

Starting point is 02:45:33 both the Pia and the Dura, together with certain arterial and venous vessels. From the description of the expansion and connection of this organ, it is evident that it possesses a sense still more subtle or of parts more simple than does the taste. For those things which float about in the air are lighter, more and more volatile than those which are in the water and liquids which affect the taste. For in order that the taste may distinguish the figuration of parts, it is necessary that the compounds be dissolved,

Starting point is 02:46:10 but that the smell may perceive this, it is not necessary that they be dissolved, but the very effluvia, even from the bodies, whether of animals or vegetables, as also those exhaled from minerals, are perceived by this sense. Thence are taken up those particles which do not permanently adhere to bodies,

Starting point is 02:46:32 but which spontaneously are separated from them and fly about in the air. The effluvia of the animal kingdom are so copious that by the sense of smell alone, dogs know their master from other men, and can trace out and hunt for animals. Still more copious and sensible are the effluvia of the vegetable

Starting point is 02:46:54 kingdom as the odors from gardens and fields. In the mineral kingdom, while many objects are in odorous, there are yet many which in a liquid form excite this sense. Hence the smell appears to distinguish parts more simple than those detected by the taste. But nevertheless, the forms here are angular, in themselves heavy, inert, hard, figured, truly corporeal and material. 44. The sense of touch, taste, and smell perceive only external forms, but not internal forms, as to the senses of hearing and of sight. The external form or figure of the parts, the angularity, pointedness, plainness, roundness, is perceived by the organs of the touch, taste, and smell, but not their quality or internal forms, for only the parts along the parts along the form. the surface affect the papilla. And because these are inert and hard, they cannot be explored by those organs as to their internal structure, which is the reason why we judge of them

Starting point is 02:48:06 from the taste and odor only, and may not know whether they are wholesome or not. Thus, arsenic and poisonous substances may deceive by their sugary sweetness. Their internal quality may be learned only from their effects, from which knowledge comes the chemical and medical art. But it is otherwise with the hearing and the sight. By these senses, the internal forms themselves are apprehended, but not the external forms. For these are modifications and fluxions, which affect the organ according to their essential determinations.

Starting point is 02:48:43 Wherefore, the law of the sense of hearing and sight is entirely different from that of the smell, taste, and touch. 45. The sense of smell affects the whole brain, every medullary substance of it immediately, and immediately the cortical substance. And the brain, whose form is harmonious, shuns whatever is contrary to harmony,

Starting point is 02:49:09 and seeks what is conformable to it. The sense of smell insinuates itself immediately into the whole medullary substance of the brain, and by this diffuses itself. For as soon as the fiber of its sensory penetrates the cribus lamina, it is diffused into the mammillary process, which arises close to the corpore striata, and carries its roots here and there through the whole medulla.

Starting point is 02:49:38 For these processes in the Niduli cavi, when they are inflated, expand the medullary substance, and keep it swollen. The roots seem to be not so widely scattered in the human brains as in the brains of the irrational animals. Lest it may be, the odors should disturb the reasonings and judgments of the human mind by inducing so frequent changes in it. Insofar as the smell is extended through the whole brain, it follows that everything which injures the harmony of its parts and substances the mind is averse to and feels to be disagreeable.

Starting point is 02:50:16 and offensive, while other things are conformable. The most perfect form itself is that of the brain, namely the spiral. Into this flow its cortical substances, and nearest these the fibers which thence arise. Whatever, therefore, is inharmonious must disagree whether it exists at once or successively. For that which is harmonious in itself does not tolerate the inharmonious. but perceives at once what it is which is repugnant to itself and to the order of its individual parts thus the smell appears to affect only the general form of the brain but not the particular form of each glandule the brain or common sensory is not affected by the sense of smell except when its fibers are in their diastole or expansion

Starting point is 02:51:16 The whole medullous brain, or a single fiber of it, is expanded whenever the lungs are expanded, that is, whenever the air is drawn in, for the motions of the brain and of the lungs are synchronous. In every general expansion of the brain, all its fibers are restored from their most compressed position into their natural or harmonious situation. Therefore, it is then only that the smell is experienced. is experienced, as may be perceived by us when drawing in the breath. Moreover, the sense of smell returns when after sneezing, the medullous brain is restored to its natural condition as to the fibers, that is, when there is no longer anything to prevent the fibers and glandules from being held distinctly apart.

Starting point is 02:52:08 47. Similar things to those observed in touch and taste are also to be observed in the sense of smell. For example, the organic substances of this sense are innumerable and disposed throughout the entire pituitary membrane. And taken together, they constitute the organ of smell. The perfection of the sensation of smell depends also upon the quantity, the quality, the situation, and mutual connection of these organs or glandules, that is, upon the particular form of each and the common form of all, as again upon a certain variety, which is to be called harmonic. The reason is because so many objects of the sense of smell are similar to those of the taste,

Starting point is 02:53:01 for instance as being figured inert saline sulphurous urinous oily aromatic or anything whatever of the mineral kingdom and angular and of terrestrial form but in the degree that this terrestrial form approaches more nearly to the circular so much the more agreeable is a sense thence resulting the soul also perceives still pure bodies in forms of a simple element swimming in a still higher ether and it disposes its organism so that those things which are agreeable may be attracted and drawn in by the more subtle pores even though it disposes its organism so that those things which are agreeable may be attracted and drawn in by the more subtle pores even to the cortex, and that by means of these the animal spirit or purer blood may be prepared, but we are not rendered conscious of the variety of these or those forms by any sense. That the sense of smell may be wonderfully perfected and exalted appears from the animals, which by smell and sagacity trace and perceive the friendly effluvia of their master, and the unfriendly effluvia of other animals.

Starting point is 02:54:16 indeed often at an immense distance. But we human creatures take in by smell only those forms which swim in the air, while the beasts we have mentioned take in those which float in the ether. There is an ocean of these forms, as appears from phosphorus and innumerable other phenomena, for the atmospheres are filled full of exhalations, so that nothing shall ever be wanting, or rather constantly at hand. order that our blood as well the red as the white blood and animal spirit may be supplied with those things which should enter into its composition besides these are the least little pores now opened now closed now hungrily seizing and imbibing the wave of these subtle forms now rejecting and discharging them or there are moments when our cuticle stands wide extended and when it remains

Starting point is 02:55:15 shut. Thence it is that various diseases both originate and are cured. This porous action is called instinct, nor does it belong to the consciousness of our minds, because these forms are so subtle as not to affect the papilla or organs. This the soul has reserved to itself, nor will it reveal this by any sense to the mind, which might wish, with its will taking the lead, to administer this economy, in which case the whole animal chemistry would easily be overthrown and destroyed. Accordingly, this sense should be the most acute and pure of all the senses of touch. End of Section 11

Starting point is 02:56:05 Section 12 of the soul or rational psychology This is a Libravox recording All Libravox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer Please visit Libravox.org The Soul or Rational Psychology By Emmanuel Swedenberg Translated by Frank Sewell

Starting point is 02:56:34 1837 to 1927 to 190 and others. Section 12. 7. The sense of hearing. 49. The ear is the organ of hearing, exactly adapted to receiving the modifications of the air.

Starting point is 02:56:54 We can be sufficiently instructed concerning the nature of the air's modifications from the formation of the ear, and also concerning the formation of the ear from the nature of the air's modifications. For the modified air is the principle and the ear is the instrumental cause, and so formed, one for the other, that there is not the least of the one which is not inscribed in the other. But a sagacious ingenuity, and one well furnished with knowledge, is necessary in exploring

Starting point is 02:57:28 the nature of one by means of the other. For the oracle itself, or external ear, with its pina or lobe, its helix and antihelix, trigis and antitrigus, scafa, conchia, ligaments, cartilages, follicles, or glandules, and muscles, is extended and spirally intorted at the first impulse of sound or modulation, so that not the least ray shall escape, but must be carried most aptly into the auditory passage this passage itself with its winding progress its bony and cartilaginous substance its tunic ceruminous glangules recticular body and hairs is most perfectly adapted to induce the approaching and concentrated sound into the membrane of the tympanum and at the same time to control it lest any damage should occur to this membrane but the membrane of the tympanum is concave of elliptical figure placed obliquely and composed of three membranes the exterior one being continued to the auditory passage the interior into the vestibule

Starting point is 02:58:44 even when perforated it adapts the sound received exactly to itself and either widens itself and its own cavity or else relaxes in the cavity itself of the tympanum are seen the ocecula as the malleus and incus and stapes with their handles connections hinges muscles and cords these clearly indicate that the least touches or forces from the outermost membrane are propagated to a certain interior one called the fenestra so that there are as many delicate pulsations as there are distinct sounds but inwardly and in the labyrinth and its vestibule there run together three semicircular canals with its sonorous membranes as also the cochlea of wonderful construction with its spiral lomina its nucleus its little nerves its periostia and infinite other remarkable features besides the two windows and the aqueductus philippi all these openly show that the organism of the ear corresponds exactly to the form of this flexion of the air particles and truly so many wonders are displayed in this single stony hollow sculptured bone that it brings the most intelligent human mind into amazement the artificially constructed acoustic instruments are more perfect in the degree that they approach more nearly to what is exhibited in this natural knowledge to each mode or ray of sound there belongs its own force and the difference of forces produces differences of sound for receiving and transmitting which in the most distinct manner the ear is formed therefore the hearing is also in a different manner, a sense of touch. From innumerable indications, as also from the organic apparatus of the hearing

Starting point is 03:00:50 or of the ear, it is plain that the modifications of the air acts by forces, or that there are as many forces, or most delicate blows and touches, as there are sounds. In the ear, this is evident from its membranes and fenestre, from the malice attached to the membrane, and from its fold and pit in which it hides itself, as also from the incas and the stapis, and their articulations, which indicate plainly that there are as many differences of sound as there are pulsations. The same truth is also confirmed by innumerable other phenomena of sound, as that a sound increased puts forth such a force against things in its way that it violently displaces them and will break glass i have heard that from the mere crash and sudden sound of exploding powder in a ship which was rent in pieces and burned as also from the same in a tower or magazine the roofs of houses have been lifted tables overturned windows broken and bodies displaced by a very strong in the same in the roofs of houses have been lifted tables overturned windows broken and bodies displaced by a very strong

Starting point is 03:02:01 impelling force. Besides many other results, which plainly show that in sounds there resides of force greater or less according to the degree of its intensity, and that therefore the difference of forces produces differences of sound. Besides these, there exist innumerable other phenomena which prove the impulsive force of sounds. 51. The differences of forces, impulses, or touches constitute in themselves a certain harmony, which is called the form of modifications, whence results the form of sensations, or sensation itself, concerning which nothing can be predicated until its differences are analogically compared one with another. This appears in musical harmonies which may be compared

Starting point is 03:02:55 with numbers and the ratios and the analogies thence resulting. First sound cannot be said to have a quality without some other sound as a companion or spouse, but it becomes a something by this relation to and comparison with another. The very rays or modes of sound which differ in their force at once make harmony or disharmony in combination with others. Thus they acquire a certain quality, they are such relatively. Hence arises musical harmony, and this is the reason why variety is an attribute of nature, and why the perfection of nature lies in being harmonious. 52. From sounds and their differences combined arises harmony or disharmony, which is the form

Starting point is 03:03:49 itself of the modifications, and which is presented either agreeably or disagreeably, in the organ of hearing. 53. Harmony and disharmony are something that refers to the organism of the ear itself and its communication with the brain, and the harmonious variety that exists in the sensible parts of the brain. As also something that respects the form of the cortical gland, or the quality of the animus, and especially the quality of the mind.

Starting point is 03:04:23 The harmony of sensations in general, general and especially the sensation of hearing is determined by the state of this last, which is the reason why the same harmony is not equally pleasing to all, but that what pleases one may displease another. Nevertheless, there is a harmony more or less perfect, naturally. But the states above named are a reason why harmonies most perfect, or truly natural, may yet be perceived as inharmonious. The sense of hearing is more excellent and perfect than the other senses, namely the touch, taste, and smell.

Starting point is 03:05:04 In this respect, that the hearing perceives the very forms or essential determinations of objects, but the touch, taste, and smell only the external forms or figures, and indeed those of the harder parts, so that the hearing is able to penetrate into the inmost essence of a composed sound, or harmony but not the inferior senses which can take in the external but not the internal quality 55 the hearing is indeed an external and corporeal sense but it contributes especially to the human intellect for every word which is a composed and variously articulated sound signifies some one idea of the mind but the ideas are connected in such a a manner that thence some rational form results which could not result except from material forms composed and connected together after a rational and analytical manner also the more intellectual the ideas the more the ideas ought to be analytically composed from whose ultimate results and products the mind makes its inductions and conclusions as to what lies hidden within them in this way alone do we approach the pure intelligence of the soul which at length receives only the inmost sense of the words and indeed at last a sense so inmostly hidden that it cannot be expressed by any word or circumlocution except most obscurely then the spiritual or angelic speech or the universal philosophy takes it up and the perception alone of these truths in their mutual relations is a harmony most perfect and divine such as the proper speech of the soul

Starting point is 03:07:01 fifty six the hearing viewed in itself is an inferior sense of sight for the forms which are represented by articulate sounds or words pass over into those images which belong to the site itself so that we contemplate things heard as if they were things seen before they are changed into rational or intellectual ideas these nevertheless do so agree that there appears manifestly a certain affinity between the two only a difference in perfection intervening as between the modification of the air and that of the ether or between the air and the ether which agree in general but differ in particulars or such as is the difference between the superior and inferior things of nature between the prior and posterior the simple and the composite the more perfect and the more imperfect or between principles and causes and between causes and effects fifty seven the hearing and the the hearing and its form of words does not pass over into a certain superior sight by mode of analogy or the form of the hearing does not naturally excite a similar form or harmony of sight that is an image or idea but the mind being instructed in the meaning of the words concurs and thus from use and at the same time from its own intelligence it understands the words themselves and the forms connected in speech or from these it draws forth some rational meaning.

Starting point is 03:08:47 Thus the sound by no means excites anything rational in the mind, but the forms themselves of the words, which are so many ideas of the mind, give the intellect the means whereby it may draw thence, from the sound something rational. That the sounds themselves are unable to produce anything intellectual in the mind appears from the vowels, which in sound are almost entirely different in one language from what they are in another.

Starting point is 03:09:19 58. Meanwhile, animals. Not being furnished with intellect or with a rational mind are entirely unable to produce any rational speech. For as is the soul, such is the mind and such the speech. Speech therefore clearly indicates that we enjoy a superior kind of soul, more intelligent and more perfect than that of brutes fifty nine the speech of brutes is wholly corporeal and material in general signifying the affections of their mind which retains a great affinity with their interior sense such speech which is to be called natural and general is also interspersed in our own indeed we possess many words which are by mere variation and natured and nature of the sound signify and express in a sufficiently natural manner, a certain

Starting point is 03:10:17 affection itself, of the animus. 6. The ear, which is the organ receptive of sound, applies itself most particularly to its reception, and without this application the mutual discriminations of sound could not be felt and perceived. the ear undergoes and induces upon itself as many mutations of state as there are differences of sound, as appears from the applications of the malleus, incas, and stapeists. Therefore each organ must have a separate force, and one acting of itself, just as it is also passive and inflated as in all the other organs.

Starting point is 03:11:03 sixty one to every sensory organ there must be supplied motory and sensory fibres and sensation could not take place if either the one or the other were wanting and unless there were some action which corresponded to passion or sensation the action of the organ arises from use and from its nature and indeed from an unconscious intellect thence the motory fibers of the organ seemed to be moved for the organ seemed to be moved from the cerebellum, but the sensory fiber from the cerebrum. Thus the cerebellum and the cerebrum seemed to rain in every sensory organ. 62. Every sound induces a marked change of state upon the brain and moves every particle of its medullary and of its cortical substance, as well as of both the meninges. Yee sound sets into a kind of trembling the cranium. itself, its parts and fibers, and those of the whole body, and so the whole bodily system is

Starting point is 03:12:11 rendered receptive to the forces of sound. 63. A sound vibrates and causes to tremble each by itself the parts of the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and either medulla. But the cortex itself of these parts is caused to vibrate only in a general manner, since sound and its harmony may not be able to carry the change of state to the cortex itself in a particular manner. But the cortex from the general change of the state of its cerebrum may take notice, and indeed

Starting point is 03:12:47 from experience, learn to detect what such mutation signifies. 64. The hearing and speech in finding their way through the brain and all its parts and moving these flow according to the form of its substances. This is the reason why the brain perceives the harmony of sounds. This is recognized as being similar to its own general form, or the sight and connection, order and form of its parts. 65. The hearing in a wonderful manner clarifies, purges, and restores to order the brain, cerebellum, and the body itself and its viscera, yea, many things which otherwise would harden and collapse, are thus restored,

Starting point is 03:13:37 and in its own way it draws forth the animal spirit that it may enter into marriage union with the blood, even from the brain itself through its sinuses into the jugular veins, and from the jugular veins into the heart. Hence it contributes something to the animal life. For speech and its sound is a kind of trembling, which pervades both liquids and solids. This is the reason why the ear is formed in the petrous bone, and that its nerve passes over that part of the skull

Starting point is 03:14:12 where the sinuses come together, and that the animal spirit itself passes through the pores of the skull. differences of sound can neither exist nor be distinguished unless there be a certain common sound not discriminated or articulated in which and under which the particulars can be discerned not otherwise than is the case with the sight which also cannot exist without a common light in respect to which all those things are discerned which are more or less luminous such a sound is furnished by means of the whole skull which is the reason why the ear is inserted in the stony and most porous bone it is also on this account that musical instruments are the most distinct perfect and sonorous in the degree that their strings are attached to a board and table of a more tremulous substance for this furnishes of itself a common sound but this common sound like the light itself is not perceived in the sound of the particulars sixty seven the hearing communicates immediately with the cerebrum by the softer nerve of the seventh pair which probably arises from the medulla of the brain but its harder portion communicates with the medulla of the cerebellum from which it seems to originate

Starting point is 03:15:44 hence it follows that the ear is adapted to receiving sound by the harder nerve but for catching the meaning by the softer nerve each being distributed throughout the sensitive membranes cylinders and spirals of its vestibule End of Section 12. Section 13 of the Soul or Rational Psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg. Translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915.

Starting point is 03:16:36 and others. Section 13. 8. The sense of sight. 68. The organ of sight is the eye, set in its own orbit, globular in figure, in color black, brown, gray, bluish-gray, or blue. Not to mention the eyelashes and lids, the eye itself is provided with six muscles of motion,

Starting point is 03:17:03 the names of which are the Atollins and the Depremes. The abductor, the addoctor, the superior and the inferior oblique. The tunics, the humors, and vessels constitute the bulb itself. The tunics are many. The abugenia, which is also called the adnata and conjunctiva, adheres to the front part and joins the eye to the orbit. Next is the cornea, which is pellucid and divided into layers. The third is the sclerotic.

Starting point is 03:17:36 hard and opaque. The fourth is a corroid, black in man, and consisting of a double layer. The fifth is the uvea, which is the front part of the corroid, perforated and colored, visible through the cornea convex, in which is to be seen the iris of various colors, the pupilla, which is the round opening almost in the middle of the iris. The posterior face of the uvea is black. Besides these, there are to be seen the Sphinctor Pupélet for contracting, the ciliary fibers for dilating, the ciliary or anular ligament for the movement of the vitreous body and crystalline lens,

Starting point is 03:18:23 especially the arterious and venous circle and the ductus nigris. Then the retina, the very delicate tunic, glistening, somewhat mucus an expansion of the optic nerve around the base and the primary part of vision the humors are the aqueous or albuginous filling either chamber of the eye in which the uvea freely floats as it were and which is continually replenish the vitreous probably consisting of the most subtle vessels or cells filling the back part of the eye contiguous to the tunic of the retina the crystalline almost lens shaped more solid than the rest called the crystalline lens enclosed by means of a most delicate tunic in the pit of the vitreous freely suspended as it were just behind the pupil and movable by means of it composed of many pellucid layers and thus resembling an onion the arachnoid vascular tunic surrounding the crystalline and vitreous body the optic nerve completing the retina enters the eye from the side of the nose. Besides these, there are the nerves of the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth pairs. 69. The eye is the organ constructed for the reception of the modifications of the ether, just as the ear is for the reception of the modifications of the air, so that from the structure and form of the eye we may learn what is the nature of the modifications of the ether,

Starting point is 03:20:00 ether and conversely since one corresponds to the other as the instrumental to the principal cause the correspondence appears to be such that the eye could not have been otherwise formed than it has been in order to receive every difference and variety of the inflowing modes to apply these to itself and transmit them to the common sensory seventy the soul desired to furnish her body with sight in in order that by this means she might take in every variety of the visible world placed beneath her and the sphere of her regard. Without this sense, these would not come into her knowledge. Thus only could she provide for the body and guard against threatening danger, these being the universal end of all sensations. Moreover, she would perfect the intellect or the rational mind by a posterior way, or through

Starting point is 03:21:00 the senses, especially that of sight. Besides these ends, there are many special and particular ones. 71. But the sense of sight, although it is supreme and in the most perfect of all external sensations, still is so feeble that it can contemplate only the ultimate effects of nature, or their external forms and figures, and infinite things still lie hidden from her and escape her view, while only a very few are revealed, and indeed these vary obscurely and indistinctly, and as if of a continuous degree. This is the reason why interior things and the causes of bodies and of objects are to be investigated by the experience of many centuries,

Starting point is 03:21:49 and indeed with the aid of those sciences by which the intellect is rendered acute in its more interior penetrations. 72. By means of the optic art or of microscopes, we have detected how infinite are the things which escape our ocular vision, since even the smallest insects, whose shadow we can hardly perceive at all, or but as the merest point, still appear to be provided with their nerves, vessels, blood, heart, brain, medulla, muscles, organs of the senses of nutrition and generation. and that the globule of red blood hitherto hardly visible contains the infinite parts and so with many examples from these we may conclude that even these parts which are the ultimate objects of microscopic vision also embrace in themselves innumerable smaller parts even a whole system so that nature in the least parts still lies hidden far beyond our optical experience

Starting point is 03:22:56 but we are gifted with a certain internal vision or imagination which penetrates still farther into the forms of things presented while the inmost sight of all penetrates even farther so also in regard to distances while our hearing extends to a moderate distance our ocular vision extends respectively to one that is immense as even to the sun and the stars and the rational mind by its vision, reaches even beyond the stars, while the soul which is intelligence itself and pure vision, is not limited in its cognition by anything narrower than the created universe. For if such a difference exists between the perfection of hearing and that of sight, what must it not be between the sight and the intuitions of the soul when left to itself? seventy three we may conclude that the sight of the smallest animal keel is much more acute and penetrating than that of the large animals so that they can discern parts which we can hardly distinguish even by means of the microscope hence the smallest points of our vision are regarded by them as entire masses or orbs upon which they walk and whose pores they hide themselves as in caves

Starting point is 03:24:22 and from the least particles of which they seek their nourishment and there lay their eggs and hatch their young this seems to be deductible from the natural necessity of their life and their nutrition and likewise from the small diameter of their eyes seventy four and because our mind is unable to judge of objects except by means of the eye it judges of their figure from the variety of the light and of the shade of the magnitude and the mass from the distance of the form from the motion also it judges of the harmony from the pleasure with which the sight or animus is affected in these nature herself vastly exceeds art hence it follows that the mind judging from the sight is liable to be greatly deceived when that from which it forms its judgments concerning objects is obscurely revealed for the sight is a servant and messenger of the rational mind which it informs regarding the visible world and its variety seventy five there are as many most delicate pulsations and touches as there are luminous rays although these appear as nothing when compared to the rudest sense of touch as do also the modifications of the air and yet without touch nothing is affected the more luminous and intense the ray the stronger it is the less luminous the less force of acting it possesses and shade itself possesses none how many forces there are in the solar rays appears from their effect whether from heat or from the irritation of the membrane of the nose to sneezing

Starting point is 03:26:12 also from the reflection of visible things from the objects and figures into the eye and from the phenomena of refraction and innumerable others the images which produce the sight of the eye are evidently only variations of light and shade or of the stronger and weaker forces variously mingled together hence arises an image or a visible figure and object colors themselves are nothing else than variations of light and shade or rather of white and black made bright with luminous rays the relation itself of the light and the shade or of white and black lightened up with rays and thence the external form and harmony are what produce the colored figures also a greater proportion of white than of black becomes so much the more yellow even to red which partakes equally of both. The greater proportion of black becomes the more green and cerulean, and so on. The ratio itself produces the color, but the form and harmony produce the splendor and the beauty, while the harmony of the colors among themselves produced the delight of vision. 77. No image can be represented to the eye without the common light,

Starting point is 03:27:41 under which it is and in which may appear both what is or less luminous and what is shadowy thus in the darkness the sight vanishes in twilight it is feeble in midday it is clear seventy eight every vision object or image induces a change of state in its sensory and of itself the eye disposes itself to every quality of its object there is therefore in the eye in the eye in the eye an active and an action which corresponds to the passive or sensation. This appears from the structure of the eye itself, and from one's own observation, whenever images flow into the eye. From the structure the pupil is movable by means of the crystalline humors, and that it may be moved actually toward every variety of object it is provided with the sphincter, fibers and ciliary ligaments even the crystalline humor is itself composed of many layers and the uvea freely swims in the aquas humor and the aquas or albugenius humor is perpetually replenished

Starting point is 03:28:57 thus the eye wonderfully adapts itself to apprehending every object by the changes of its state seventy nine the changes of state of the eye are just general as well as special and particular. In general, the position of the eye is changed with respect to the position of the object, which is done by means of the six muscles. Then also it obscures itself in part by dropping the lids, and by elevating them it admits the entire in-flowing of the object. In special change, the position of the pupil is changed. particular all the least particles composing the humours both aquas crystalline and also the vitreous body for this is thought to consist of most subtle vessels and cells besides the retina itself which distinctly receives all the inflowing forces

Starting point is 03:29:56 eady visual objects induce also a change of state by the several fibres of the optic nerve as also by the several fibres of the medulla of the brain and finally by the several cortical glands for the same force which is borne into the vitreous humor and the retina is also communicated by fibers then extending even to the ends of the fibers but a change of state induced by these force is lighter and more subtle than the changes produced by sonorous forces, or those of hearing. Eighty-one, the visual rays endeavor to reach, not some particular cortical glands, but the whole cortical covering are all the glands universally. Thus, there is not a gland of the brain which is not rendered conscious of, and concordant with some one visual ray, so with every fiber. for the optic nerve after its meeting with its companion in the greater ventricles of the brain

Starting point is 03:31:04 expands into two swellings which are called the thalamai of the optic nerves or the posteriori crura of the medulla oblongata these stalemae communicate with every substance medullary and cinericious of the whole brain for it adheres and rests upon its most posterior lobes and borders. But the fibers of the lobes of the upper brain, as also of the vertex, are concentrated into a kind of fixed medullary cylinder, which is called the basis fornes. And thence for the most part, they spread themselves over the thalomye of the optic nerves. Thus the whole brain, both the medullary and cortical, is rendered a participant of the rays of sight. Eighty-two. There is no corticor.

Starting point is 03:31:58 gland which does not represent a kind of internal islet or a semblance of an eye, since the gland is in the last terminus of the fibers and thence of the modes in the rays of both the sight and the hearing. 83. Visual rays of images of sight induce a change of state, both internal and external, in every cortical gland, just as the sonorous modes of hearing do in the whole brain. for the cortical gland is a brain in miniature and receives the sensation of sight, just as the entire brain receives that of sound. Eighty-four.

Starting point is 03:32:44 The visual rays and their figures and forms or images run over the cortical gland in its surface and bend themselves according to its most perfect or vertical form, and their bending and changing is communicated to all the fibers and vessels, which composed a gland, thus to the whole gland itself. Eighty-five, but since the cortical gland adapts itself still more perfectly than the eye for receiving every variety of visual objects, by its own power, it induces a change in itself, taking another form, and one agreeing with the inflowing image. This change, which is the action of the mind itself,

Starting point is 03:33:30 or of the soul, corresponding to the sensation of sight as passive, produces that which is called the idea of imagination, and which is a part of the memory, because it is reproduced as often as the gland again, assumes the same condition. 86. In this way, the images of sight produce and perfect the imagination, which is the internal sense of sight, not indeed, that the visual image induces. this change itself for the gland is only passive to the shock of the rays but that the gland itself concurs actively from its own interior potency so is brought about to correspondence that such a change of state corresponds to such an image hence it results that if the imagination is strong and is intent upon one object or if there be a thought in the mind from which flows forth

Starting point is 03:34:32 and interior active power, that the images of sight strike the common sensory only in the lightest manner and are only very obscurely perceived, so that the visual image induces only a certain superficial change without any essential change of state. Eighty-seven. All words which are heard are also seen. All images which are seen are also perceived and become ideas. and all ideas which are perceived are also understood whence come rational or intellectual ideas in this way objects of the external senses pass over into objects of the internal senses eighty eight the passage of rays or modifications of the ether is made in a spiral form as that of the modes of sound in a circular form and the fluxion of the meduller and nervous fibers is also spiral. Therefore, the visual rays flow in from the surrounding ether, through the eye and its retina, upon the fibers of the optic nerve, in a fluxion of similar form,

Starting point is 03:35:50 flow by an easy and spontaneous force, even to the cortical glands. But in the cortical gland, they are elevated into a certain superior or cortical form, while indeed folding themselves around its surface and texture, and this form is the vertical. E.D.9. The cortical gland by virtue of the soul which resides within it, and is its order, law, truth, and form itself, feels whether the image, simple or composed, be an harmonious one. What is harmonious agrees with its form, which the image traverses? But the inharmonious disagrees, for it forces, injures, an endeavor. And endeavors to destroy the sight, nexus, order, form, in a word, both the external and internal state of the whole gland, whence results aversion, horror, and whatever is unpleasant, cheerless, even to sadness.

Starting point is 03:36:57 90. The human race is wanting in an interior sense which brute creatures enjoy as instance in their sense of place, or that which makes them to recognize where a certain place is, and thus to learn by what way to return home and regain their accustomed meadows and streams. They know this, notwithstanding they find their way by an entirely different path, and one which had never been trodden or scented. Thus they are like living magnets. Such a sense arises from the form of the cortical glands themselves, which form is vertical, and cannot be excited by the fluxion of substances without a determination of the poles and of the larger and smaller circles, such as is seen in the great system. But man is wanting in such a sense, because of the intellect, or our

Starting point is 03:37:55 possessing a certain higher perception which induces an activity in those glands so that the sensations of sight may be rightly perceived. This intellect is not pure, but mixed. Hence it does not attend to the slightest motions of the objects of sight, and it governs the state of its gland from its own will, and not from nature, or a natural intelligence. Therefore, it cannot be otherwise than that such a sense as wanting in man, while it is enjoyed by those bruscious, creatures which are not possessed of such an intellect end of section 13 section 14 of the soul or rational psychology this is a Libervox recording all Libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Libravox.org

Starting point is 03:38:59 recording by Amy Graymore the soul or rational psychology by Emmanuel Swedenborg translated by Frank Sewell 1837 to 1915 and others. Section 14 9. Perception, imagination, memory, and their ideas. Words which are heard, are, as it were, instantly seen. For words represent so many forms, quantities, qualities, movements, accidents, which are usually objects of vision. But whatever is seen is also taken in by a certain interior sight or imagination.

Starting point is 03:39:41 That is, it is perceived. Moreover, whatever is perceived by the imagination is also understood by man. Thus modes of sounds or of hearing pass over into images of sight. These into ideas of imagination, which are also called material ideas. These again into the rational ideas or into so many reasons from which, analytically connected, arises the intellect. Such is the progress of sensations from external to internal, and tense we may discern their differences.

Starting point is 03:40:15 The imagination is therefore an internal sight, which corresponds to the external. For the eye is only the organ and instrument of vision, the genuine vision itself reciting in the brain, or in the common sensory. When this is injured or disturbed or obstruct, the eye no longer sees, while on the other hand the image itself, which was present by daylight, is resuscitated when the eyes are closed or during sleep, as though it existed in the eye itself.

Starting point is 03:40:47 The parts of the external sight are called images, but the parts of the internal sight are called ideas, by some, indeed material ideas, since they are not represented as unlike the images of sight, except that they are disposed in a different order, and connection. What this difference is can be seen from illustration alone. The external sight contemplates only the figures of objects, as for instance one wall of a palace after another, the roof, tiles, foundations, chambers, pictures, tapestries, thrones, and the dukes and ministers who dwell there. But the internal site observes, at once, all these things which to the eye are presented successively or during the passing of time.

Starting point is 03:41:35 The external site beholds in a city, one house after another, squares, streets, temples, monuments, its legislature, its inhabitants. But the internal site sees these several things all instantaneously, and not in succession. The external site beholds the whole starry heaven, with its sun, stars, planets, moons, meteors, clouds, and their phenomena, contemplating one after another, while the imagination comprehends them all simultaneously, and views the form of the whole heaven perceived by sight, so in other instances. Thus the external sight takes in only one part of the several objects after another, while the internal vision takes them in simultaneously, so that in a moment it may

Starting point is 03:42:25 traverse a palace, a city, the starry heavens, and contemplate in one compound idea, that which was presented to the eye in its particulars. Thus the total complex of the one differs infinitely from that of the other, so that something infinite or perpetual, as it were, is super-added, as contributing a superior form in respect to that immediately below it. Hence it follows that the internal sight or the imagination is in a degree proportionately superior, prior, interior, simpler, and more perfect than the external sight. From the organs themselves of the external sight, we may also conclude that the imagination or the internal sight is in a degree approximately superior and more perfect.

Starting point is 03:43:14 The organ of sight is the eye, while the organ of internal sight is the cortical gland, especially of the brain. This cortical gland is an eye or a brain in miniature, but still it is an organ of a higher degree, for its form is vertical, according to the description given of it, hence it is of a purer, more perfect, and simpler nature than the form of the organ of sight,

Starting point is 03:43:39 whose rays and modifications are directed into the spiral form, which is next below the vertical in degree. The internal vision or the imagination exists in the cortical glands, and indeed in these separately, so that each one of these is a part or a symbol of that sense or the imagination. The harmonious variety of the glands causes that there is no difference in any object which is not in turn comprehended more distinctly in one of these glands and more obscurely in another. For the more eyes there are, so much more distinct is the sight. Consequently, the more cortical glands there are, so much more.

Starting point is 03:44:18 more distinct the imagination. Moreover, the common cause of all perfects the parts themselves, so that they shall all conspire to the common result. The images themselves of the sight are elevated along the fibers of the optic nerve, even to all the cortical glands of the brain. Reaching them, they run through them with the greatest rapidity, pervading even their whole fibrous and vascular structure by a kind of most subtle trembling, so that the whole gland is rendered conscious of the image and phenomenon of sight.

Starting point is 03:44:52 The gland which is the organ of internal sight or of the imagination adapts itself at once most perfectly to receiving its object, far more perfectly indeed than can the eye or the organ of external sight. Thus the gland undergoes a change of state, which very nearly corresponds to the inflowing image or object, for it either contracts or expands, or a sort of, a more perfect form or distorts itself into one more imperfect, since the entering of what is harmonious exhilarates and expands the sensory, while anything that induces discord binds and distorts entirely as in the fibers and organs of touch. This change itself, which the gland receives, and to which it adapts itself at the impulse of any visual image, is called an idea.

Starting point is 03:45:44 It can no longer be called an image, since it partakes of a certain superior and more perfect form, as well as of intelligence. In this way the visual image is converted and passes into the corresponding idea of the imagination, or the external and inferior sight, into that which is internal and superior. From these things it appears that a certain natural correspondence intervenes between the imagination and the ocular vision, since that would be that way. which is harmonious naturally expands the organ and restores it to its most perfect form, while the inharmonious compresses and distorts it into a form less perfect.

Starting point is 03:46:25 This takes place by infinite modes, according to every quality of the object as regards its possessing a perfect or imperfect form. The object, or the image, is perceived as soon as it strikes upon these little censories, or the cortical brain. This subtle vibration, trembling, and first change in the aforesaid glane, in the aforesaid glands, produces what is called the sensation of sight, since sight does not exist in the eye,

Starting point is 03:46:50 but in the common sensory. For when the modification pervades both the gland itself, inducing in this the most perfect form, and at the same time the simple fibers, which are so many intellectual rays of the soul, it cannot be otherwise than that whatever touches, and in an instant traverses these several fibers should be felt. but this site is superficial and cannot yet be called perception.

Starting point is 03:47:17 But we have first to learn what sight properly is, and what is perception, imagination, memory, image, idea, as also what their differences are. At the outset, it is to be observed that these all are affected in one organ or sensory, that is, in the cortical substance of the brain. Whenever those variations of the modes or modifications of the ethereal, which consist of the differences of light and shade, or of black and white, whence the colors arise, strike upon a little sensory of the brain.

Starting point is 03:47:51 Then sight exists. The variations quiver over the surface, and through both the medullary and cortical, the fibrillous and vascular substances, and they dispose the little sensory for receiving a modification similar to their own. The sensory does not enter into other states, but it remains simply in the state agreeable to that, which flows in. Then it is that sight arises, and its changes in this little sensory, or brain-en-leased form,

Starting point is 03:48:22 are only such as conform to the object of sight. The parts of sight are called images and objects. But the imagination comes into play whenever the sensory undergoes diverse states, even while the first state is still preserved, which is the state of the object and the common state, and basis, as it were, of the remaining states. Thus, while other states are passed through, they all have a bearing upon this first,

Starting point is 03:48:49 or one common to them all, and to this they are all related and assimilated. For there are innumerable states possible, both universal, special, and individual, and under every universal one, there are infinitely many singular ones, or in one general state, there are infinite particular states,

Starting point is 03:49:08 which are called its single parts. Nor can they do otherwise than contribute their share to a certain general form, since they subsist under a general form which they help to sustain. The parts of the imagination are not called images, but ideas, for taken together they contribute a certain form which approaches the rational, while yet it is not the rational. Into the imagination enter only those things which are similar and in agreement, and these are all particular ideas.

Starting point is 03:49:40 From these arises a compound idea, which again is, as it were, the part of an idea still to be composed. When the imagination is in action, then the external or ocular sight ceases or receipts from it, for the object of sight then only remains as forming a common basis of the other states, and by turning it about, those which have affinity with it, are gathered in and brought together. the imagination is stronger when the eyes are closed or in the dark and feebler in an intense light. When the imagination so operates that by a nexus of similar things a desired order

Starting point is 03:50:20 is obtained or seems to be discovered, and there is the recognition of what is in agreement, this state is called perception or internal sensation, for that is perceived which is seen or is taken in by the sense, and yet the concurring of many more things is requisite to perception, by whose aid the quality of an object is known. Memory is all that which is produced by the imagination, or it is the mutability of state itself, for the sensory itself possesses by nature nothing but a potency of changing its state, but that it assumes various states is the result of sensations which constrain the sensory, and by a kind of force bring it into these changes.

Starting point is 03:51:06 The particular mutation thus acquired remains, and its quality is known by the images impressed. Hence a particular mutation, which exists in potency, is a part of the memory, while a particular mutation, which is an act, is a part of the imagination. Therefore, the ideas of the memory are not the same as the ideas of the imagination,

Starting point is 03:51:28 but they are not reproduced except by an actual mutation, Hence the imagination may in a certain sense be called the active memory. These changes of state are to be acquired by use, culture, custom in the flowing in of sensations. Thus the sensory itself becomes accustomed and learns in time to undergo many changes of state and thus to enrich its memory. Every mutation, once acquired, remains under the name of memory and continues present whenever the sensory returns. to that same mutation. From these observations we may now conclude what the imagination is and what the memory and the idea and also in what manner the

Starting point is 03:52:12 sight passes over into the imagination and thus what is their relation. The brute animals however are born not only into their natural memory but into their imagination or into the mutation of the state of their sensory for for they are possessed at once of the perfect sensations of their members, and with their powers of acting. It follows from the foregoing principles that there can be no idea of the imagination which is not in the memory, and no idea of the memory which has not been in the sense. Hence that all parts of the imagination are insinuated through the senses alone.

Starting point is 03:52:53 Consequently, that there can be just so much imagination as there is memory and so much memory as there is experience of the senses. But inasmuch as the order of similars, their harmony and their form, does not depend on this sensory, but on a higher end, a pure intellect, it follows that something more than memory alone is required for the imagination, for it is not owing to the memory that those ideas called forth are rightly put together. This is rather the result of the pure intellect itself, or of the soul, whose nature it is to understand the harmonies and order of things. Hence the imagination is such as the communication of the pure intellect with it, or in other words, the imagination can exist so far as

Starting point is 03:53:42 there is a communication of the pure intellect with the ideas of the memory, but we will speak further of this subject when we come to treat of thought. Such an arrangement in order of the parts of the memory does not come from the senses, but from the pure intellect, and thus from the soul, which is the order, the love, the truth, the law, the rule of its own system. But we confound this order with the ideas, or the determination and order of parts with the parts themselves, and from our observing that the order is natural or inborn, we believe that the ideas themselves are inborn also.

Starting point is 03:54:22 The pure imagination is nothing else than the power of comprehending and embracing at once, all those things which are obvious to the senses and which in here in the memory. This, in a measure, belongs to Brutes. It is exercised by somnambulists and by children whose imagination is not yet well directed or ordered by the pure intellect. There appear, nevertheless, to be rational and intelligent beings who speak from memory alone, or from experience, or from the knowledge of others, and without a proper intuition of things in connection and orderly arrangement.

Starting point is 03:55:03 These seem to have an intellect to those who do not know the various parts themselves, that go to make up this faculty, as to what they are or to whether they exist or not, or to those who still less know how to combine ideas and to the form of the true imagination. The imagination is the more perfect in the degree that anyone can reproduce the more ideas from his memory, and at the same time the more similar and harmonious ones, and from these glide into the field of other ideas, and so change these common states into similar or other common ones, and choose out the parts of each,

Starting point is 03:55:39 and dispose of the several ones, into a suitable form. So that there may be produced a composed idea, such as will agree with the order of nature. If anything contrary to that order is admitted, then there is a defect and irregularity. a weakness, resulting either from ignorance or from inability to change the states or to reproduce ideas to rightly coordinate and subordinate these. Or it may arise from a failure of the pure intellect to communicate with the ideas of the memory, or from many other causes. No speech can

Starting point is 03:56:16 originate from imagination alone. To this both intellect and thought are requisite, for there is, in every composition of words, something intellectual, analytical, and philosophical, yea, spiritual. Every imagination at once ceases as soon as the cortical glands are deprived of the faculty of undergoing their mutations. As when they grow cold and are relaxed, as in certain diseases, in catalypsy, in morse's tarantuli, in vitus' dance, and in loss of memory, the glands are deprived of this faculty when the blood is obstructed, either by the relaxing of the vessels or by something that hinders

Starting point is 03:56:59 its return to the veins and sinuses. When the fibers relax, the glands lose their tone, adhere to those next to them, and become thickened with the more sluggish flow of humors. The internal state of the sensory, indeed, depends on the determination of the simple cortex and of the tender fibers of its vessels. Of the Meninx-Pissima, surrenders, grounding it, of the follicle itself, and humor flowing through. But the external state of the sensory depends upon its connection with others near it, by means of the very delicate, fibrous threads, and by the arterial ramifications, in general by the Pia Meninx, from the insertion of the vessels and the production of the fiber.

Starting point is 03:57:44 But the external state, or one still more remote, depends upon the arterial vessels of the brain, the quality of the blood, upon the liquids outside the vessels, upon the furrows and chinks between the cortical masses, upon the connection of the medullary substance, upon complication and tension, upon veins, sinuses, and the durameter, upon the form of the whole brain and its connection with the cerebellum. The qualities of the memory and those of the imagination are most diverse, for there are as many varieties as there are people. There are those who are of quick memory and imagination, and those who are slow, those in whose memory objects are most firmly held, and those in whom these are suddenly dissipated. Also, there are those who

Starting point is 03:58:33 can recall acts, after a long time, yet we are not able to examine thoroughly the causes of every variety, unless we know rightly the internal state of the cortical glands and the more perfect forms. The reason of all can indeed be given and confirmed by the phenomena of experience, but here it will suffice to touch only upon the generals of the subject. From what is related above, it is evident whence these diversities have their origin. The imagination vacillates, is intoxicated, becomes insane, according as the animal spirit and purer blood which passes through the little sack of the gland is obstructed by

Starting point is 03:59:14 heterogeneous particles, prickles, and things disagreeing. For then the gland within is pricked and stimulated into other states than those which are induced by sensations. Thence is inebriety, or inebriate insanity.

Starting point is 03:59:31 Whether such influences or touches occur from within or without, still the gland is disturbed out of its own natural order. Those inclinations into which we are born also take their origin from thence. For instance, that we are born poets, musicians, architects, mechanics, or whatever else, depends more upon the imagination than the intellect. For there are persons whose little censories incline and are more easily adapted to these

Starting point is 04:00:00 than to those changes of state, and by a natural leading more promptly seize and reproduce one set of ideas than another. This depends upon the form itself of the form itself of the sensory or gland, while the form is dependent on the simple cortex, and this depends on and springs from the soul. The internal sight is most acute and resides in the top of the cerebrum, for there the cortex is most distinct and is surrounded by very frequent fissures, so that it can be disposed for assuming every mode, and every state. It is not so elsewhere in the cerebrum, still less in the cerebellum, where the sensations are common and accordingly indistinct. For a universal, without the distinct powers of the particulars, is obscure, and of such action,

Starting point is 04:00:50 imagination cannot be predicated. And of Section 14. Section 15 of the soul, or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravax.org The Soul or Rational Psychology by Immanuel Swedenberg Translated by Frank Sewell 1837 to 1915 and others.

Starting point is 04:01:31 Section 15 Chapter 10 The Pure Intellect 123 Before we treat of the mixed intellect or of thought and our rational mind, it is necessary to treat of the pure intellect. For thought is, as it were, a middle between the pure intellect and the imagination, and in a certain manner draws its essence from both. For the priors and posteriors, or the extremes, which enters on both sides, are to be explored in order that the nature of the middle, or the mixed, result may be known.

Starting point is 04:02:12 124. There is in each cortical gland a certain substance of the cortex of the brain, out of which the simple fibers arise, just as the medullary or composite fibers arise from the cortical glands. For the cortical gland, which we call the internal little sensory, is the cerebrum in its smallest effigy. one hundred twenty five the simple cortex or simple cortical substance is that most eminent organ of the pure intellect for it exceeds in perfection that sensory of the imagination or perception that is the cortical gland as far as this exceeds the cerebrum and as far as sight exceeds hearing for its form itself is superior and indeed the highest form of nature That truly celestial form, which was described above.

Starting point is 04:03:12 It knows no higher form except what is spiritual, and since this substance is placed in the highest apex of nature, it cannot be indicated by the same terms employed in describing inferior substances, for these are too crude to be applied. Therefore, we can hardly call it the cortex nor the cortical substance, nor an analogous or emulous cortical substance, nor anything but the most eminent organ. We may not name it a sensory,

Starting point is 04:03:45 for it does not feel, but understands. Wherefore, in what follows I call this the intellectory. 126. The sensory depends upon this intellectory, that is, sensation depends upon the pure intellect, for there is no sensation nor perception of sensation unless by some faculty more interior or superior it is understood what that is which is perceived the smallest differences themselves which are in every idea and exist between single ideas cannot be distinguished by feeling and perception merely there must be the intellectory which judges and decrees that this idea harmonizes with that idea or is discordant with it and that it agrees with another and with still more which are related or similar so that it may be known what is harmonious what is particularly adapted what pleasant true and good

Starting point is 04:04:50 there would therefore be no thought without the pure intellect still less would there be imagination and sensation the very organism of the body depends similarly upon this intellectual or inmost sensory. There is no composite cortex without the simple cortex, such as is that of the brain. For from the simple cortex, simple fibers arise, which arrange the gland itself through their own determinations. No cerebrum exists without cortical glands. No sensory of the sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, and thence no body. all things regard this intellect or pure intellect as their beginning, and at the same time the sense to which single operations refer themselves. This intellectory recognizes above itself no other form than spiritual form, that is,

Starting point is 04:05:53 the soul itself, or the form of the soul. its pure intellect does not recognize above itself, anything except pure intelligence, which is of the soul, because this is spirit. Consequently, we ought not to confound pure intellect with intelligence, or the intellectory with the soul, for the intellectory whose form is celestial and the first of nature can understand nothing from itself, but only from the essence or spiritual form. this alone understands and causes that which next in order follows to understand thus it is evident that our soul is in a region above the possible perceptions of our rational mind for we believe that thought is the highest and the proper power of the soul itself but above that thought which never exists except as impure or mixed there is a purer thought

Starting point is 04:06:53 and above this a spiritual intelligence itself and still above this there is wisdom which is divine and not human for intelligence draws its wisdom from the divine spirit alone thus from god one hundred twenty eight thus the intellectory is born from the soul itself its form is evidently from the soul's essential determinations but what this first form may be after the soul's after the soul cannot be easily expressed in words since the attributes and powers of this form are beyond the sphere of common words for words express only those things which are in nature and within the gyre of nature but not the highest and those nearest to spiritual essence this is why we have to speak concerning the intellectory in terms so general and but slightly intelligible as to their meaning and why what is said has to be explained by circumlocution and by ideas sometimes involved by means of which some obscure idea may be obtained and even a comparatively clear one in those minds which are cultivated and possessed of a more profound judgment one hundred twenty nine it cannot be doubted but that such an intellectory or pure intellect exists for it is manifests itself evidently in the several parts of our thought and speech, to which it is nearest, and in which it most intimately resides. For we reduce the ideas themselves of the memory,

Starting point is 04:08:37 not unlike those of the sight, in a moment into such an order, form and harmony, that a certain rational analysis thence results, which is known to be true or false by a kind of understanding in our pure thought. For since, Sensations do not supply any other objects than those which are parts of the imagination, but to analytically reduce those into forms, and thus to conceive and put forth new forms, which again are parts of a sublime thought, and in them to observe truths,

Starting point is 04:09:11 verisimilitudes, and probabilities from their connection, and order alone. This is not a function of sensations, but of the pure intellect. neither is it a process of thought itself, for the thought is what is reduced into such a form, and so it is a result from that intellect which is prior, and which produces the intellectual or rational ideas of the thought. Such an intellectual, analytical, philosophical, even spiritual principle is in every sentence and every speech, even of a child. For a child speaks instantly in a manner more perfectly philosophical, dialectical, logical, grammatical, than all the peripatetic and Pythagorean schools could learn to do artificially

Starting point is 04:10:03 and scientifically. This is the reason why we learn philosophical sciences, as logic itself and other theoretical branches of knowledge from our own selves and from the inmost examination of our thoughts, and speech just as anatomists obtain a knowledge of the body from the inspection of the vizera wherefore there must be such an intellect inmost in us which shall prescribe rules and laws to those operations of our mind which lie equally hidden from us as the form of the brain heart stomach lies hidden from us who has never examined the vizera and therefore the philosophic science is itself a certain anatomy of the mind whose medicine is also sought for. Whence it follows that no thought can exist, and therefore no speech without the flowing of such an intellect.

Starting point is 04:11:01 130 The operation of this intellectory, or this intellect, cannot but be pure, for its form is born of the essential determinations of the soul. These determinations are so many spiritual radii. or pure intelligences the form flowing only from spiritual radii most perfectly determined cannot breathe anything but what is purely intellectual what this form is can be perceived by comparison with the form of the internal sensory and of this with the form of the brain nevertheless it cannot be described it is indicated however analytically by the simple elevation of perception from an inferior to a superior degree and by the adding of something perpetual and infinite according to the doctrines of order of degrees and forms of whose laws i have treated above one thirty one therefore to describe what the pure intellect is we must resort to universal terms for

Starting point is 04:12:13 It is the very nature of its own body and the knowledge itself of the natural things which exist below it. For when the pure intellect acts it acts from itself, that is, from nature itself and knowledge, since all things flow into act in agreement with its intuition. For the pure intellect does not first inform itself from other sources how and in what manner it shall act, but from itself and in itself it knows those measurements, laws, rules, and truths, and other things which are found to be contained, although imperfectly, in the thought, imagination, external sensation, in the action, and in the several organs.

Starting point is 04:13:01 In all of these there lies hidden what is the inmost and most abstruse in the sciences, as in the first philosophy, in logic, in anthropology dialectics physiology physics geometry mathematics mechanics optics acoustics chemistry chemistry medicine jurisprudence ethics grammar and in many others of whatever name we may clearly behold an example and summary of the sciences in our whole organic system in its several members parts and operations all of which must flow and exist not from themselves but from a certain efficient cause in which such a science is for which is the science itself the order truth harmony and the form of forms these are all universal terms which apply to the pure intellect thus in mostly in ourselves we possess a most perfect knowledge of all natural things and yet we anxiously seek how to learn some part of this science or of what is within us or to draw this hidden knowledge out of its shadow into light thus this pure intellect can be called the science of natural sciences for all single sciences are but parts of some universal science which we call the philosophy and the mythesis of universals for from this the pure intellect can descend into single parts whenever it wishes

Starting point is 04:14:41 thus it appears that we cannot speak concerning this pure intellect otherwise than abstractly and obscurely one hundred thirty two this pure intellect comprehends simultaneously that which thought or our rational mind comprehends successively the premises and antecedents for instance at the same time with the consequence as in a conclusion or an analytical equation principles and causes at the same time with principiaats causates and effects for it views even effect as already existing in its efficient cause. Thus everything to be formed as already formed, and everything already formed, as to be formed, nor does it hesitate in thinking out the means, for it takes in the whole complex. A defect alone of instrumental causes hinders its act, for it contemplates all things past as present, and at the same time those future things which evidently flow connectedly and according to natural order.

Starting point is 04:15:53 Thus concerning the operations of this pure intellect, we can neither predicate movements nor degrees, thus neither time, space, place, movement, salarity, nor any of those things which suppose succession and distance. For its form is the first of nature, and from this as from the beginning or beneath it the accidents and qualities of nature descend or a round, rise. For celestial form embraces and, as it were, contemplates all following forms,

Starting point is 04:16:28 as if existing in itself, when it begins its operations. 133. The pure intellect beholds nothing in verisimilar or probable, but either as true or false, or how far it is from truth or falsity, whence all its ideas are so many natural. truths, and from the truth that sees distinctly falses and fallacies, as the eyes distinguish shadows from light. Therefore, its observations consist of so many truths being united among themselves, whence a universal truth arises. This is the reason why the more intelligent, or those whose thought or rational analysis approaches nearer to this pure intellect, perceive and know many propositions as true or false at once and indeed without demonstration a posteriori from effects experience artificial logic and the sciences of the scholars

Starting point is 04:17:33 indeed often to such a degree that they are indignant that the mind should wish to demonstrate those things which are clearer more certain truer and higher than all demonstration they regard the attempt of such demonstrations as so many dusky shadows which do not illustrate but rather obscure such are we when we become pure intelligences or souls for then we shall laugh at our literary treatises as child's play and we shall regard the entire syllogistic logic as but a boy's game at odds and evens one hundred thirty four the pure intellect whose property it is to know universal nature and from itself to perceive and to know all nature's arcana cannot be instructed by internal senses but still less by external senses for the pure intellect itself has formed all the senses internal as well as external according to every idea of its own nature and has furnished these with recipient organs before their youths and consequently such an intellect which is prior to the senses can in no wise be acquired cultivated or perfected by means of them but remains just the same from the beginning of life to the last whence it is as perfect in the embryo and infant as in the adult and old man in davis as in edipus in an insane and stupid person as in an eminent philohist The intellect, which is capable of being instructed and perfected, is just below, the pure intellect.

Starting point is 04:19:23 It is called the human reason, as also the rational mind. Its operation is that thought which is never pure but mixed, or which derives more from ignorance than from intelligence. These things are the cause of that strife which has arisen among the learned, whether there are conate ideas or whether they are acquired or whether anything exists in the intellect which was not first in the sense, each proposition having its adherence. For there are indications of a kind of intellect innate in us, and all ideas are found to be conate. But the disposition and ordering of the ideas, so that thence an analysis may exist, cannot be conate, for this is something purely intellectual at the same time there would be no ideas to be thus arranged in order except they were conite

Starting point is 04:20:22 from this it follows that either position may be true in a certain sense one hundred thirty five from these things it is also evident that the pure intellect is unable to express and arrange its own ideas or universal truths through the three things it is also evident that the pure intellect is unable to express and arrange its own ideas or universal truths through any speech, for the parts of speech are so many ideas, images, and forms which are to be acquired by the way of the senses, and which stand far below. But the pure intellect represents its own simple and universal analysis in likenesses, such as are seen in dreams, then also through parables and similitudes, even through fables such as the ancients employed in the ages nearest to the golden. For such things at the same time contain not only particular things, but in general all things, which relate to the same truth. These things our mind ought to interpret and involve as the answers of oracles, for they are all obscure to our intellect, while in the pure

Starting point is 04:21:34 intellect, they are in a clearer light, for especially are we blind in truths themselves. But it is not easily perceived by thought what the pure intellect is. It is even questioned whether it exists, for thought itself does not comprehend what is above itself, or what is pure, being itself not pure, but mixed. This indeed, it does comprehend, that where there is a mixture, there must be something pure, with which the impure is mixed, and that into our thought where intelligence and ignorance or light and darkness reign together, therein flows from above a something intellectual, which illumines the sphere of thoughts, and furnishes the faculty of thinking, since the sensations of the

Starting point is 04:22:29 body can in no wise affect this. Then, that there flows into the same from below, something that is not intellectual, whence the mingling of intelligence and ignorance. This is our mixed intellect or thought. But the pure intellect itself is the mediate between the spiritual intelligence of the soul and the thought of our rational mind. To perceive what the pure intellect is, we must therefore inquire, what the soul is and what the rational mind, then also what is the influx of both. These have been treated of severally, but a short recapitulation will be of use. 137.

Starting point is 04:23:19 The soul is pure intelligence, a spiritual essence and form, thence next above the pure intellect, whose essence and form is the first of nature or celestial. for the intellectory itself cannot be formed except from the essential determinations of the soul as many determinations so many radii of spiritual light there are for its intelligence is not natural but spiritual and its science is not philosophical but metaphysical numatical and as i may say theological from this it follows that its first descendant is the pure intellect whose property it is to know most immediately both from itself and in itself all that which is natural one hundred thirty eight the ideas themselves of the soul are spiritual truths but the ideas of the pure intellect are the first natural truths the ideas of our intellect are the first natural truths the ideas of our intellect are called but the ideas of the memory or imagination are properly called ideas the ideas of sight are images and objects the ideas of hearing are modes modulations words such as the subordination of ideas wherefore everything spiritual which is in speech is of the soul but everything intellectual is of the pure intellect everything rational is of the thought

Starting point is 04:24:57 and so on one hundred thirty nine but it may be asked how does the pure intellect flow into the sphere of thought is it an influx or is it a correspondence and harmony this we learn especially from the form itself of the internal sensory or cortical gland for in this is contained the simple cortical which is called the intellectorium just as as the cortical substance is contained in the brain. This simple cortex is the origin of all the simple fibers, but that of the brain is the origin of all the medullary fibers and the nerves of the body. The pure intellect which resides in this above-mentioned intellectory or simple cortex cannot flow into the sphere of the thoughts

Starting point is 04:25:52 otherwise than as the images of sight or ideas of imagination into the modes of hearing or into speech, which is not influx but correspondence. For the modes of hearing, which are so many articulated vibrations only move and vibrate, the little censories in common. Then the sensory itself, from use and experience, knows at once what such vibration and superficial mutation signifies, hence its ideas occur, which is said to happen through correspondence.

Starting point is 04:26:29 It is the same with the intellectory or its pure intellect, for when the sensory goes through its mutations of state, then the intellectory commonly acted upon, or, as we may say, externally brought into another situation, immediately knows from use and experience what such a mutation signify. and so immediately concurs. Thus it is not influx but correspondence. But concerning this more will be said below, where we shall treat of thought and intercourse. End of Section 15.

Starting point is 04:27:15 Section 16 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Librevox recording. All Librevox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Travis Bissell, The Soul or Rational Psychology, by Immanuel Swedenborg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 16. 11. Intellect, thought, reasoning, and judgment.

Starting point is 04:27:48 The human intellect. 140. There is no thought without imagination, because there can be none without the ideas of memory, which are as much parts of thought as of the imagination, since without memory we cannot think. It is therefore very hard to perceive distinctly what imagination is and what thought is. That they are so distinct from each other and can be distinguished appears in the case of Sunem Bruelists, who see with eyes open and with a sort of imagination, but often a perverted

Starting point is 04:28:20 one because there is no thought in it. Then again, from brute animals who are not without imagination, even if they are without thought, also from those just out of infancy, who begin to prattle and speak things imagined, but not things thought. Many adults even being like them, varying in their capacity of thought and fancy. But because there is imagination in thought and thought in imagination, we believe thought to be a certain more perfect and refined imagination, supposing that these could not be separated, as was said. It is important, therefore, to inquire more thoroughly what the one

Starting point is 04:28:56 one is and what the other. 141. Imagination is only a superior and internal sight. It is exerted when we reproduce single objects in that order in which they have been seen as a palace or edifice with all its external and internal structure, then also its other furnishings, even to the very masters and servants who inhabit it. Without any other connection and order than were observed in the sight and hearing, It is the same with the cities, provinces, and kingdoms which we have visited.

Starting point is 04:29:29 These, the internal sight or imagination, observes collectively, while the eye observes them successively. Then also the human body itself and its single viscera in part, their position and connection, and finally their whole anatomy. So in other things, as in the several practical sciences, mechanics, experimental physics, astronomy, yeah, also in theoretical sciences so far as we have learned and retained these by memory. Therefore, imagination is the reproduced memory of things seen and heard, and a simultaneous intuition of them without any further progression into those things which have not yet been grasped by the sense. 142. Thought, indeed, does not rest content in the reproducing of mere ideas of the

Starting point is 04:30:14 memory or of the imagination, or in viewing at the same time objects which have been successively brought before the external sight, but it goes farther, for from these, and from these, from other similar things successively run through and represented, it gets hold of and brings out some new idea never before seen, and indeed it does this by means of a certain analysis, not unlike an analysis of infinites, as for instance by the laws of natural philosophy, and by a mode of reduction, of transposition, and of equation. This equation itself, formed by means of the mind alone, is called an idea of thought. Thus an idea of the imagination is that which has been insinuate. through the doors of the senses.

Starting point is 04:30:56 But an idea of thought is that which is formed by the proper force of the mind from ideas of the imagination, resembling figures in a calculation. These ideas of thought, which are called rational, intellectual, and immaterial, once formed, however much compounded, are nevertheless regarded as simple ideas scarcely otherwise than as integral equations in algebra and integral analogies assumed for unity in geometry and geometry and arithmetic. The mind distributes and divides these its own ideas again into some other order or rational form, and thus deduces another analysis and equation from these, hence arises a still more perfectly rational and intellectual idea. Thus thought is perfected and becomes more sublime

Starting point is 04:31:43 and purer and approaches nearer to pure intellect, and it ascends higher in that degree in which more ideas drawn into itself or assume for simple ideas a true. truths, and as from these arranged among themselves analytically, a still higher idea is elicited. In no other way can we be elevated to a knowledge of the pure intellectory, thus not by speech or the use of words, or of ideas, or of the imagination, for its truths are more sublime than words, nor can they be expressed in laid bare except by such vocal forms as have been elevated and drawn up to them. 143. Such, therefore, is thought, from the description of which it is clear what difference there is between it and the imagination, as for instance, that the ideas of thought

Starting point is 04:32:34 are acquired by the mind itself. But the ideas of the imagination are only from the external senses, and that the thought can be perfected and exalted as it approaches nearer to pure intellect. But imagination is perfected only by experience of the senses, both its own and those of others. For whatever the symbols of the memory are, whether acquired through one's own senses or through teachers or through letters, or through tablets, all these are then ideas of the imagination because they are of the memory alone, acquired through the senses. But they are so many parts and instrumental causes which the rational mind can make use of in order that thence it may form its own intellectual ideas and analyses. From this, it follows, that so

Starting point is 04:33:20 as we are able to understand, but do not understand so much we hold in the memory, for the power of understanding lies in the memory. But from this potency alone, no action follows. Therefore, something else must be added in order that we may understand, and still more, that we may acquire wisdom. 144. Thought, therefore, is a superior imagination, and as there is a superior imagination, so also there is a superior memory. The information, The superior memory is a memory of all particular things and of those ideas which are insinuated by way of the senses, both of sight and of hearing. But the superior memory is a memory of general and universal things and of all those ideas which are formed, and as it were, created by means of the mind proper. These also impress themselves in our memory, just as if they were impressed on the sense, for when we think the things thought and the results of these thoughts remain equally fixed.

Starting point is 04:34:19 This memory, however, contains ideas rational, intellectual, and immaterial, while on the other hand, the inferior memory, has only ideas of things purely natural and material. Therefore, there is a memory of universals and a memory of singular's, and the former is of thought, but the latter of imagination. These memories, if we observe them more internally, are distinct from each other, for there can be a large memory of universals and a small memory of singular and vice versa. For the memory of universals comprehends in itself Singulars, which, as symbols of confirmation, can easily be drawn out or can insinuate themselves.

Starting point is 04:34:59 In order that Singulars may be properly retained in their order by the memory, it is necessary that we form an idea of all universals, which is called their reason. From this order of the memory, Singulars may be drawn forth, as from a single general rule and knowledge of calculation, as in arithmetic and algebra, yeah, as also in other things. theoretical sciences, we can of ourselves deduce an infinite number of specials and particulars. Thus we are able to run through in a moment an entire book containing nothing but examples of particulars, and to understand all for the knowledge of universals can be compared with the site,

Starting point is 04:35:37 which from a tower or lofty mountain contemplates the entire region and the city below and the single objects in one view and glance, as it were. But he who walks about below, and in the streets only comprehends certain parts successively, and thus scarcely one out of a thousand of those things which the memory of universals comprehends in an instant. 145. Imagination, therefore, only takes in the form of an object or of objects and its quality, according to the order, the placing, and the connecting of the parts or of the ideas, but the thought draws forth not the material form itself of the parts, but out of such a form

Starting point is 04:36:18 or from similar forms collected together, it obtains a certain sense not in the visible parts and in the connection of the parts, but lying hidden within. Wherefore the thought is said to understand and the imagination to perceive, and the idea of the thought is called immaterial, and the idea of imagination material. An intellection is an inmost sensation. 146. Thought can neither exist nor subsists, still less be perfected without pure intellect. Pure intellect appears as though it flowed into the sphere of the thought to illuminate it by a certain light of intelligence. But there is no influx, for it is only a concurrence, a correspondence, or an established

Starting point is 04:37:00 harmony in which, indeed, there is a greater, better, and more perfect concurrence and correspondence in the degree that the thought is more elevated. But before plunging our thoughts deeper into these psychological mysteries, we ought to explain the meanings of the words themselves, or what is meant by understanding. understanding, judgment, thought, meditation, fancy, genius, and other terms. 147. Such is the progress and course of the human intellect. For truly what we hear we see, that which we see we perceive by an inmost sense,

Starting point is 04:37:33 that which we perceive we understand, from things understood we think, from things thought we judge, from things judged we choose, from things chosen we conclude, from things concluded we will, and at length we act. This whole process is called the common intellect, in which the senses of hearing and seeing perform their own parts, but not the other senses as smell, taste, and touch. The human intellect or the intellect proper to man consists in understanding, in thinking, in judging, in choosing, in concluding, in willing, and in acting accordingly. This whole course is, indeed, successively run through, but very often without the moments and degrees being observed. This velocity itself is called presence of mind, or according to others the presence of the animus. But where the process is slower, it is called absence of mind and sluggishness. There can be presence of imagination without at the same prime presence of intellect, and vice versa.

Starting point is 04:38:31 For the one is distinct from the other, as noted above. He who promptly perceives singular or takes them into the imagination, while the pure intellect promptly but slightly concurs is called ingenious, and that faculty is called genius. But he who promptly understands those things which he perceives, while the pure intellect fully concurs, that is, who thinks sublimely and sees things in a way more harmoniously with the ideas or truths of the pure intellect, he is said to possess judgment, and that faculty is called judgment. Thus, genius is the perfection of the imagination, but judgment is the perfection of thought. Or genius draws more from the imagination

Starting point is 04:39:09 and the external senses, but judgment draws more from pure intellect, hence genius is the characteristic quality of the intellect of animals, but judgment is that of the human intellect. Genius is common to boys, youths, the female sex, poets, and singers, but judgment is common to adults, the aged, men, philosophers, for with age, judgment matures and increases, whereas genius decreases. To the most perfect judgment, not only the pure intellect, but also the soul or spiritual intelligence, communicates and confers rays of its own light. The parts of the human intellect or of thought are called rational ideas, or simply reasons. When these are first brought together and turned about before a certain judgment is formed from

Starting point is 04:39:53 them, we are said to raciosinate, and the minor judgments which are formed from them are called ratiosonations. Genius, therefore, does not form judgments, but ratiosonations. When these ratiosonations are explained in speech, the whole act is called discourse. But let us treat more especially of the course and the series of the parts of the intellect properly human. 148. Understanding is a superior perception and thus an inmost sensation. When, for instance, those things are understood which are perceived by an internal sight, I call it intellect because it is a sensation and a species of passion as will be demonstrated

Starting point is 04:40:35 below. 149. Thought closely succeeds perception, for when we call forth ideas. of memory, one after another, particular and common, singular and universal, and other similar and contiguous, then that operation is properly called thought, or a turning and revolving of the mind toward every part or idea. More intense and constant thought fixed deeply on one object is called meditation. The state and habit of meditation is called fantasy. 150. When ideas or reasons are turned and revolved in thought. They are at length brought into the form of some

Starting point is 04:41:14 equation into which are brought all the analyses and rational analogies, scarcely otherwise than in the analytical calculus of infinites. This equation is called judgment to which belonging merely those things referring to the matter proposed. The more perfect the form of the equation and the more similar and harmonious the things to be found in it so much the more perfect is the judgment. But it belongs to the pure intellect to perceive similarities, consistencies, harmonies, and truths. Hence, it is an exact judgment when the rational mind has called the pure intellect into closer intercourse. 151. It is from this analytical or rational equation that is from this judgment that innumerable reasons and analogies are brought forward and collected. One reason is

Starting point is 04:42:05 called forth after another in order for that we may know what an algebraic equation contains in itself. One thing after another must be evolved. Otherwise, we perceive nothing distinctly, nor will the mind be able to determine or follow the particulars distinctly enact. This equation, therefore, must be resolved again before we can understand what it contains. The whole equation cannot be evolved at the same time, since its parts or analogies have entered into its success. and are in it simultaneously. These have, therefore, to be successively evolved. This operation is without a proper name, unless it may be called election, which being free coincides with free will, or with the liberty of willing and acting, for this will chooses freely, and thus concludes what

Starting point is 04:42:54 is to be deduced from that rational equation or from the judgment, and what is to be sent into the will. It may, on this account, be called the conclusion. The completion of the completion all is the will. Following this and in it is determination, from whence arises action, and from the action the effect. But before it is concluded that anything must be sent from the intellect into the will, and from the will determined through an action, there will have to be present also the love or desire of a certain end. For this reason, I have not been able to treat of the will until these loves and desires have been first considered." This properly human intellect now described is called thought, and in what follows we shall make use of the word thought.

Starting point is 04:43:43 The question then arises, how does thought operate? It appears from the description that it operates like the imagination, that is to say, by changing the state of the sensory or of the cortical gland, but there are common in particular, general, special and individual, universal and singular changes of the state of that sensory, and these which embrace particulars, individuals, and singulars, are properly thought, for they are induced and formed by thought itself. Since the state thus formed, in order to embrace single particulars, at first, obscurely, but afterwards distinctly, is not a state of the imagination, for this is concerned only with particulars and singular.

Starting point is 04:44:28 That there are infinite states and infinite changes of state the mind can hardly conceive, or how many analogies simple and compounded there are, and how many series of analogies, or that these are capable of reduction one into another, but experience shows that these do exist and are actually represented, and the very perfection of superior beings consists of this faculty of changing the state. Since, therefore, the cortical gland of the internal sensory can put on so many changes of state, it follows that the intellectory, or inmost cerebrum, that is the simple cortex, must be able to produce still more, even to infinity. For example, let us take certain thoughts reduced to an equation or general formula.

Starting point is 04:45:16 Then in this equation, as in a general or common state, there may be a thousand analyses. Therefore, there must be a state for the common sensory which comprehends all distinctly. This is observed in speech itself and in writings. for one particular is adduced after another, and the more distinctly this is done so much the more distinctly do they inhere in the equation or proposition. For we observe the singular is under a state common to all. This is so evident that by reflection alone we may see it to be true. 153. But as it has been said that pure intellect does not flow into the sphere of thoughts, but concurs with thoughts or words.

Starting point is 04:46:02 with changes of state, it must now be explained in what way that act follows. First, let us get a clear idea concerning the form of the internal sensory or of the cortical gland, namely that it is indeed the cerebrum in the smallest form, with its simple cortex and its simple medulla, like the large cerebrum, but more perfectly construed. The change of state of the above-mentioned internal sensory itself is not able to affect any change of state in the intellectory or in the simple cortex, just as the change of state of the entire cerebrum does not change the state of any of its parts, but only the external state of the parts, that is, their position, their connection, and mutual relation. But since the external state agrees with the internal, or as the state of the

Starting point is 04:46:54 parts cannot help being in agreement in some way with the internal states or with itself, it follows that the change of the external state announces and shows at once that there is a change of internal state and of what kind it is. While the internal state is rendered conscious of this change, it perceives at once what it means, precisely as the words of speech perceived by the hearing are turned immediately as it were into ideas as of things seen, not by influx, but by correspondence. For an idea can be expressed by another word and a different, articulate sound and still the same idea will recur, as whether we speak the same sentence in Greek, Latin, French, Italian, English, or Swedish, still the same visual ideas presented.

Starting point is 04:47:42 It is the use and culture, then, itself, that causes that one idea corresponds to another. The same relation holds with the ideas of memory, of imagination, of thought, and of the pure intellect, an internal change of state of the sensory, is an external change of state of the intellectory. But by use and experience, the intellectory perceives from this external change of state what such a change means, at once it concurs, and by its concurrence produces a corresponding idea of the pure intellect. Accordingly, the more universal, general, and common the changes of state is so much, the more distinctly is it perceived, as the essence and nature of the intellect.

Starting point is 04:48:29 is thus more nearly reached, for all ideas are universal truths, and by verbal terminations, they may be made more abstract. 154. From this it follows that we are able to come nearer and nearer to the pure intellect, and indeed by means of universal ideas and a certain passive power, that as we remove particular ideas or withdraw the mind from limitations, from the more broken, limited and material ideas, and at the same time from desires and loves, which are purely natural, then the human intellect, quiet and free from foreign disturbance and dwelling alone with its own and what belongs to pure intellect, causes that our mind shall not suffer other changes or give forth other

Starting point is 04:49:19 reasons than those which accord with the ideas of pure intellect. On this account, our intellect experiences and inmost tranquility and joy. For then this concurrence appears like the influx of a certain light of intelligence, illuminating the whole sphere of thought. And in a kind of unanimity, I know not whence. It constrains the whole mind and in mostly dictates what is true and good and what is false or evil. In this way our intellect is perfected by the maturing judgment. and if I may speak from theoretical anatomy itself, when the mind comes into this state, it is seen that then the simple medulla itself consists of simple fibers only with a few vessels. For as many as are the simple fibers, so many are the intellectual rays of pure intellect.

Starting point is 04:50:12 But as many as are the vessels, so many are the shades which darken the luminous or intellectual rays. but these observations are offered merely in passing. 155. From these things, it already appears how the human intellect may be perfected, thus that in tender infancy there is none, that it may be increased in youth, perfected in adult age, that the judgment afterwards increases while the genius or imagination decreases. For there can be no thought in infancy and still less in the embryo,

Starting point is 04:50:48 wherefore there is a concurrence, correspondence, or established harmony, but not influx. Use and cultivation will bring about the correspondence and harmony, since the pure intellect concurs with every perceived change. But still, whether in the embryo or in the infant, or in a stupid or an insane person, the pure intellect remains always the same, for it cannot unfold itself before it perceives the changes of state to which, which it shall correspond, nor can the sensory change its own states unless it shall learn how to do so by the use and the influx of the external sensations, as has been noted above. Thus the pure

Starting point is 04:51:32 intellect comes forth and emerges just as from a prison in which it has been shut up, or from its own inmost bosom, according to the induced mutability or power of change. Thus appears what has been present from the beginning of formation, but could not sooner evolve itself, and when it does evolve itself, which takes place in the course of age, then it exhibits itself as most present in every instant, in the single forms and harmonies of words, and in finding out their inmost meaning from the connection and order of the ideas alone. 156. But experience itself, as well as theory,

Starting point is 04:52:16 proves that the human intellect proper depends little upon its pure intellect, but rather upon what is imagined, and even that the imagination depends more upon its sensations than upon its own intellect or thought, thence is our intellect exceedingly impure, so much so that it deserves rather to be called spurious and adulterous. Nevertheless, it appears to us so beautiful and pure that we believe it to be the soul itself, which is not pure intellect merely, but even spiritual intelligence. How mistaken all this is appears from the mere statement, our intellect is even so alienated off times from the pure intellect that they combat each other, the one acknowledging worldly things as truths, the other knowing them to be wholly mendacious, and that

Starting point is 04:53:06 their fallacious ornaments pass them off for truths to gain. applause. 157. Meanwhile, in order that the human intellect may exist, it is necessary that the truths themselves be variegated, and as it were modified by things mendacious, or true things with false, good with evil. From this mixed and relative variety and this coming together of opposites, there arises a rational analysis. First, it gives birth to opinion, hypothetical, some unknown principle, and many other things proper to the human intellect. Without a variation of intelligence and ignorance, thought and judgment can no more exist than a visual image without light and shade, which is the reason why light and clearness

Starting point is 04:53:56 are predicated of intelligence and shade and darkness of ignorance, for these have a mutual correspondence. Without such a variation, there would be no society on earth, no diversity of thought, manners, actions, bodies, no affirmations or negations, no uncertain results of things, no auguries, indeed, no desires of ends to be attained, no terrestrial loves, none of all those other things, which as necessities contribute to human society itself. Neither would there be any speech or communication of thought by means of discourse, unless by some superior or angelic discourse, which has nothing to do with earthly things. 158.

Starting point is 04:54:45 The various kinds of insanity, which are infinite in number, originate from thence, that the states of the censories are so perverted that they can undergo no changes except what are irregular and in disagreement with the pure intellect. and as the intellectory concurs with the changes of the sensory, it concurs by the same law even with these disorderly ones, and thus seems to consent, even though it wholly dissents. Thus it is the thought itself for the human intellect which is insane and not the pure intellect. End of Section 16. Section 17 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Librevox recording.

Starting point is 04:55:33 All Librevox recordings are in the podcast. public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librevox.org. Recording by Travis Bissell. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Immanuel Swedenborg, translated by Frank Sewell 1837 to 1915 and others. Section 17. The Intercourse of Soul and Body. 12. Of the Intercourse of the Soul and the Body. 159. It will be vain to inquire how the soul communicates with the body, unless it first be ascertained what the soul and what the body is, as also what is sensation, imagination, thought, the pure intellect, the spiritual intelligence, what is will and action, what are the internal and external organs both of sense and motion,

Starting point is 04:56:23 what is the connection of the organism, and a vast number of other points. For so long as it is unknown what the soul and the body are, and what mediates between these, All cooperation, communication, and intercourse must necessarily remain unknown. Only the unknown can be educed from the unknown, and about things whose essentials are unknown to us we can only speak ignorantly, however long we keep on talking. But still I will admit that I seem to myself not to have arrived at a single part of so vast a thought, supposing the thought itself to consist of myriads of myriads of parts, but only to have gathered up an obscure idea from what has been premised.

Starting point is 04:57:04 But it may be more clearly seen that external sensations and likewise actions communicate with internal and the inmost sensations, even with the soul and its intelligence, for it is of the soul, which is the motive principle, the life and essence of our body, that in the body we live move and are. 160. This communication appears as though it were influx, for the mode and image of the outer sense seemed to pass over into the idea of the inner sense, but less the appearance should deceive us, let us penetrate by rational intuition into the very connections themselves of things, otherwise we shall easily mistake fallacies for truths.

Starting point is 04:57:52 161. It is evident that articulate sounds are one, words or modes of hearing in the brain or in the common sensory are turned into ideas similar to those of sight or into so many images as when with words or in speech we describe a house or palace, a city, meadows, fields, the sky, and other things. At once the idea of these things is represented. But this communication or intercourse cannot be called influx nor harmony, but an acquired correspondence. The sound of these words is only a vibration, which cannot call forth an idea like that of sight. For whether we speak of palaces, cities, and fields in French, English, Latin, or Greek, the same idea is awakened, although the sound or the articulation of the sound

Starting point is 04:58:37 is altogether different. But this correspondence is acquired by use and culture, for we learn to speak the language, and thus that such a modulation means such an image or such a villa or picture. As often as that articulation of sound returns, so often the same idea returns. A physical and anatomical reason can also be given for the sounds themselves, whether articulate and compound or simple sounds, put in trembling motion the fibers, the cortex, and the meninges. This trembling causes to vibrate the substances themselves, and it produces an alternate local motion of their parts. This alternate vibration induces no change in the internal state of the parts, but only in their external state or in the brain itself. Still, the parts themselves, on account

Starting point is 04:59:24 of the connection which they mutually hold and maintain among themselves, as also on account of the form itself, that is, their situation and order, perceive at once not only that there is a mutation, but even what kind of mutation is induced, and from use they learn what such a mutation means. Consequently, the sensory at length concurs with its idea. 162.

Starting point is 04:59:51 But besides this acquired correspondence, between the articulate sounds of speech or of hearing and the ideas of the internal sight or imagination. There is also a natural correspondence, which flows not from the sounds themselves as sounds, but from their harmony as from the melody of a song, from musical harmony, from the symmetry of words, or from the rising and falling of the voice in speaking, as also from the sound even of certain words which are called natural utterances, for they immediately excite the mind, affecting it either with love or joy or grief. Such also is the speech of the brood animals. The cause is the same, originating doubtless from the connection, situation, order, form, or mutual harmony of the parts

Starting point is 05:00:42 of the brain among themselves, which harmony corresponds with the form and internal state of the parts, for the form next below descends from the form above, and is thus born into a likeness of its superior, its prior, or its parent. 163. The communication of external with internal sight, or of the sensation of ocular sight with the imagination, takes place by natural correspondence. As for the sight itself, this does not exist in the eye, but in the common sensory or cortical brain. It indeed passes the through the eye, but it does not stop until by means of the fibers of the optic nerve and the medullary substances of the brain. It has raised itself or ascended even to the origins of the

Starting point is 05:01:30 fibers or to the cortical substance of the brain. As soon as it touches those origins, it diffuses itself over their entire surface, and consequently through the entire structure. Thus, the ocular sight exists in this sensory itself, between which and the eye there is a continuous connection. This communication may in a certain sense be called influx, but it is rather the presence in the internal sensory of that image which was in the external. It is only sight, however, it is not imagination. Likewise with the hearing, which is not an activity of the ear, but properly of the brain, for it is conducted by continuous fibers even to the brain, and thus the hearing and the sight can be brought together.

Starting point is 05:02:17 for the hearing is an experience of the whole brain and is a trembling of its parts, while the sight is an experience of the parts of the brain, or of the little brains, that is, the cortical glendules, and it is accomplished by a still more subtle trembling, which causes to vibrate very slightly every part of its surface and structure. But further, the communication of the sight with the imagination takes place through both the natural and the acquired correspondence at once. For while the images and phenomena of the ocular sight appealed to this common sensory or to its own inner little sensors, the harmony itself of the object, of the images, or of the phenomena affects the sensory or these little

Starting point is 05:03:08 sensories in such manner that at once their state undergoes a certain change. For the harmonious exhilarates, expands and delights the sensory, while the inharmonious contracts, twists, and grieves it. There are infinite such changes of state, as many indeed as there are kinds and species of harmonies and discords, and as many as there are generic, specific, and individual differences, and as many as there are relations between opposites. Thus, it is not the site itself, but it is the harmony in the objects or between the objects of sight which induces this change. It is the same with the eye itself and with the ear, which change their state according to the quality of the object presented.

Starting point is 05:03:57 For the eye, like the body itself and its every fiber, even when most lightly touched, either contracts or expands, drawing itself in at that which would injure it and expanding itself at everything which would delight and restore it. Such also is the affection of the brain in common as produced by the harmony of sounds. This change of the sensory takes place by natural correspondence. The harmony is that of the parts among themselves, since an order intervenes and a form is there which we declare to be the vertical, and such as is the harmony such is the correspondence. The brain and the human sensory are indeed formed into such a correspondence,

Starting point is 05:04:42 to the changes of state these exist therein not in act but in potency unlike the cases of brute animals in which these are in act from the very birth which is the reason why such changes of state are to be induced in man by use in culture or actually and why when they are induced they remain as acquisitions thence comes the memory and its ideas and when these are reproduced then imagination exists therefore between Between the sight and the imagination there intercedes a communication by acquired correspondence, which presupposes a natural correspondence, for in this instance the one cannot be without the other. 164. But the imagination does not communicate with the thought by any correspondence natural or acquired,

Starting point is 05:05:34 for thought itself is equally with the imagination, a change of state. It is indeed a more perfect imagination. The changes of whose states are induced by the habit of imagining abstractly from the sensations of sight. We have therefore to inquire what is the communication between the imagination or thought and the pure intellect, for in the degree that the imagination communicates the more nearly and perfectly with the pure intellect, the more perfect does it become, and it is called thought and the purer and more rational intellect. Communication is affected between thought and the pure intellect equally by natural and acquired correspondence. For the one presupposes the other. For the pure intellectory is constituted of a certain simple cortical substance,

Starting point is 05:06:24 analogous to that which is in the brain, and since the internal sensory or cortical gland is the brain in its smallest form, and accordingly more simple and perfect, therefore from the brain and from the communication of hearing and sight with the imagination, we may learn what is the communication of imagination or of thought with the pure intellect or with the intellectory, that is, with that simple and analogous cortical substance. The ideas themselves of the imagination or of thought induce a change of state in the external intellectory, for they disturb those simple substances in their position, their connection,

Starting point is 05:07:02 and their order, and so change the form and harmony of their state. consequently this intellectory understands from use what such a change signifies and then arises and is formed a correspondence which is to be called acquired but the harmony itself in and between the ideas which are the rational and intellectual ideas of the mind affect the intellectory itself not otherwise then as the harmony of objects of sight affect the sensory itself and thus arises a natural correspondence this harmony is not the same as that of the objects of sight, but is a rational harmony, and has for its object the true and the false, the morally good and bad. The harmony itself, in the good and between the good, is called

Starting point is 05:07:47 love, which allures and produces a rational pleasure, and excites the desire that the effect of love may be obtained, which effect is called the end desired. Such harmony, love, rational delight, and end, in the ideas themselves, and among them, naturally affect the pure intellectory, ideas are pure natural truths and its harmonies, pure natural goodnesses. There need be the less doubt regarding the natural correspondence, since we perceive by reflection alone that there is something interior in our thought which consents or dissents, affirms, or denies, and that the truths themselves in certain propositions shine forth naturally as if from themselves, thus that there is a certain internal man which corresponds with the external man.

Starting point is 05:08:36 That there is also an acquired correspondence appears from this, that those ideas which are reproduced by changes of the state of the sensory are certain natural ones agreeing with the harmonies of the objects in and among themselves, but that those harmonies are still to be artificially coordinated and composed that the intellectory may derive a sense from them and understand what they signify. for the intellectory itself is not bound to ideas and words, but in order that it may understand the meaning of words, it must know from use what a certain change of its state implies. Meanwhile, we may incline to either opinion as to whether the intellectory, because not immediately connected with ideas or instructed by them, knows naturally and of itself what a change of its external state means. concerning these points I am in doubt. 166. But it will now be asked, what is the communication between the pure intellect and the soul, that intellectory which is assimilated to a certain simple cortex

Starting point is 05:09:47 from which the simple fibers shoot forth as so many intellectual rays, cannot be the soul itself, for the intellectory must be created and formed out of substances, which have a superior form, essence, and spiritual intelligence. That communication is a question, correspondence will be understood from the parallelism or analogy furnished above. For the soul itself, which has formed this intellectory, perceives a change of its state, as though outside of itself, as often as the intellectory experiences its changes.

Starting point is 05:10:19 Such accordingly is the correspondence that the soul from itself, without previous exercise or experience, understands what these changes mean. For the pure intellect is not instructed by the experience of the sense, senses, still less, the soul which has established this its intellectory, as may be proved by innumerable psychological phenomena, as from this universal proposition, which may be affirmed as it were at will and without arguments a posterior, namely that the natural cannot flow into the spiritual or that the rational man does not learn that which is purely spiritual from himself.

Starting point is 05:10:59 the intellectory itself is the first form of nature, thence the first natural, but the soul is spiritual and above the natural, although through the pure intellect it operates that which is natural. 167. From this it will now appear that the intercourse between the sensations of the body does not take place by any influx whatever, least of all by a physical influx. unless we wish to understand by influx a natural correspondence, but even then it is an influx of the harmony itself and not an influx of the things which form the harmony. The author of occasional causes seems to have understood such an influx of harmony to exist. The natural correspondence itself coincides with the pre-established harmony and the acquired correspondence with the co-established harmony. For even the natural correspondence itself flows from the co-established harmony, which in the soul is indeed pre-established, but between the soul and intellect, and between this

Starting point is 05:12:04 and the thought is co-established. Still, existing as it has before other correspondences have been formed, it may be said to be pre-established or established before those harmonies. In this way may be reconciled the hypotheses regarding the intercourse or, of the body and the soul, of those namely who assert occasional causes, those claiming a physical influx, and of those who claim a pre-established harmony. For the ways, modes, and differences of communication being rightly understood, the writings of the three schools are seen to agree. On account of the agreement, I would wish that this intercourse might be said to take place by correspondence, for so do these hypotheses also mutually correspond.

Starting point is 05:12:55 168. But this intercourse or communication is that of the bodily senses with the soul. It may be asked what is the communication of the actions with the soul, since indeed both body and soul possess the power of acting as well as of being acted upon. Even the passion or sensation itself performs a certain gyre and goes over into action, for it has been shown that the internal sensory perceives and understands. It resolves the things understood, or it thinks from things thought over it judges, from things judged, it selects what agrees, and so it concludes wishes, wishes, wishes, wishes, and effect agreeing with the end desired and understood. Such being the which takes place before his sensation passes over into action, it is asked what is the

Starting point is 05:13:49 intercourse of the actions of the body with the soul. 169. The cortical brain is a common motory as well as a common sensory. From this depend the actions of the body which take place through the muscles. This common motory or cortex of the brain actually expands and contracts itself while it is determining any action. and this constriction and expansion is called determination. By this expansion and constriction, or by the systole and diastole,

Starting point is 05:14:22 it expels through the composite and simple fibers, its animal spirit and pure blood which produce that action, and thence there is a real communication of operations by means of a fluid. Hence there is in the sensory the force itself acting or determining, but in the muscle there is the action which takes place, place through the connection and influx of the fibers and of the fluid in the fibers into the motor fibers of the muscle, according to the nature of the determining force and the form and organism of the muscles. For according to the rule, form force follows action. But how the will produces this force may be

Starting point is 05:15:04 understood by comparison with endeavor. The will is as it were endeavor. This when resisted, is removed breaks into open motion. So the will, when rational obstacles or impossibilities are removed, breaks into open action. Thus, the will is, as it were, a perpetual effort to expand and contract its sensory as soon as the intellect perceives that nothing opposes. 170. But the pure intellect or the intellectory concurs by consent with this force or first action, for the sensory cannot be expanded or constricted unless the intellectory consents. Since to this belong the simple fibers, yeah, the beginnings of the simple fibers, which unless they concur, no action, whatever can be determined.

Starting point is 05:15:54 For an order that the purer blood may be determined through the medullary fiber of the brain and the nerve of the body into the motor fibers of the muscle, it is also necessary that the animal spirit shall at the same time, be determined through the simple fibers without the agreement of both, the animal machine with labor and the fibers be broken asunder. To the sensory itself is given the power of changing its internal state, which is the external state of the intellectory, therefore whether the intellectory wills or not, still it must concur. For unless it favors by consent and concurs, the external state of the intellectual itself,

Starting point is 05:16:36 The internal state of the sensory, as also of the brain, which is the external state of the sensory, and hence the state of the whole body would run the risk of perishing and of becoming extinct and void. Hence the necessity of preserving health and integrity enjoins that the intellect shall descend into those parts and consent. We say favor with consent, when loves and ends agree or correspond. Otherwise, we say simple concur. For in order that there may be.

Starting point is 05:17:06 be action, there will be a principal cause, etc. 171. But indeed, when no rational will proceeds, as in the cerebellum and in the brain itself during sleep, then ivory force begins immediately in the pure intellect, the natural necessity itself and the safety of the whole kingdom impelling. For the intellect is a moment rendered. conscious even of every minutis change of its body and of its parts, which is the reason why the intellect restores what the wheel destroys

Starting point is 05:17:47 and why the wheel is so blind that it may drive its body at any moment upon the rocks, like the sailor, the ship, while the intellect in the time of the sensory's quiet and of sleep set it free again and brings it always into a new port. This is called instinct, for the human intellect does not become conscious of its operations in as much as whatever flows immediately from the pure intellect does not come to the consciousness of our mind. This is the reason why that stupendous economy of the natural body flows spontaneously, as it were by a most constant law, according to all the science of nature, for the pure intellect is itself science, harmony, order, truth.

Starting point is 05:18:31 172. The soul does not concur with the pure intellect by consent. for producing action but by permission, for it suffers the sensory to act, otherwise there would be no free choice of moral good and evil. For as soon as the soul perceives from the consent of the intellectory that the sensory wishes to operate, in a certain way it suffers and permits the animal machine which is below itself so to act, as likewise the intellectory itself in the case of night-walkers,

Starting point is 05:19:01 for all the soul's liberty of acting in its own body is, since the fall of the first man, taken away and given to the sensory, all that is left to the soul is that it may supply and maintain in the several parts the faculty or power of acting and of suffering. 173. From these things it would appear how the soul concurs with the actions of her body, namely by permitting, while the peer intellectory concurs by consenting, but the sensory by active force or by acting from this follows the action of the muscle which is held to act and to obey just as the sensory orders and thus the body concurs by obeying but it is further asked how does the soul communicate with the motory and sensory organ of her body so that she may supply to them the faculty of acting and of feeling and sustain this faculty

Starting point is 05:20:03 From what has been above stated, it plainly appears that there is a soul which feels, that is to say, it sees, hears, tastes, tastes, perceives, thinks, understands, judges, wills, or that the body derives from the soul its power of feeling and of acting. But this is not a communication or intercourse. It is the presence itself of the soul, which actually is in the whole and in every part of her body. for there is no external motory or sensory organ which does not consist of vessels and fibers, no vessel which is not constructed out of fibers, no such fiber which is not constructed out of simple fibers, and no simple fiber which does not derive its origin from the intellectory,

Starting point is 05:20:48 which itself is derived from the substances of its soul. Consequently, there is no external motory or sensory organ which does not derive its essence from the soul. Thus there is a real presence or a kind of omnipresence of the soul everywhere, which forms the organs so that they shall perceive thus and not otherwise. For every one of these derives from its form that it is such as it is taken to be. Especially also the soul conducts the single fibers in which she entirely resides, from the organs to the brain where she has formed the common sensory which perceives distinctly things presented and understands them in its manner.

Starting point is 05:21:32 For the sensory derives from its form also that it is what it is, and that particulars communicate by a certain correspondence with one another and at the same time with the man himself, so that he may know those things which occur and happen without. End of Section 17. Section 18 of Soul or Rational Psychology. This is a Libervox recording. All Libervox recordings are in the public domain.

Starting point is 05:22:08 For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Brian Laslow Beauregard. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg. Translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 18. Part 3rd. The affections. Chapter 13. Of harmonies and the affections thence originating, and of the desires in general. 175. There is no entity and no substance in the universe without form. That it is anything, and that it is such as it is, is owing wholly to form. The essential determinations constitute

Starting point is 05:22:59 form. And what those essences are, which are determined, cannot be conceived without the idea of parts or of substances, nor this determination itself without the idea of fluxion or coexistence. These substances themselves are called

Starting point is 05:23:15 determining, and that which is determined by substances is a new but composite substance, in which there is form. 176. The substances which determine themselves or are determined hold a mutual relation, and this is called analogy. The analogy of all determinations, whether it be successive or simultaneous, is called

Starting point is 05:23:38 harmony or discord. Therefore, each form has either its harmony or discord. From the harmony or the discord is known the quality of the form. 177. As forms are perfect or imperfect, so also are the harmonies. There are forms which in themselves, and by their nature are most perfect, and those which are in themselves and by their nature most imperfect, between which there are infinite degrees, so with the harmonies. Forms and harmonies are most perfect in themselves, and by their own nature, when this is perfect, but forms and harmonies are also imperfect by nature, but this is then called an imperfect nature. The nearer the forms approach to perfect nature, so much the more harmonious are they, and vice versa.

Starting point is 05:24:27 178. The forms which are more simple, prior, and superior, in themselves and by their nature, are more perfect than the composite, the posterior, and the inferior forms. Likewise the harmonies. But from example, the most perfect angular form or form of angles is the equilateral triangle or a figure of three similar corners. The more imperfect angular form is the oblong, the parallelogram, the trapezeum, and a equilateral triangle, or a figure of three similar corners. The more imperfect angular form is the oblong, the parallelogram, the trapezeum, and other similar. The spherical or circular form is in itself and by its nature more perfect than the triangular form, but the most perfect of the spherical forms is the circular. Less perfect are the ellipses, cycloids, parabola, and others. Likewise in superior forms, whether it be in spiral, vortisal, celestial, or spiritual. Such as are the forms, such are the harmonies, which derive their entire quality from their forms. 179. In every form there is its state, which is the coexistence of the substances

Starting point is 05:25:34 which are being or have been determined. This state is itself called harmonious when the substances coexist or succeed according to the perfect order of nature. 180. Every form except the angular, in the atmospheric world and in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, is able to change its state, and from a more perfect natural state to pass over into imperfect ones, and from these to return again into the more perfect.

Starting point is 05:26:02 The power of the changing state is itself the perfection of form, which in superior forms is so great that these changes of state exceed all number and are to be reckoned as infinite. 181. When a circular form passes over into elliptical and other geometrical curves, it is said to change its state. Thus also, when a spiral form passes into spirals of another genus, geometrical or arithmetical,

Starting point is 05:26:30 it is said to change its state. It is the same with the superior forms, whose varieties of form cannot be geometrically demonstrated, nor expressed in words. The most perfect form, in whatever degree, is unchangeable. But the others in their degree are changeable. So the circle is alone in a circular form, but there are infinite ellipses, and so with the rest.

Starting point is 05:26:53 182. But still the simple expansions and contractions of the same form are not changes, for in the expanded or contracted form, the same essential determinations, analogies, and harmonies remain. They are rather modifications by which the form exercises their forces. But by expansions or contractions, the very nature of the form of exercising its forces is varied. 183. Forms which are able perfectly to change their states at once to expand and compress

Starting point is 05:27:25 actually produce harmonies by change of their state, as also by as many and as various modifications as possible. These same changes of state which forms produce are again so many essential determinations from which results a new form, having its own state and harmony. From these again, when there are many similar ones, new forms arise from the changes. of state and so on. Similarly with the harmonies. 184. All changes of state take place successively, but when, by these, new forms are produced, then all the changes of state which have been made successively exist in these simultaneously. Thus there are forms, states of forms, and harmonies common in particular, universal and singular, or general, special, and individual,

Starting point is 05:28:15 from which it appears how infinite a diversity there is of forms, states, and harmonies. 185. But modifications, which are variations of dimension, or expansion or contraction of the substance to which the form belongs, produce a harmony by a certain mutual relation. Such are the harmonies of sounds, of objects of sight, of colors, in and among themselves. Vence it follows that there are also forms of modes which are simply called modifications. 186

Starting point is 05:28:47 Harmonies of the atmospheric world are affected by modifications only, and not by changes of state. The forces are in these modifications themselves, but the harmonies of the animal kingdom are produced as well by the modifications which are its so many forces and actions, as by the changes of state which are so many sensations. 1187. The organs of the animal kingdom, both external and internal, are so formed that they may receive modifications of the atmospheric world and turn these into sensations. Thus the modifications of the air, they turn into the sensations of hearing, and the modifications of ether into the sensations of sight. And especially the organs named, particularly the internal, are affected not by the modifications

Starting point is 05:29:34 themselves, but by the harmonies of the modifications, in such manner that they change their states comfortably to the harmonies. Whence come perceptions. Thus is sight turned into imagination, and imagination into ideas. This is said to take place by natural correspondence. 188. Neither the external nor the internal organs of all are affected similarly by the same harmonies of the modifications of the atmospheric world.

Starting point is 05:30:04 but according to the quality of the organs so they are affected, for so do they correspond. The diversity of the reception of harmonies, or the diversity of affections, is as great as the diversity of brains or of men. 189. Affections are changes of state corresponding to the harmonies which flow especially into the sensorial organs.

Starting point is 05:30:26 The whole brain, or the common sensory, is affected by the sonorous harmonies of the hearing, the inner sensory by the harmonies of the objects of the site, the pure intellect by the harmonies of the ideas of the imagination and especially of the thought, the soul by the harmony of the natural truths of the pure intellect, God by the harmonies of the higher or spiritual truths of the soul. 1.90. From this, it appears that there is nothing in the created universe which cannot be referred to forms,

Starting point is 05:30:57 or to ideas, which are so many forms, or to harmonies and to affections, or that cannot be explained by means of forms, ideas, harmonies, and affections. 191. All harmonies affect the sensorial organs, both external and internal, either pleasantly and delightfully, or unpleasantly and undelightfully. That is, they either afford joy or they cause sadness. The more perfect harmonies are pleasant and delightful, but the more imperfect, or the disharmonies, are unpleasant and undelightful. For the delightful harmonies soothe the censories by refreshing and vivifying them. But the undelightful or the disharmonyes great against them because they are destructive and deadening. But all harmonies are relative to the harmonic state of the sensory which is affected.

Starting point is 05:31:50 Perfect harmonies seem undelightful in the sensory whose state is disharmonious. And as the harmonies are the more perfect, so much more undelightful are they to it. Therefore, the disharmonyes are the very harmonious. themselves of such a sensory. But because the harmonies, like forms, are perfect or imperfect in themselves, both in their nature and in their essence, we have to judge from the affections concerning the state of the sensory. But to judge truly, it is requisite that the state of the sensory of the person

Starting point is 05:32:19 judging be perfectly harmonious. 1.93 Therefore, such as is the state of the whole brain, such will be its affection by the harmonies of sounds of hearing, As is the inner sensory, so its affection by harmonies of objects of sight. As is the state of the intellect, so it's affection by harmonies of ideas of thought. As is the state of the soul, so it's affection by the harmonies of natural truths. God, who is love and perfection itself, judges from himself concerning the harmonies of the spiritual truths of the soul.

Starting point is 05:32:53 The devil is affected unpleasantly and saddened by the most perfect spiritual harmonies, but is happily affected and delighted by disharmony. 194. We seek and desire what affects our senses pleasantly and delightfully. We are averse to what affects us in an opposite manner. For pleasant and delightful things soothe, refresh, and vivify. But the unpleasant and undelightful are grating, destroying, and mortifying. Therefore so, as we love our integrity, health, and preservation, so far we desire pleasant and delightful affections. And as much as we hate infirmities, destructions, and death, so far are we averse to what is unpleasant and undelightful. On this account, the brain seeks, longs for, and desires the allurements of touch, the sweetness

Starting point is 05:33:43 of tastes, the pleasantness of smell, and the harmonies of hearing, the inner-sensory, the beauties and the pleasantness of objects of the sight, the pure intellect, the versimilitudes and delights of the rational ideas of thought, the soul, the favor of the favor of the fervority, and and love of the natural truth of the pure intellect. God, the health and happiness of souls. But our external and internal censories are so conjoined and so distinct that what the one seeks the other very often is averse to, and vice versa. The external censories are able to be delighted with the harmonies of the world and with the pleasures of the body, but the inner sensory is saddened by these. The intellectory, on the other hand, is made happy in this saddening,

Starting point is 05:34:33 and so on. Thus often the internal is in collision and in combat with the external man. Anatomy itself declares the same fact, that the organ of seeing and of hearing is one thing, and the common sensory or the brain is another, while the inner sensory or cortex of the brain is something still different, and so is the pure intellect or the simple cortex of each internal sensory. The form, state, and harmony of one of these may differ immensely from that of another. Whatever is the connection, situation, and order of the substance of the brain, there may be nonetheless a connection, situation, and order of more simple substances of the inner sensory, because a correspondence is acquired by use and cultivation. For each has its own selfhood, and the state which

Starting point is 05:35:19 is the internal of the one is the external of the other, and so on. Thus there are given no similar affections and rarely do they correspond to each other in the Sensories 186 Appetite is predicated of all those pleasant affections which are proper to the body, its viscera, and organs Its affections are themselves called pleasures, delights Longing, cupiditas, is predicated of all those pleasant affections which are proper to the brain or common sensory,

Starting point is 05:35:51 Desire, as also wish, of all those which are proper to the inner-sensory, loves of those which are the pure intellect love simply of those which are of the soul but owing to these distinctions being unknown the one of these affections is by many taken for another end chapter 13 and section 18 section 19 of the soul or rational psychology this is a Librevox recording all Libravox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Travis Bissell, The Soul or Rational Psychology, by Immanuel Swedenborg,

Starting point is 05:36:41 translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 19. 14. Of the lower mind or animus, and its affections in particular, 197. To the brain are attributed sensations, as the sight, hearing, smell, taste, and, touch, wherefore the brain is called the common sensory. Its organs and instruments are in the

Starting point is 05:37:06 body and of the body, such as the eye, ear, nostrils, tongue, and skin. These do not feel, but they distinguish, receive and transmit the forms of touch to the brain, which is the reason why, when the brain is diseased, the senses which appear as if they were in the organs themselves, grow languid. 198. SENSATIONS, however, are not attributable. to the animus or lower mind, but those affections which also are called its passions, for the cerebrum feels, but is affected by sensations according to its form. Therefore, the animus is the form of the ideas of the common or external sensory, and the active and living principle of all the changes of the body. As the animus is affected, so it desires, and as the desire of the animus such is the pleasure of the body,

Starting point is 05:38:02 for the animus is such as the form of the sensory is, thus from the form of the sensory we may judge of the animus, and from the animus we may judge of the sensory. 1.99. The affections of the animus either agree or disagree in general with the common sensory. Those which agree are pleasant, those which disagree are unpleasant. Pleasant affections expand the brain and diffuse the animus. Unpleasant affections compress the brain and confine the animus. But irregular affections twist the brain and confuse the animus.

Starting point is 05:38:40 Pleasant affections refresh the brain and exhilarate the animus. Unpleasant ones wound the brain and sadden the animus. Pleasant affections restore the brain with new heat and the animus. the animus with new life. But unpleasant affections destroy the brain and extinguish the animus. Thus, pleasant affections are so many heatings of the brain and consequently of the body, and so many resuscitations of the life of the animus, and consequently of the sensations and actions of the body. But the unpleasant affections are so many torpors and frigidnesses of the brain and therefore of the body, and so many perils.

Starting point is 05:39:22 of the life and swoons and deaths of the animus and thus of the sensations and actions of the body. For the animus and its affections, both pleasant and unpleasant, die out with the brain. 200. There are several kinds and numberless species of affections of the animus, as joy and sadness, patience and anger, loves and hatreds, envy, courage and fear, temperance and in temperance, clemency and cruelty, ambition and pride, liberality and avarice, and many more. But there are those which belong to the common-sensory and the animus, and are called the animal affections, and those which belong to the internal sensory and its mind, and are called the rational affections,

Starting point is 05:40:12 and there are those which participate in both. Therefore we must treat of each in particular. Joy 201 Joy is a general affection of pleasure for all pleasant affections delight and gladden or cause joy its causes are all those harmonies in general

Starting point is 05:40:33 and in particular which accord or agree with our sensories and please them especially with the internal sensory when this is looking to fortune to happiness to the restoration of life or of body joy expands the cerebrum and diffuses the animus to which it slackens the bridle, as it were, allowing it to act freely. This expansion of the cerebrum and diffusion of the animus

Starting point is 05:40:57 is visible in the face itself, in its sensorial organs, which likewise are animated, and in the whole body which, before constrained, swells freely in joy. Through the general expansion, by extended swellings of the cortical substance of the cerebrum, each internal sensory also is expanded. in this state one does not compress another, whence we awaken into a certain more perfect life, just as from a sleep. The blood flows more freely through somewhat larger

Starting point is 05:41:29 and somewhat smaller vessels, and runs through its own glands and fibers. Once the universal kyle of the brain and economy of the body is restored, for whatever is the animus of the cerebrum, the same is transfused into the body, since there is a continuity of all from their own origins or cortical substances. This is the reason why we are able, from the body,

Starting point is 05:41:55 to judge of the affection of the cerebrum or of the internal common sensory, and especially from the countenance on which is inscribed the mind. In excessive joy, not only are the muscles of the cortex, the medullary strata, and the fibrous and vascular canals of the brain and body open, but also the pores of the cranium and bones. Then also such passages as the chyliferous, lymphatic, and salivary ducks, and other pour out liquids suitable for animal economy, as do also the transpiratory pores of the skin.

Starting point is 05:42:31 Thus through joy, all ways of communication are opened. In the state of joy, an agreeable and pleasing tremor, also the vital heat, the light, the presence of the animus, is diffused around the common external sensory as well as the internal. This lively trembling and light in the countenance is manifestly betrayed by the eyes and by the speech itself and every action. Thence also the brain is cleared, restored, and vivified, and in that moment glides back as it were into the state of its first youth and innocence.

Starting point is 05:43:09 Besides, this subtle trembling, also more visible vibration or laughter arises, for the brain leaps and oscillates, and in the same way the lungs, the windpipe, articulated sounds, the face, and joints of the body. This is called laughter, for joy itself is an affection of the internal sensory, but laughter rather of the common sensory or brain, which is unable to exist without the inmost joy of the internal sensory, and a reflection of its intellect, whence laughter is not given except in man, for an order that it may exist, the mind must perceive a cause for joy,

Starting point is 05:43:53 and see a present or foresee a future happiness. which thus breaks into a tremulous effect from the inmost. In a state of joy the mind is inclined to every kind of waving and motion to and fro as an abiding time to music, to leapings and tossings of the limbs, of vibration and actual reciprocation, because all things are loosened and set free. The first degree of joy is to be content with one's love, lot. Second, hilarity, third, joy, and the fourth, which is also the last effect, is laughter

Starting point is 05:44:35 and a flinging of the body. Sadness, 202. Sadness, however, which is also termed sorrow and distress of mind, is the general unpleasant affection. For all unpleasant affections cause sadness. The causes are all discords, in general and in particular, which disagree with or are not fitting to our censories, especially to the internal sensory, when it perceives or suspects misfortune, unhappiness, the extinction of life, or the destruction of the body. Sadness compresses the brain and torments the animus, casting it as it were into fetters and chains and depriving it of its liberty. This constriction of the brain and anxiety of the mind appear in the countenance in its

Starting point is 05:45:25 sensorial organs, which are likewise compressed so that tears are forced out, as also in the whole body which before expanded is now manifestly contracted. Through the general constriction of the brain, the muscles of the cortical substance being closed, every internal sensory is restrained and loses its liberty of acting, for in this state one compresses the other, whence the brain becomes heavy and torpid. The blood is impeded, nor does it flow freely through the greater and smaller vessels, or it is denied to the purer blood or animal spirit to flow through the glands and fibers, whence is caculchemia, ataxia, trophia, melancholy, and the causes of many diseases. In the deepest sadness, not only are the corticabeds and medullary strands of the cerebrum,

Starting point is 05:46:20 of the cerebellum, of the oblong and spinal medulla, constricted, and the fibrous and vascular canals of the brain as well as the body, but also the pores of the skull and of the bones and the passages as the chylifrous, the lymphatic, and others which pour out liquids serviceable for the animal economy, all of which, if compressed, do not fulfill their uses in the kingdom, Thus through sadness, all the ways of communication are, as to some parts, closed. In the state of sadness and unpleasant torpor and stupor, coldness, darkness, absence of mind, and of animus occupy the common as well as the internal sensory.

Starting point is 05:47:09 This torpor and darkness appear manifestly in the countenance, eyes and speech. Hence the brain is, as it were, clouded and obscured, twisted, vexed, destroyed, and the mind extinguished or falls into a kind of premature old age. In sadness, because the brain suffers and the single ducks are compressed and strive to raise themselves, there arises the effect the opposite of laughter, namely weeping and bewailing. Sadness itself, is an affection of the internal sensory, but weeping is of the common or external sensory, that is, of the brain, and it cannot exist without the deepest sadness of the internal sensory and without a reflection upon an unhappy condition and misfortune present or future.

Starting point is 05:48:05 Wherefore weeping does not occur except in man, nor can it arise except from a mixed intellect, which does not know the future. The first degree of sadness is not to be content with one's lot. Another is a certain concealed anxiety. A third is sadness itself and grief of mind. The fourth or last, which is the effect, is weeping, bewailing, and in action of the muscles of the body. Loves in general, 203.

Starting point is 05:48:39 There are many species of affections of the effections of the body. the animus, which are called loves, such as venereal love, conjugal love, the love of parents towards their children, or storage, and friendships. The several loves are, as it were, so many conjunctions, bindings, consositions of parts with a whole, for to live without love is as a part disunited from a whole, for every part that it may live, draws its lot in life from the common body or from participation with many. Society is the very form of living for the several parts. The quality of the life of the single member flows from the form of the many or of the society. Thus, a single life without this connection is respectively nothing, and that it may be something

Starting point is 05:49:31 loves are conceited by which we are connected and through which we regard our friends as ourselves as united and not separated. Thus, there are loves of the body or venereal loves, loves of the animus, as conjugal love, and the love of friends. And there are loves of the mind, loves of the intellectory, loves of the soul. From these things, it can be seen that love properly is vital heat itself and the very force of life. For without love, the single member would become torpid and extinct. Venerial love, 204. The venereal act of love is a conjunction itself

Starting point is 05:50:17 and union of two bodies into one. The cause of this is said to be most deeply hidden even from the soul and the pure intellect. These regard effects, not as effects, but as ends. And their ends are that society may exist and that members of society may be produced, both of a terrestrial society, which is of the pure intellect, and of a celestial society, which is of the soul. The rational mind itself, partly from itself and partly

Starting point is 05:50:51 from things revealed, perceives and understands these ends. The animus simply desires the effect, and the body obeys. How great is the desire of this end in the mind, and in the pure intellect, becomes manifestly apparent in the delights and in the stimulations of the body to that effect. 205. Venerial desire is excited by objects of the five senses, evidently by beauty and loveliness presented to the sight, or by a similar form and charm described by language, which by the hearing passes into so many objects of sight.

Starting point is 05:51:32 Likewise, by objects of the three senses of type, through kissing, embracing, and many other acts. Thus love progressively increases in this venereal affection, because it is pleasing and the first of the alluring affections, the brain itself, or the common sensory, is expanded, and joyfully trembles, whence the animus is diffused. The censories themselves, and indeed the internal motors, are determined into that state in which they call for,

Starting point is 05:52:05 and draw out the whole spirit, which thus far lies enclosed in the blood, and they promptly pour it forth through their own medullary fibers and through the nerves of the body. The intellectory affords, in abundant measure, new life and spirit, for in this state is conceived, born, and copiously put forth the spiritual essence, which is to serve the new offspring to be conceived. A state similar to that of the brain is felt in the whole body and in its sanguineous and fibrous systems which unanimously conspire to the same effect. For whatever animus the brain has is diffused into the body, besides all the other ways of transpiration, are opened and abundance of effluous breathings flows out.

Starting point is 05:53:00 into and breaks forth through the whole circuit of the body. For these reasons, after the effect arises, lassitude, and torpor, for all the better blood is robbed of its own spiritual essence. Also the purer flows to the sensories in order that in the fibers and through the fibers it may at length be discharged into the members of generation. Even the fibers themselves are fatigued. in the act by tremulous vibrations. The intellectory pours forth whatever vital spirits it possesses and conceives,

Starting point is 05:53:39 for the whole expends itself upon the new man, who is to be, as it were, he the progenitor himself, and through whom he may preserve himself and his life, and pass through all the ages of the earth. At the same time through the opened pores of the skin the better and superfluous, ejected exhalations are put forth, and hence are experienced the delicious ecstasies and pleasurable swoons of the interior censories, which nevertheless in older persons are followed by temporary impotencies and a kind of sadness and a coldness of the blood. In the act itself, which is of the body

Starting point is 05:54:23 merely, there is a pleasure which is permitted without the end of procreation but for the sake of bodily relief, since it is excited by the superfluous generative substance collected in the vesicles. As far as it is from the animus, it is without end and is merely desire looking to the pleasure of the body. For the animus from itself exercises all acts in the body without end. end, since it feels an axe, but does not perceive no or will. But when the love descends from the rational mind, it deserves to be regarded no longer as effect merely, but as end. If it is regarded as effect or pure pleasure, it is lust or lasciviousness, for then the mind descends into the parts of the animus. But if it is regarded as an end, this is an indication that it descends

Starting point is 05:55:23 from the pure intellect, since the pure intellect has regard to no effect of the body as an effect, but as an end. The end is the multiplication of members of a terrestrial society, the preservation of its own life through posterity, that it may pass into another self, then also the necessity of preserving the health of the body. This is the reason why brute animals act from the same principle and the same end for their soul is like our pure intellect, and so regards or desires no spiritual ends, but only natural ones, that is, no celestial society such as our souls have in view. Venerial hatred and aversion, 206.

Starting point is 05:56:12 There are those who, from nature and those who, from principle or reason, have an aversion to venery. Those who, from nature, or of their pure intellect, hold society and its multiplication in hatred, are characterized by pride and an excessive love of self. Those whose rational mind and animus are affected by no charms are almost all sad and morose. Those whose blood is harder, colder, and whose animal spirit and its generation too scanty to suffer. for its proper use, are old before their day, and those whose organs of generation suffer from disease are impotent. But they who, from principle, hate all venery regarded as vile and not to be yielded to, and its use as an injury to the spirit and to the better life. Thus, the

Starting point is 05:57:15 principles of this aversion are either spiritual or natural. This is called chastity and is the highest virtue. End of section 19. Section 20 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Travis Bissell. Chapter 14, Part 2. of the soul or rational psychology by Emmanuel Swedenborg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 20, Conjugial Love, 207. Love is a spiritual word, harmony is a natural word. These mutually correspond for love and also harmony bring about conjunction,

Starting point is 05:58:16 since those things which are in harmonious concord are conjoined of themselves and by their own nature. Genuine conjugial love not only affects the conjunction of two bodies and minds, but also of two rational natures. The causes of love with the married are many, and indeed they all concur so far as nature can contribute to this, for there is the conjunction of the body which is confirmed and strengthened by mutual delights. There is a likeness of the lower minds whence arise the mutual desires of their delights. There is the likeness of their rational minds which are united more closely by living together. For the affections of the mind are changeable, since the very forms of rational ideas are acquired by use and culture. consequently their rational mind.

Starting point is 05:59:16 Minds at length in various ways and from innumerable causes coalescence. The principal cause is the intuition and desire of the same end, and that is the desire of offspring in marriage, afterward the mutual and unanimous love of both toward their offspring, and moreover the consent of each to the other's ends, or to what one or the other desires, that is, that one condescends to the will of the other. In order that there may be a oneness in nature, the active and the passive concur. If one is passive as the other is active, then both are at the same time one.

Starting point is 06:00:02 This is called a conjugal or conjugal pair. Nature also has ordained that the wife, should be a passive and the husband of an active nature. Especially does Liberty favor this union. For liberty is the highest delight of the mind and the principal essence of every pleasurable affection, since there is the greatest freedom when the mind and will of one is that of another. It is as if the mind were left to itself for the sake of being communicated to the other.

Starting point is 06:00:40 These and many other things affect and unite minds, indeed to such a degree that when venereal love and the pleasure arising from the union of the body ceases, the union of minds remains. This also affects in time the pure mind itself for the intellectory, whence arises also that more intimate union which exceeds all union of the rational mind, and it becomes of such a character that it cannot be expressed in terms

Starting point is 06:01:10 inasmuch as whatever is derived immediately from the pure fountain or intellectory cannot be put in words. If also a spiritual end is similarly desired by both, the souls as to their operation are intimately united. Hence arises a celestial life on earth, and it is right to believe that the souls of both are to be united in the heavens. but such marriages and loves are not entered upon and perfected by chance, but by the special providence of God. Conjugial hatred, 208. Hatred is the opposite of love. What love is cannot be known from itself, but from its contrary, just as harmonies are not known except from discords. This is the reason why discords are inserted, that the mind may be affected the more pleasantly by the harmony,

Starting point is 06:02:05 but it is the task of science and of art to see that they be properly fitted together, and thus that the quarrels of lovers do not beget hatred. Genuine conjugal hatred does not immediately disjoint bodies and minds, but it disjoins successively the rational minds, which are changeable. Thence, as from their own origin, the lower minds are disunited, and consequently the bodies. Then the desires themselves vanish with their delusional. lights. The causes of hatred and destruction are many. The principal one is a suspicion of unfaithfulness, which is called jealousy. When this prevails, the love is not believed to be mutual, and on the part of the

Starting point is 06:02:50 husband, the offspring is not believed to be the common offspring of both, so the love of offspring does not join their higher and lower minds. Other causes are disagreements in the various ends, which are loved and desired by one or the other. This aversion is increased if according to the other of nature neither can obsequiously yield, but both must rule. So because the mind and will of the one is no longer that of the other, and both are deprived of that liberty which is the mind's delight, there succeeds in its place either servitude, contempt, or hatred.

Starting point is 06:03:30 These and many other things disunite minds, and indeed to such a degree that when venereal love or love of the body shall have ceased, aversion will spring up. These also, in the lapse of time, affect the pure mind or intellectory of each, whence arises undying and murderous hatred, and it becomes such as cannot be described. This is a hell on earth, and it is right to believe that the souls of each, like two furies or erronees, are to be tortured in hell. For such disunions and diabolical divorces of minds do not arise by chance, but for the gravest reasons they seem to be permitted by foreseeing divinity. From conjugal love and hatred, it can be concluded what the intermediate marriages are, which partake more or less of the one or the other, for innumerable intermediate states are given, and they abound the world over.

Starting point is 06:04:35 The love of parents toward their children, or storage, 209. The love of parents toward their children, as to its origin and essence, is most distinct from other loves. Our mind and rational intellect are wholly ignorant of its origin, wherefore it is also called instinct, for it is in the mind by nature and of itself. It is common to the brute animals and the human race, and in the former very often is the more ardent, and so powerful that it conquers self-love and gives courage to the timid.

Starting point is 06:05:11 This is a species of sympathy, for whether it be one's own offspring or that of another believed to be in some manner one's own. the ardor is the same, equally in beasts and in men, and yet it is not reciprocated and mutual on the part of the offspring, wherefore the love is said to descend, not to ascend, for it is natural in the parent and acquired in the offspring. Other loves, as conjugal love and love toward friends, are insinuated into the animus by way of the senses, and from this into the rational mind. But this parental love is insinuated by the way of the pure intellect, from the soul into the mind.

Starting point is 06:05:59 Therefore, its origin and whence it flows is unknown. For whatever flows down from the pure mind into the rational mind is not revealed to our internal sensory, for this pure mind is unable to explain itself in the forms of words. This is the reason why, whether it be our own offspring, as was said above, or that of another, provided our rational mind is persuaded that it is its own, the love is the same. From the effect of this love, it is clearly seen that in us the rational mind is something superior and pure which regards and at the same time desires the more universal ends, and those toward which universal needs. nature conspires. These ends, which are purely natural in common to brood animals and to us, cannot be other than the propagation of the race and of a new society and the prolongation of

Starting point is 06:07:04 terrestrial life through others in whom it is reborn. For it endeavors to form a colony from itself and pour all its own spirit into the new body, which fact the venereal love, above described sufficiently demonstrates. This pure or superior mind most evidently knows that the soul of the offspring is taken from the soul of the parent. Thus one soul is transcribed into many bodies. Of this, our rational mind is indeed ignorant. But still, this knows from the very ardent effect of this love and from desire that it loves to live most closely conjoined with its own offspring, and indeed to such an extent that it is displeased at not being able to be reunited, as it vainly endeavors to be through the closest embraces, clasping, and kisses.

Starting point is 06:08:03 Thus, in this love is concentrated the love of self, the love of perpetuating life, the love of society, of which it is a part and indeed the first part. In this love with men, so far as it descends from the pure intellect, the love of self, of perpetuating life, and of society is similarly concentrated. But so far as it descends from the soul, the mind of which is spiritual, the love of eternity is added, and the love of celestial society, a part of which is to be the entire terrestrial society. From these things, as from living and existing proofs, it is clear that the human soul is superior in essence and form, and that the soul of brutes is such as is our pure intellect.

Starting point is 06:08:57 This love of parents toward their children decreases with the advance of time, more tardily in the human race, more rapidly in the various kinds of animals. For every offspring puts on and acquires its own countenance, its own animus, its own rational mind, not like that of its parents. Thus by nature they are disassociated, as soon as the new brain assumes a relationship to its own body. But because the ends which are desired are distinctly perceived in human minds, a love remains so long as it is the love of an end, which is also the reason why the love of parents become still greater toward their grandchildren.

Starting point is 06:09:43 for that the soul of the grandfather by means of the parent even passes into the grandchildren is evident from the revived likeness in the grandchildren of the grandparents and great-grandparents. The love of society and of country, 2.10. There are smaller societies, greater societies, and greatest societies. A small society is a home or family. A greater society is a province or sovereignty, a kingdom or empire. The greatest is the whole world. Terrestrial society is called the world, just as celestial society is called heaven.

Starting point is 06:10:27 There are as many worlds as there are terrestrial societies, and there are as many heavens as there are celestial societies. The love of society is both natural and acquired, for to live alone or to live without society is not to live. For whatever is one's own is not known as one's own except from others or relatively. Our inmost delights are not delights unless from the delights of others we are convinced of our own. Moreover, no desired ends follow without the means. Thus, ours do not follow without our friends and friends.

Starting point is 06:11:12 their assistance, neither those of our friends without the consent of that community of which we are parts. Thus nature herself begets and induces this love and conjunction. This love, while it is purely animal, is greatest for oneself and one's own, less for friends and least of all for society. but if this love immediately descends from the mind of the peer intellectory, it is then most for society, less for friends, and least for self. The analogy is like that of the whole world to its parts or a part. But indeed, if this love is spiritual or of the soul, then the love of celestial society is above the love of all terrestrial societies,

Starting point is 06:12:05 or the whole world, and above that is God who is love itself. 2.11. Our minds are rational, that is, at once natural and spiritual. Natural minds or purely animal minds prefer themselves to friends, these to society, and earth to heaven. Truly spiritual minds place themselves in the lowest place, their neighbor they treat and love as equals. Above all, they place God, and others intermediately in their own order. This subordination of self is the very excellence of our minds. This is true magnanimity, wisdom, honesty itself, virtue, felicity, religion. These are heroes of their own age, the very essences, powers, virtues,

Starting point is 06:13:02 and stars of the world. The society of such is the city of God. By the prodigies of this love, the Roman Empire flourished, wherefore by singular providence of God the whole universe was subjected to it. Such men are born at this day, but are regarded as wonders. Everybody recognizes this as a naked truth. Who does not praise to the stars, Quintus Musius, Horatius, Codes, Scipio Africanus, the elder, Cato, Octavius, the Gustavi, and Caroli, and many others, and admire that something divine which is in them? Who does not exalt such a nature and affect it in himself, by placing himself in the last or in no place, if he would strive, for the glory, favor and applause of universal society. Thus, it is the part of art for a man to feign,

Starting point is 06:14:05 even for selfish ends, magnanimity, wisdom, honesty, virtue, religion, and to be a man above men, and this at the very time when he is putting himself in the highest places. 2.12. There are as many forms as there are systems as there are, The whole human race or world constitutes a universal form. Empires and kingdoms less universal forms. The dukedoms of empires and the provinces of kingdoms still less universal forms. Families and homes the least. Everyone is by nature bound by the love of that of which he is a part.

Starting point is 06:14:52 Thus by a love of his own country before others. when these come in conflict, since in protecting its form he is protecting himself. Love toward friends or friendship. 2.13. All love is natural, but all friendship is acquired love. The love between husbands and wives is such by nature, but friendship is something acquired through mutual association. That sentiment which exists in parents towards children

Starting point is 06:15:21 and in others toward blood relations and relations by marriage is love. but toward others, not related by blood, is friendship. Affection for country in society is also called love, so far as it is innate. Love exists between equals and unequals, but friendship between equals. The sentiment of inferiors towards superiors is not called friendship, but veneration, which easily makes way for love, since the veneration of superiors is natural and is within every love. But there are many causes, natures, and degrees of friendship. It is a general rule that friendship is produced through a similarity of manners,

Starting point is 06:16:03 that is of dispositions and minds. The disposition, which is the external state of the mind and brain alone, does not regard ends but only the pleasures of the body, and is not affected except by likeness of condition, age, sex, fortune, countenance, actions. whence the friendship thence resulting is that of infants, of boys, youths, even of adults who are controlled more by the disposition and by pleasures than by the mind and desires of rational ends. In these there is frequently the first attachment, for we judge from externals concerning internals. But friendship from rational causes is procured by those ends in which both unite,

Starting point is 06:16:49 for from these the likeness is known. Thus as far as we desire ends so far we love those friends and companions who advance these ends. For ends and means, or all intermediate ends, proceed with equal steps. Ends are either corporeal and purely natural or rational or spiritual. The pleasing affections themselves are ends. Thus they are honest ends with honest men, evil with evil men. friendships with those related by blood and so forth. But in friendship, it is requisite that one should be the leader and the other the follower.

Starting point is 06:17:29 If both lead, there will be a collision, as among morose, ill-tempered, envious, and covetous persons. Also, the natures of friendships are various. There may be sincere friendship or deceitful friendship, even friendship mixed with hatred. Very often we dislike the animus of a person and his manners. but we love his mind and will, that is, the man himself and vice versa. Sometimes we even desire not to live with a loved one, but with one whom we dislike. Our principal affection and ruling love is the measure of our friendship toward another.

Starting point is 06:18:09 Thus it may be seen how various is the material out of which friendship is composed. It ought to be a common rule that all should be loved, and at the same time their vices hated. That is, that even enemies should be embraced with love, but not indeed with friendship. For love is natural and of the pure mind itself, and of the soul, while friendship is acquired and is of the rational mind. The ends of the soul are spiritual,

Starting point is 06:18:39 the first of which is internal felicity. When several agree in these ends, they are regarded already as friends whom love alone. binds. Thus, there will be a love of souls, however inimical the minds may be. Without this spiritual love, there is no divine love, for through this alone our souls conssociated, if aspiring to this one end. End of Section 20. Section 21 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Travis Bissell.

Starting point is 06:19:32 Chapter 14, Part 3 of the Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenborg, translated by Frank Sewell 1837 to 1915 and others. Section 21. Hatred 2.14. Hatred is not an absence of love, but it is the love of evil, consequently the hatred of truth. Hatred is both natural and acquired. Natural hatred is the contrary of love, but acquired hatred is the contrary of friendship. As love is a pleasing affection, delighting the sensories, repairing the bloods and animal spirits with new heat, light and life, and restoring the single parts of the body, so hatred is an unpleasant affection.

Starting point is 06:20:22 which grieves the censories and disturbs the bloods and animal spirits, depriving them of their better life and destroying the several parts of the body. The lower mind is then in anguish and the brain compressed. It is exhilarated, rendered serene, and expanded alone by misfortunes of others, just as love is a conjunction of dispositions, animus, and minds, mince. Hatred is their disjunction, and as love is life and heaven, hatred is death and hell. Disagreements, discords, and disharmines arise from hatred. The highest joy of the most intense hatred would result if heaven and earth should fall.

Starting point is 06:21:10 But there are many causes, kinds, and degrees of natural and acquired hatred. The causes of natural hatred proceed from the state of the pure intellect and sense. soul, since there are as many diverse states as there are souls and intellectories. For there are spiritual essences and forms more perfect and more imperfect, best and worst. In these love and harmony dwell, and in those hatred and discord, those in which love is are celestial essences, and according to the degree of love, are nearer to the highest love for God, and are more grateful and happy. But those in which hatred is are infernal essences,

Starting point is 06:21:56 and according to the degree of hatred more remote from God, more ungrateful and unhappy. Acquired hatred, indeed, is caused and increased by dissimilarity of dispositions and by discord and collision of minds and of the desires and wishes which the ends themselves declare. All desired ends are pleasant to the minds. Hatred is begotten of dissent, difference, and opposition.

Starting point is 06:22:27 In order that love may exist one gives away while the other acts. And on the other hand, hatred arises by the opposition of one to the other. As the love of the end is the measure of friendship, so is opposition of end the measure of friendship. so is opposition of end the measure of hatred. Other things concerning hatred worthy of observation are to be deduced from the description of loves, since hatred is contrary to love. Self-love, ambition, haughtiness, pride.

Starting point is 06:23:03 215. Ambition is not love, but is something super added or an adjunct to love, which if separated from love, love would not be active. but passive. We have seen that love is the life both of the mind and animus, for there is no such thing as mind nor animus without love. Ambition is indeed the force of this life, or the ardor of testifying the love of the mind. Thus the passive principle is love and its active ambition. whence it follows that there are as many ambitions or kinds of ambition as there are loves. Thus, there is ambition and conjugal love in the love of parents towards their children,

Starting point is 06:23:51 in the love of society, and in self-love. The reason why ambition is frequently taken for love is because love and ambition taken together constitute one's mind, men's, disposition, animus, or one's life. Now, because ambition is joined to love as husband to wife, and there are loves more or less perfect, or those which are virtues and those which are vices, so there are more or less perfect ambitions or those which are virtues and those which are vices. For ambition derives its essence and nature from the love to which it is bound or wedded. Ambition is a vice or is spurious when joined to self-love.

Starting point is 06:24:35 but it is a virtue or is legitimate when joined to the love of society. 216. Depraved or illegitimate ambition which is joined to self-love desires the highest things, and the higher it climbs the higher it aspires, and it increases as it goes on, especially does it desire the dignities, the supreme honors, the wealth of the world, even heaven itself as its subject. So the ambition of Adam remains deeply rooted in the nature of his posterity, and each as a child of earth desires in mind to occupy all heaven. He emulates the omnipresence of deity through his fame, its providence through his universal care, its omnipotence through his more than regal power, even also its omniscience, for he is ignorant that there is any

Starting point is 06:25:31 which he does not know, and so persuades himself that he knows everything. So ambition obstructs the way to wisdom and opens one to ignorance. Carried away by ambition, he does not regard himself as a part of the universe, but as the universe itself, at least thinking that the universe exists on his account, of which universe he is nevertheless the smallest part, and all the smaller in that he seems to himself, so great, for ambition is joined with the contempt of everything outside of self, although this is cunningly concealed. In his own regard he is all. He burns at every word which might injure his dignity and glory,

Starting point is 06:26:18 while he laughs and inwardly is pleased at everything which raises him, even though it were to the stars. Such ambition is for the most part natural or conate, and it increases by the favor of fortune, which is an indication of the perverse state of the pure intellect, the form of whose intellectual ideas or truths is disconcordant and adverse to the order of nature. But what this soul may be is not for us to judge. This heat of affection in the rational mind is properly called ambition where there is a species of insanity joined to ignorance, for it admires and contemplates itself and its form in every idea. This ambition in the animus or in the common sensory passes for haughtiness or in the body for pride, because it is the effect of haughtiness and an elation. of the animus, and it shows itself in ridiculous gestures, supercilious bearing,

Starting point is 06:27:30 affectation of titles, pomp of family, of friends, of servants, of horses, of garments, decked with superfluous ornaments, and in many other things which provoke laughter. Such an ambition, because it is a force and an ardor, and because the affection itself, in which it resides as a pleasing one, makes glad and expands the internal as well as the external sensors, the cerebrum, fibers, arteries, ducts, viscera, and the body, whence it is said to be puffed up and to inflate. Thus, naturally, it repairs and restores the condition when everything is favorable and pours into it as it were new life. It is nevertheless, only like a beautiful wax figure stuffed with vile matter.

Starting point is 06:28:28 But if perchance it is cut off from hope or fortune, it falls either into infantile crying, into silliness, into sorrow, or into insanity, for the ardor of the mind is either extinguished or remains only as madness. There are many causes, qualities, degrees, and differences of this vanity. 217. That ambition, however, is a virtue or is legitimate, which is joined to the love of society and country. This never begets pride, much less haughtiness, but humility and contempt of self. It regards self as the smallest part of the universe, and inwardly rejoices that it is able to perform so many duties. It desires and attempts great and sublime things, not on account of sense.

Starting point is 06:29:22 but for the public good. To itself, it is nothing. To its country, it is everything. If it desires honors, riches, or wisdom, it is that by these only it may serve the more. It turns away from that illegitimate ambition as from a disease. Thus, it is known from love or from end what ambition is. Such a mind indicates a most perfect state of the pure intellect, whose ideas are so many celestial truths and at the same time a state of the internal sensory corresponding to the intellectory. So it is natural rather than acquired, for even if imbibbed by rules, it is rarely so acquired as to be constantly active unless it be continually deprived of its own natural ardor and so accommodated to the influx of the higher mind.

Starting point is 06:30:22 2.18, but the loftiest or spiritual ambition proper to the soul is that which is joined to the love of celestial society. This sees its own glory and felicity not in itself, but in the love of God and in his kingdom, which it earnestly desires to promote. It is humble, a worshipper of deity, a contemner of self, but in the degree it is less to itself. it is greater before God. To this end, this zeal is granted to souls and ambition to human minds. Humility, contempt, lowliness of mind, animus. 219. There is a natural and an acquired humility, as also an internal humility or that of the mind, and an external humility or that of the animus and body. Natural humility arises from self-contempt, once it is an affection contrary to illegitimate ambition or self-love,

Starting point is 06:31:28 and wholly united to love toward others, for which reason it is worthy to be called legitimate ambition. For as far as we recede from love of self, so far do we enter into a love toward others as being all more excellent and higher than ourselves. properly it is shown towards superiors and thus it is a kind of veneration for love toward superiors is shown by veneration so that it is veneration itself for this reason humility is a virtue and if it is innate or natural it has its roots in the pure intellect itself and if in the soul itself it is an evidence of love toward god and so it is an annihilation of self, whence is the highest religion, adoration, and the imploring of grace. From the adoration itself, which is an act of humility, may be known the quality and quantity

Starting point is 06:32:29 of this love. The reason why humility is proof of love towards others, either in reality, superior, and more perfect, or else so esteemed, is because it is natural. If we would have the love of another and his work influence us, for us to extinguish the ardor of our animus and mind, and to reduce these to a kind of passivity, then the love of another is that which operates with our love, and is that active principle which should exist in love in order that it may be the heat of our life. Hence, is it that humility is the cause of the conjunction of the mind, of others with ours, and the very origin itself of benevolence. Without this state of our mind, divine love could never operate upon us.

Starting point is 06:33:27 Indeed, spurious ambition itself through its own activity throws off every influx and entirely extinguishes it. No affection more approves of this virtue or covers it with praises than vicious or illegitimate ambition. For this demands humility of all because it prefers itself to all. On the other hand, God, who demands this humility, not from love of self, but from love of the human race, that we may be disposed to the operations of his love and for the reception of grace. He does not demand glory for its own sake, for he is in his own glory. and himself is glory, to whom nothing can be added through our glorification,

Starting point is 06:34:20 but because the proof of glory is adoration, which is according to our veneration toward our superiors, it is by this that we declare our love. 2.20, humility which is acquired does not derive its origin from nature and inclination, or from principles engrafted in our pure intellect and soul, but from principles through the reflection of our mind, drawn from our own experience or from that of others who teach us. And if we put faith in our masters and ourselves acknowledge the truth as examined by them, there arises a principle out of which either virtues or vices are acquired.

Starting point is 06:35:04 Thus, if we are imbued with truths, especially with this truth, that illegitimate ambition or love of self is a vice and an impediment to the communication of the loves of another and particularly of a superior, then as far as self-love recedes, so far does love toward others and that of others towards us, and thence humility succeed in its place. This, in the course of time, these principles being deeply implanted, passes over into the pure intellect and becomes as it were natural, and it is transferred to posterity, as if it were an inclination, and this is the origin of natural humility. This humility is called internal. 221. External humility is of the animus and body alone, and not of the rational mind.

Starting point is 06:35:59 For self-love and spurious ambition can be implanted in the mind and the entire internal sensory or our rational intellect can be occupied by this love. And nevertheless, externally, humility can be simulated. Contempt of self, love toward others, toward society, even toward God, in a word, honesty, and virtue. Vices can also be simulated, the love of self, contempt of friends, and many other things. Such humility is called external because it is outside of the mind, and as it were superficial, For the mind is a superior or internal animus, subject to which is the will because the intellect, judgment, and choice are. The mind to which the will belongs is able to command the external or lower animus, and thence the body,

Starting point is 06:36:48 and indeed by such art, that it can cause that nothing of the mind shall show itself in the countenance. For every affection, there are certain corresponding expressions of face, of bodily form, of gesture, and of action. Thus, the joyful expression of humility in the face of the lover and the beloved is, as it were, not each one's own state, but that of the other. Veneration itself appears in the form of actions, in the accent of speech, and the style of language, as a certain yielding and obedience. But the deepest humility breaks out even into tears, or into a pitiable condition of the body. We are prostrated. We cry out that we are as nothing and beat upon our breasts. These are the natural effects of humility in the body, and it spontaneously flows forth in this

Starting point is 06:37:48 manner when verily present in its signs. But all this we are also taught to feign. 2.22. Lowliness is of mind or of spirits, is a virtue as well as a vice. It is a virtue when humility is acquired from principle, or when self-love and spurious ambition are expelled from our minds, for then there succeeds at once an ambition of serving and obeying others, or of suffering ourselves to be controlled by others. Both self-love and ambition, or this animus, are cast down by sicknesses, disease, misfor, fortune anxieties. But these are of the divine providence. Loneliness of mind is, on the other hand, an evil when it arises from a sudden extinction

Starting point is 06:38:43 of ardor or of a spurious ambition, the self-love remaining without its ardor or without the possibility of acting. Then force or violence is done especially to the internal organs, and thence to the external ones, and those of the body. And there is a breaking out into weeping, despair, frenzy, grief, disease, insanity, and madness. End of Section 21. Section 22 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain.

Starting point is 06:39:30 For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Travis Bissell, Chapter 14, Part 4 of the Soul or Rational Psychology by Immanuel Swedenborg, translated by Frank Sewell 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 22, Hope and Despair, 223. When we strive for and desire what we love, and yet impossibilities interfere with our attaining our end. We call this state of desire hope, and it seems to be in the will viewed as an endeavor which these obstacles are preventing from coming forth into act and motion. Thus hope is not an affection of the mind, but of its will. For the will always endeavors to act, but so long as it

Starting point is 06:40:26 is resisted does not act. Meanwhile, it is affected by a certain hope, so that it remains balance, between action and inaction. Thus hope does not belong to the animus, but to the rational mind, because to its will, and so belongs to man, and not to brutes and irrational beings. Hope increases and grows just as far as the impossibilities, that is, the resistances, recede or are removed. And to remove these is the work of prudence and skill.

Starting point is 06:41:04 But hope in itself is greater or less according to the degree of the love and desire of the end pursued or desired. Therefore, hope has, in view, desired ends, and accordingly it belongs to all the affections which are ends. For this reason, hope is the continuation of life, that is, of loves, and of their ardor or ambition. but the greatest hope is that which we repose in God to whom nothing is impossible, wherefore hope is one of the three spiritual virtues. 2.24. Despair exists when we cut off hope, then also when, in the end itself, love and ambition, that is, the life and ardor of the mind collapse and are, as it were, extinguished. Then comes that dejection of the animus, the effects of which were described above.

Starting point is 06:42:07 The effects in general are different species of insanity, which are diseases of the mind, different frenzies which are diseases of the animus, and different sicknesses which are of the body. The love of an immortality of fame after death. 225. The love of an immortality of fame. or as it is commonly called of one's name, is natural to everyone, as appears from innumerable proofs. Who does not desire funeral poms and obsequies, and provide for the erection of a tomb to remain for a monument after the death of the body for the sake of his name? Who does not rejoice

Starting point is 06:42:53 at the imagined talk and whispering, and is not affected by its flatteries, as yet all unknown, when it shall be said that he has gained an immortal fame and has merited the favor of posterity, nay, he himself would glory, and all the world applaud him, as if instinctively, if he by saying so could persuade them that he did not study to serve himself but posterity, from thence comes the glory of a great man. from these and very many other proofs it is plainly established that the love of our immortality or fame or name is an implanted or canate one, hence that it is one of those truths which are within the pure intellectory. Unless the pure intellect and the soul were conscious of this, such a love could never exist in a rational mind. and because it does exist in it,

Starting point is 06:43:59 it follows that it is the truth that we are to live after the death of our bodies. But our rational mind does not take this form itself, since it is ignorant of the true origin of this love, denying even its existence, and indeed those minds more ardently which regard run after and desire only natural ends, for something natural as well as something spiritual is within our rational minds, and the one predominating suffocates the other.

Starting point is 06:44:38 Still this truth remains, as a spark under the embers when these persons come to die and desire illustrious obsequies. 226, but this love with its peculiar ambition is super eminent. and is either a virtue or a vice. It is a virtue when it obtains a name immortal in virtues, in honesty, in praiseworthy deeds, toward society and country, and still greater when not only toward present societies, but toward all future ones.

Starting point is 06:45:17 For if there is an innate love toward societies and country, it must be that which extends to all postings, is a greater one. Such a love or virtuous ambition, when it is united to our love of self, is pure love. If one does not desire that his name may live, but rather his service, and thence his consequent public usefulness may. Such are the heroes of the world, for they spurn all glory of deeds and merits, they are even averse to these. But they rejoice from their inmost conscience that they were means of their country's felicity and safety, and that heaven above and God and the eternal essences may be conscious of their deeds to whom in a kind of spiritual

Starting point is 06:46:16 likeness they may draw near. Also such souls, the body have perished in death, are allotted a certain heaven, not alone in themselves, but also without themselves, from other souls with whom they cannot but have immediate communication of spiritual affection. Concerning these things, faith itself and reason itself refuse to doubt, but we will treat of them elsewhere. Such internal men despise, Yah, are adverse, to this fame of name, such as is indicated by monuments, palaces, buildings, statues, amphitheaters, inscribed titles, and other like things. For they aspire to what is higher, and to that with which these things are not to be compared. But such a love is a vice when it is

Starting point is 06:47:16 in reality extinct, and nothing remains but what is feigned in order that one may instill into the credulous public and estimation of his deeds by a certain sincerity or truthfulness, or where self-love or spurious ambition is supereminent. In these persons, the love of fame naturally rules, but the end is that of the fame of self, not of virtues, like that in him who burn the temple of God. Diana of the Ephesians. But without this love, no one would love his offspring, for he would not see himself as immortal in it. Neither would anyone fight for his country from a kind of love, nor seek death nor love to offer himself a sacrifice. From such an incentive comes true

Starting point is 06:48:15 heroic virtue, such as was exhibited in our Gustavi and Karoli. The divine providence conspires as far as possible that these may obtain their wish. Generosity, magnanimity, what the loves of the world and of the body are. 2.27. The animus is called generous and great in the degree that is elevated from what is mundane and corporeal, and so nearer to the celestial and divine. By the animus is here understood the superior animus or mind, wherefore also this animus is called divine.

Starting point is 06:49:02 This regards the corporeal and the mundane as respectively nothing, because they are mutable, inconstant, transitory, perishable, void of life to become as nothing, mere instruments of life, to which is assigned a reward according to service. But the celestials are regarded as the only, the soul essentials, the very things which are, the perpetual eternals, the very felicities themselves. 2.28. Mundane, in a strict sense, applies to the earth and the universe. with its orbs, moons, sun, stars, then especially all things which are in the earth and its three kingdoms. Even human societies are called worlds, and every individual in the society a microcosm.

Starting point is 06:50:02 So are mundane things also, those riches, possessions, and other things of the earth, which in themselves are but clods, but in society pass for the goods, which are the servants of life. But corporeal things are those which allure only the body and the animus, as the sensations of touch, taste, smell, hearing, sight, or all their pleasing affections. Then also dignities and honors and other things which are taken no notice of when alone the pleasures of the body and the animus are sought after.

Starting point is 06:50:43 These are called loves of the world, cupidities of the animus, and pleasures of the body, because the blood and external organs are affected by them. Our rational mind is like a balance between the corporeal and the spiritual, or between the mundane and the celestial. One arm of the beam being that of the body and animus, the other that of the pure mind and soul, If the weight of the corporeal arm prevails, then the spiritual and celestial are almost of no weight. Thus their scale is elevated. But if the other arm prevails, then the mundane and corporeal are of no weight. Thus we are balanced between heaven and earth. The weight of corporeal arm naturally prevails because we are conscious of its delights.

Starting point is 06:51:40 or we are manifestly affected by a sense of them, but in the celestial arm there are no weights, but only forces, and if they prevail it will be because their delights are ineffable, infinite, eternal, and are inmostly within the aforenamed weights, thus from the idea alone of their supereminence. 229. He who is magnanimous scorns in his spirit and mind alike all mundane and corporeal things, estimating them alone from their use in promoting those things which are superior. Thus he values the taste not on account of the flavor,

Starting point is 06:52:27 but because by means of the flavor he discovers the quality of nourishment and enjoys an appetite for it. He enjoys the modulations. of song, musical harmonies, sweetly spoken words, and like things, not for the sake of the affections, but because they recreate the body and preserve the health of the mind. The pleasures of the fields and meadows of colors of the starry, theater of the universe, are prized not as delights in themselves, but because they exhilarate and renew the mind and give to it the faculty of understanding and the material for forming universal judgments out of particulars, and thus

Starting point is 06:53:19 determining essential truths, and also for admiring and adoring the maker of such a world. Riches and possessions are valued not as ends, but as means to hire things, so also dignities and honors. He who regards all these things as mere servants and instrumental causes in themselves dead, and who only venerates the higher things abstracted from them is magnanimous. And because he proves this by his acts, he is generous. For universal nature is so created that as an instrument it may serve life and the spiritual essences to whose rule it is wholly subject. 2.30. This love and this ambition show who is magnanimous and generous by nature.

Starting point is 06:54:17 Also the magnanimity and generosity themselves indicate the quality of this love and ambition. There are in general two loves, the love of the body and the world and the love of heaven and deity. Love of self and spurious ambition reveal the love of the body and the world, while contempt of self, or love of serving the public and genuine ambition, reveal the love of heaven and of deity, even to the smallest thing which lies in the way thither. From these loves it may be known who is really magnanimous and generous, but there is a magnanimity, and generosity feigned for the sake of being made the means of corporeal and worldly possessions. 2.31. Thus magnanimity is not any affection, but rather a quality of the animus and mind. From these things it may be judged what the animus is and to what loves it inclines. Pusilanimity and folly.

Starting point is 06:55:32 232. Puselanimity is opposed to magnanimity and is so-called from this opposition, but as opposed to generosity, it is called folly. Puselanimity has no right of its own, nor sufficient intellect to enable it to assert its mind, but is inconsistently born to this side or that, wherever its lust, its presumption, or the persuasion of others may draw it. Even if it should remain a moment in higher things, it would fall back at once into the lower and be plunged into its mere bodily living. Folly, however, spurns entirely the higher things, and embraces the lower with all its animus and heart.

Starting point is 06:56:28 and considers these as the only and the all, and indeed as the very entities of reason. Thus, it is characteristic of a purely animal and brutish man. Still other things may be deduced on this subject from the above description of magnanimity and generosity. Averous. 233. Averous is the love of riches and earthly possessions, but it's so. quality may be recognized from its end. It is natural to love wealth, as it is to love those ends to which wealth is the means. Wherefore, it is natural to brutes, even to insects, to collect,

Starting point is 06:57:12 and put away the necessaries of life for a coming winter. And because money is the universal medium for promoting and acquiring intermediate ends, it is called the nerve of business. This is not avarice, but prudence for providing means or a human providence granted by God, especially if the love of means does not exceed the love of the end. Often, however, it goes beyond. For worldly and corporeal loves never halt in their march, but in all directions they seize upon new growths as the love of dignities, of honors, of ruling, the love of vanity, display haughtiness, the love of pleasures, the love of looking out

Starting point is 06:58:02 for one's own, not only during one's own life and that of his children, but even to that of grandchildren, since the storage inspires a kind of perpetual life which increases toward the remoter generations. In a similar degree increases the love of riches, that is, of means, to the perpetual end. There are also superior loves which wealth serves as a means, such as the love of agriculture,

Starting point is 06:58:34 of defending one's country, of preserving society. Wherefore, the greatest care of a ruler is that his kingdom may abound in money. Wealth may also serve as means to certain spiritual ends, as in performing works of charity, in lending aid to the,

Starting point is 06:58:54 needy, in promoting and propagating divine worship in building temples and in many other things. Now because money is the universal medium of so many and almost of all ends, and as each person has his own loves, desires, and ends, it follows that the love or estimation of money rules throughout the world. 2.34. But indeed, if wealth is sought not for the need. the sake of ends, but for its possession merely, that is not as means but as the end itself, then this love is that avarice which is called sorrid, and is folly itself, the trait of a base mind.

Starting point is 06:59:39 It is against nature itself and against the principles of all reason that wealth should be regarded as pure end, for that which in itself is means cannot be the end, and this is the reason why money is regarded as the very possibility of all ends, consequently as being all loves in potency. For the mind is more delighted in the contemplation of its loves than the body is in their execution or in its pleasures themselves, since the view is more lasting and constant, while the pleasure itself is inconstant and ends with the act,

Starting point is 07:00:20 as in venereal love. wherefore pleasures are ascribed to the imagination for the life itself of the mind flourishes from similar loves. Besides, in avaricious minds, all these loves remain because of the possibility of all things which wealth promises, and by these loves there is aroused a universal idea which is more pleasing in that it is the more universal. and this appears to be the cause of avarice. This is confirmed by the location itself of this affection, being in the rational mind only, since it is not an affection of the superior mind,

Starting point is 07:01:09 as it is never natural, but one that is acquired in the course of time, and that increases in old age just in the degree that the corporeal loves recede. it is not an affection of the lower mind animus because it is not of the body. The cupidities of the animus and the pleasures of the body being inseparable. 2.35. But to what an extent avarice may become a mental disease, insanity, irrationality, and niggardliness, is fully evident from its effect, in that,

Starting point is 07:01:52 the more completely it is enrooted, the more are other loves blunted and extirpated. For the mind occupied by this perpetual idea is as it were suffocated, is merged not in the body but in the earth, so that it cannot be elevated toward the higher things, nor can the spiritual inflow into what is grossly natural. Thus the God whom the avaricious man worships is like Pluto himself, for the worshipper adores that he himself may be blessed, that is, that additional riches may be given him. But in mind, he worships his treasures as a god. In these he recognizes all possibility, providence, power, and glory. and so he in secret wholly denies the divine. From the mind of a miser all love of society is wholly rejected,

Starting point is 07:02:57 likewise friendship, and even the love of one's own, which is nevertheless an extremely natural love. Even the love of the body hardly remains because this is the love of the earth, and all cupidities are spurned because they are pleasures that cost. Also honors and repute of name are of no account to the miser, since he persuades himself that he possesses potentially all the honors of the universe. Thus the love of self is supreme, for he regards himself as the whole universe and not a part of it. Thus he places among the virtues nothing but vices, such as injuries done to his neighbor,

Starting point is 07:03:43 plots for reducing whole homes to extremities and innumerable similar things. 2.36. These passages are to be amended as the subjects here treated of have not been deduced from their origins. End of Section 22. Section 23 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit leaprovox.org. Recording by Travis Bissell. Chapter 14, Part 5 of the Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenborg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 23 prodigality, liberality, contempt of wealth. 237.

Starting point is 07:04:49 Prodigality arises from various causes. For a prodigal either desires his ends too much, or he desires none at all. Or he regards the present only and not the future. Or he denies that riches are a means for attaining ends, or he believes that they produce themselves spontaneously. Or he desires to exhibit a generous spirit, or he despises wealth as provocative of evil. Thus, prodigality is both a vice and a virtue.

Starting point is 07:05:19 When it is a vice, it is properly called prodigality, but when it is a virtue liberality, which is a kind of generosity and magnanimity, and when the virtue is super eminent, it is called the contempt of money. Prodigality is of the animus, but not of the natural mind. So it differs altogether from avarice,

Starting point is 07:05:41 even as to its origin, that it is of the animus and not of the mind, is evident from the genius of the prodigal, for he does not care for the future but for the present, and he lives for the day, or he longs for pleasures of the body too much as ends, and so he indulges his disposition or animus and cupidities alone, or conscious of no burning desire of an end, he is like a dead stock weakened in mind. Or like boys growing up, he does not know that wealth should be acquired with care as the general means to ends. All these things indicate that the animus is the prodigal and not the mind. Liberality is also either a vice or a virtue, for it is for an end, and the end qualifies the means. It is a vice if it is for loves of the world and the body, and thus for

Starting point is 07:06:39 ostentation. It is a virtue if it is for superior loves, as for the works of charity. Thus, they regard wealth as mutually received, as committed to their charge, as to be dispensed and returned. The contempt of money, if it is not feigned, is a supereminent virtue, for the contemner, turns away from money as he would from the vices and evils to which they are the irritants and perpetual allurements for the possession of wealth can never be separated from the idea of those delights and pleasures of which it is a means. That which is to be and can be, the mind regards as though present and being. Thus all loves of the world and of the body are worldly and corporeal in the idea as though they were in act.

Starting point is 07:07:33 The possession of wealth in this way perpetually irritates and is a universal decoy. And so the mind descends and buries itself in all natural things, worldly and corporeal, from which it is impossible to be elevated to higher things, celestial and divine. If money is despised on this account, such contempt is, as was said, said a super eminent virtue. Pity and charity, 238. There are some who are compassionate from nature,

Starting point is 07:08:09 some from use, some from purely moral causes, and some from principles of the reason. Compassion from nature, or what is the same thing, from the pure mind and soul, flows forth toward others from an innate love, so that it coincides with love itself, of which it is the first effect, another form of charity. For love regards another as itself, and so it pities others, although it may be deserving of pity itself.

Starting point is 07:08:42 Love toward husband or wife, children, blood relations, that is one's own, produces pity, and this charity, which extends itself as far as the love. Love toward society and country, and the more universal love, toward the human race and that which is most universal toward the human race past and future, a pure and more perfect love than the former produces a pity and charity toward all who from this love are spiritually called neighbors, while naturally they are nearer or more remote, since nature alone admits of degree. Thus pity and charity are not joined to self-love and spurious ambition,

Starting point is 07:09:27 whence these are virtues of virtues. Such a love cannot be given without its effect. Consequently, from charity and pity, which are effects, it can be judged concerning love, thence, concerning the state of the mind and soul. Pity from use emulates pity from nature, for it passes as it were into the natural, since with the passing of time it imbues the mind with the principles of love, This properly is a moral virtue because it is within the will, not of itself, but of ourselves,

Starting point is 07:10:06 to which we contribute as so many instrumental causes through application to the influx of the principal cause. Pity is conceived also from purely moral causes and is acquired through use and thus born it may be from principles of virtue and piety. but this pity supposes a faith not intellectual and thus is insinuated from obedience through use, for faith is something that is not in our own power. Pity from the principles of reason, whether from a spurious or legitimate love, is derived from a spurious love, that is, from the love of self.

Starting point is 07:10:50 He who is a lover of self is never compassionate, for he does not love others as he loves, himself. Nor does he who hates ever pity him who he hates, for no one hates another as another unless he loves himself, that is, unless for causes which oppose his self-love. But notwithstanding, the external works of pity can flow from the principle of this same love of self, so indeed that one may seem kind, compassionate, and a lover of others, for he knows that it is a virtue, wherefore his self-love stimulates him to appear such and acquire distinction, or also from the principle that others may pity him if he should happen to be an unfortunate. Then indeed he exercises charity toward those who are wealthy that he may be

Starting point is 07:11:50 rewarded, but this is without pity or love. Pity from principles of legitimate love supposes an intellectual faith, or that from persuasion one knows pity as the effect of pure celestial and spiritual love. The principles of the mind are regarded as so many rational truths, for everyone believes his own principles to be truths. 239. The effect of pity is in the mind anxiety, in the animus sadness, and in the body weeping, and at the same time a pitiful voice, the image of pity also stands out in the countenance. Thus the effects of pity and sadness coincide, but it is such that one suffers as if this sadness were his own, for he whom he pities is his other self. 2.40. The objects of pity are in numerous.

Starting point is 07:12:50 Poverty and unhappiness are general objects. There are also those persons who pity the opulence and celebrity of others regarding these things as causes of misery and incentives to vices. Everyone pities the avaricious man. There is poverty in worldly intellectual and spiritual things. What poverty in worldly things is is known. Poverty in intellectual things is ignorance, a hallucination of principles or of opinions concerning truth is silliness and insanity.

Starting point is 07:13:25 Poverty in spiritual things is a feeble faith or total want of faith, a cold love or no love whatever of deity, and so no charity from that which is the soul itself of charity. All these kinds of poverty are infelicities. But to judge of poverty and infelicity is of our rational mind, whose choice and application are accordingly various, since there are as many minds as varieties, for with him whom we pity there always intercedes a certain correspondence of principles. Thus this application is not natural but acquired. Fear and dread, 21. Nothing is more natural than to protect life and its essence, and to wish to continue one's being, and to preserve that connection which, by virtue of

Starting point is 07:14:18 form one possesses. The soul, which is living essence, while it is united to the body, furnishes this with sensory organs, that it may be aware of any attempt to destroy it. At each single assault which injures it, and at every disharmony, it is grieved, saddened, altered, and constrained. This alteration is called fear, for in fear the fiber contracts itself and withdraws into itself. It becomes hardened, and resists as if senseless. The blood is expelled from the arteries so that the heart palpitates. The animal spirit is expelled from the fibers so that the muscles are deprived of their own

Starting point is 07:15:03 motive force, the sensorial organs of their perceptibility. A chilliness and pallor seize the face and limbs. They shiver and shake. The animus deprived of its own cupidities, falls extinct, in the mind is the image of death. Thus fear is a certain extinction of the mind and animus, and as it were, an anticipated death of the body, for its appearance is seen in the body. 242. Since the life of the animus and the life of the mind exist from pure loves, because from affections, it follows that we apprehend. We fear or dread the injuring of each and every love,

Starting point is 07:15:51 because they are ends of the mind. We fear also every love which is a means to or assist such an injury, thus all things which bring, as we believe, any deadly hurt. Just so far then, as we love the end, do we fear its privation and dread its annihilation? The same is true of the subject in whom is the end, for love cannot be given as an end unless it is in some subject. 243. And so all fear is natural, and it is as great and of the same character as is the love or end which we desire. There are loves both natural and acquired, but whether the love be natural or acquired, nevertheless fear and a true. departure from nature accompany each when the danger of its extinction or privation threatens. This nature is in the rational mind to which belong, loves, desires,

Starting point is 07:16:55 and ends. For whatever the mind does not observe, this it does not fear. And when it does fear, the mind is no more master of itself or competent, but undergoes a kind of swoon. 244. There are as many fears and as many kinds of fear as there are loves and kinds of love. Everyone naturally fears for his own body, whether he loves himself before others or others before himself. The love of preserving the relation between body and soul is innate with everyone. Where there is a relation of dependence of one upon another, there is love. He who loves himself before others also fears. more for his own safety than for the safety of others. He who truly loves others more than himself

Starting point is 07:17:45 fears more for the safety of others than for his own. Therefore, from fear the quality and degree of love and what love is is known. He who loves his country more than himself considers it glorious to die for his country, or at least for the fame of which this illustrious glory is a part. He who loves his wife and children more than himself suffers death rather than see these loves extinguished. This is also natural to brutes, as in the case of doze, stags, hens, geese. For the female boldly confronts the enemy

Starting point is 07:18:24 which approaches her young. He who prefers fame to life is fearful of his fame or fears its lost. They are magnanimous who are fearful of the fame of honesty and virtue. Winsett follows that fear of the loss of a superior love renders bold the inferior love. He is a hero who fears no loss of the life of the body

Starting point is 07:18:51 when fame is endangered, whose loss he would greatly fear. Also the same hero when his fame is not endangered fears greatly for his own body to the end that he may live for fame and for society. 245. He is without reason who prefers the life of his body to the life of his fame or to honesty, virtue, society, country, and the human race. Yet he is still more contemptible, who, like the miser, prefers wealth and similar things to himself

Starting point is 07:19:27 and his life. The most timid of all men. He is still an intrepid defender of his treasure, the deprivation of which often leads to suicide. The most despicable and the lowest of all mortals is he who fears nothing for truth, sacred things, heaven and deity, but only for his own life. Thus fears show of what kind the loves are and which love is preferred to another. what love is and what the fear of losing the love of God, the martyrs have testified. Souls which are sublime and elevated above mortal things do not fear to undergo death for truth, especially such as is celestial and divine, because they are fearful for the truth and dread its extinction.

Starting point is 07:20:24 But our truths, except such as are divinely revealed, are mere principles, of the rational mind. To fear no danger of life or to meet death in defending these denotes indeed a sublime mind, but it may be also an insane one, such are some of the martyrdoms of heretics and others which historians relate. Fortitude, intrepidity, courage, animosity. 246 Bravery is a heroic virtue, especially in war, and as manifest. in battles, combined with intrepidity and magnanimity. There are many kinds of bravery, all of which aim to be regarded as heroic. Common minds think that it is shown only in intrepidity and courage,

Starting point is 07:21:14 but a genuine bravery shows itself always more evidently and boldly when the cause is regarded as greater, superior, more universal. And on the other hand, it is more languid where the cause is meaner, inferior and slighter. The bravery is greatest when intrepidity in the less cause is greater and in the great cause is less. Insane persons, miser's, and others of weak mind, who are terrified by the slightest whisper, also are bold in guarding their treasure, while in a public cause they are quite unnerved at the sight of a drop of blood. 247. Nothing more difficult is known than to discover whether bravery is genuine or false.

Starting point is 07:22:05 Genuine bravery, whatever may be the cause, is never turned into fear, but in place of fear into anger, and anger then become zeal and a just grievance. False bravery secretly conceals fear. Externally and on the surface it shows the animus, and if it is turned to anger, it is and unjust anger, grief or fury. Genuine bravery is mild, patient, and clement, even toward enemies. But the false is inflamed and breaks forth into cruelty. Genuine bravery is present in the greatest dangers of life, in the animus and mind, and is the more present and prudent as the perils are greater. Then a false bravery in the animus either melts away or becomes

Starting point is 07:22:57 a rage, and the person is insane like one who has lost his mind. He is beside himself, and no longer his own master. Genuine bravery is never united to self-love, but is the inseparable companion of the supreme love of many and of society, with which love it increases. False bravery is from an opposite principle, for an extreme love of self-inspires the immortality of fame. But whether it be from a genuine bravery or a spurious one is distinguished by this, that this self-love does not desire these goods of others and of society, but rather that it may seem to all the world to desire them, and thus from the character of the ambition is understood what the bravery is. Genuine bravery is,

Starting point is 07:23:57 closely united with humility, adoration, fear, and love of deity. But false bravery is united with pride, haughtiness, hatred, impiety, and with a contempt, hatred, or denial of deity. The greater, the bravery is the greater is the life. The less bravery, the less life there is, even to the condition being comparable to death itself. intrepidity which is an attribute of fortitude is not acquired but is inborn. Hence it appertains to the race and descends to a remote posterity. For the brave beget the brave. It is often a trait belonging naturally to a whole people. For the intrepid does not truly fear the loss or the extinction of that love or that end by which he is led, be it for life, for fame, or for country, but he boldly defends these, since his animus is roused and inflamed at any insults, and the more ardently as he is by nature, the more brave, but at the same time, the more moderately in the degree that danger threatens, inasmuch as the intrepidity of true bravery is

Starting point is 07:25:22 conjoined with presence of animus and of mind, and carefully discerns dangers as to their character and takes counsel in the field, and thus acts either with ardor or with prudence according to the state and the possibility of peril. But fear, which is the contrary effect and likewise a natural trait does not rouse and inflame the animus at the presence of peril, but dejects and quenches it. 249. As fear and intrepidity also, since they are both natural traits, are inscribed in the very blood itself, in the spirit of the blood, in their organs, and in the body. So it also follows that intrepidity makes itself seen in the face itself, in the eyes, in the sound of the voice, in the respiration, in the strength of the muscles, and in the actions,

Starting point is 07:26:24 especially it appears from the arteries of the body and the fibers of the brain, which are stronger and more robust in the intrepid than in the timid, since the strength of the whole body is in the arterial blood and animal spirit. This is the reason why we ascribe to the brave a great heart and a great animus, which is a property of the brain. The force of this blood and spirit is excited from the inmosts, that is, from the superior mind or that of the pure intellectory. Hence, a presence of animus and a sudden light suffused over the mind, a heat, and as it were, a fervor of the blood, strengthen the limbs, and a kind of foaming in the cheeks and glands. Such an example, of bravery and intrepidity lives in Charles, the hero of the North, in whom it was an inherited

Starting point is 07:27:21 trait since he derived it from his ancestors, from the Charles's and the Gustavus's. He knew not what that was which others called fear, and he laughed at all threats of death, so he lived the life which he is also still to live, far removed from death. Far removed from death, and and superior to the failing life of the body. There is present with such souls a singular providence, because there is something divine in them, and it provides for them a life to which they do not aspire, even one that is immortal in the midst of the mortal.

Starting point is 07:28:02 2.50. That not all bravery and intrepidity is inborn, but that there is also a kind which is acquired. We see some to be persuaded from the examples afforded in those timid and fearful persons who sometimes act bravely, although not from their nature, but artificially, and from the state of their blood and change of their spirits, for intoxicating drinks, and those elements of the blood which excite a fervor, even fever itself, mania, and insanities frequently infuse such an animus, and elevate minds to a seeming bravery. But this is not bravery, but rather

Starting point is 07:28:45 courage, which is merely in the blood, in the body, on the surface, and in the outermost parts, while still the fear lies hidden within, ready to return whenever this fervor of the blood ceases. From this courage also we may be strengthened in our conviction that bravery and intrepidity are natural gifts. For this courage is not excited in these persons until the nature of the blood and of the spirits is changed, and it ceases with the changing cause, while everything that is natural or inborn, even if violently expelled, nevertheless returns. Their mind is also an inebriated one, rather than a rational mind in which bravery finds its springs. and as soon as fear returns at the mere idea of the danger already passed,

Starting point is 07:29:45 the heart palpitates, the blood rushes into the veins, the limbs collapse, and a cold sweat is produced. 251. But indeed, of those possessed of an innate fear, whose mind nevertheless is imbued with the principles of the virtues and with the highest loves, on account of which they vehemently long for a corresponding nature and hate their own which does not answer to these longings. There may be predicated and acquired fortitude if for the sake of becoming fearless and brave they excite and inebriate the blood by the natural means just mentioned, regarding these as aids in resuscitating the forces naturally languid and torpid.

Starting point is 07:30:31 This bravery is the greater moral virtue in that it comes not into the mind of itself or instinctively, but from a recognition of the truth which one venerates in others outside of oneself and sees to be impossible in oneself except it be actuated by means. For whatever the mind does of itself is a virtue or a vice, but whatever it does not of itself but by nature, this is neither a virtue, nor a vice until the mind has descended to participate in the act. But this acquired bravery neither equals that which is natural, since it is in constant like the mind itself, which is governed by the principles. End of Section 23. Section 24 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox

Starting point is 07:31:31 recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Travis Bissell. Chapter 14, Part 6 of the Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenborg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 24 Indignation, Anger, Fury, Zeal, 252. In order to understand what anger is and what is its nature as compared to,

Starting point is 07:32:07 with other affections of the animus, we must institute a comparison with those affections which are purely natural and obvious to sight. For a certain likeness appears which we recognize from the mere statement. It is observed above that love is the very life of the mind and the animus, for without love there would be neither mind nor animus. In what followed it came also to be proved that the intelligence or the reason of the mind corresponds to light and that light clearness shade darkness and other terms applicable to light are applied to the intellect we have also observed above that ambition may be compared to heat for love without ambition is as life without heat but zeal is to be likened to a kind of fire

Starting point is 07:33:06 for ambition without zeal is like heat without fire. When the zeal or the fire of the superior mind passes over into the rational or inferior mind, then it is commonly called ardor or excandescentia. But when it passes into the animus and thence into the body, it becomes the corporeal and impure fire, which is called anger, the flame itself being called fury. Hence it appears that the beginning of ardor, of anger, and of fury is in the soul itself and the pure intellectory. In other words, that it is conceived and borne in and from these, thus that in its proper source, zeal or the pure fire, is naturally mild,

Starting point is 07:33:56 becoming active when truths, whether natural or spiritual, are to be guarded, but that it goes forth impure in its, derivation, for when the mind grows warm it defends, as if with a kind of zeal, its principles by the love of which it is carried away as though by the love of so many truths, and it attacks the contrary, whence arises disputes and philosophical contests. However, that this ardor of the mind breaks forth into a certain fire or anger in the animus and at length into flame, in which the whole system or bodily principle is enkindled, that is, into fury, is apparent from the effect itself, for it is manifest in the sensible heat and fire inasmuch as the blood burns.

Starting point is 07:34:50 The viscera are heated even to the marrow. The membranes and the extremities are inflamed. The respiration becomes harsh, the sound of the voice is hardened, as when the air is heated, the arteries swell as when the atmosphere is heated. Both the internal and external senses are disturbed as though they were excited from their natural equilibrium into a turmoil of motions by some fire. Also, the thicker coverings are brought together or the fermenting substances moved from their place. Thus the heated bile, which lay hidden away,

Starting point is 07:35:31 in its gallbladder is poured into the mass of blood by whose grains or hard particles the lighter and softer blood is excited, as by external stimulants, into a similar rage. Thus, not even the least part is without its anger or heat. 253. Zeal, therefore, is a natural affection with which the superior mind or the soul and the pure intellectory are furnished. in order, it would appear, that the soul may guard its spiritual truths and the intellectory its natural truths, and oppose the falsities themselves which are contrary to these truths, with increased heat or with fire, for when there is a falsity and a truth, or a good and an evil, and also to both of these a force of acting or a life. It is necessary that there be a zeal or heat even to the,

Starting point is 07:36:28 fire of act, in order that the enemies be brought into assault. This is the reason why zeal is attributed to spiritual essences and to deity himself, who is described as actuated by wrath or anger, as also why when any one is heated and angered, he ascribes this to a certain legitimate zeal for the truth or for the defense of a just cause. There would be no such affection unless there were an enemy. Therefore, anger is the evident proof that in the spiritual and invisible world there is some evil which is to be combated. 254. But our rational mind, which regards its principles as so many truths, is also said to be kindled with a certain zeal, still in as much as the very principles of our reason are rarely from truths. Therefore, this zeal is also rarely a

Starting point is 07:37:28 pure one. The wrathful kindling, thus originating, is harsh and vehement, like ignited carbon, which is consumed by its own fire. But whether the fire be pure or impure may be known from the love itself and from the particular affections and desires of the mind, especially from ambition, which is heat and most immediately rouses this fire. Such, therefore, as is the love or the ambition such as the zeal or kindling of the mind. 255. As soon, however, as this fire breaks forth from the rational mind into the animus, it is born as if from a sphere of immaterial into one of material ideas and is called anger, for the animus is said to become angered, on which account its way inclines toward the body,

Starting point is 07:38:21 which in accordance with the anger of the animus becomes warm, boils, bursts into flame, and rages, since the whole animus is transfused immediately into the body. 256. But indignation belongs only to the rational mind, and is the first degree of angry heat. There are, nevertheless, in indignation, many elements which moderate, temper, and restrain it, lest it break out, for there is either fear or some love or shame or sadness, which are, so many reins and barriers to hold it in. Patience, gentleness, tranquility of mind, impatience. 215. From anger, we may know what and of what quality is patience, and for where patience is, their anger is not. Insofar, indeed, as anger may be compared with a certain

Starting point is 07:39:17 fire and flame, patience may be compared with a kind of cold, as anger with hardness, for indeed its elements as if brazen are hardened by fire, so patience with softness, as anger with the highest degree of activity, so patience with passivity, whence the name itself is derived. Therefore, patience is a tranquil, serene state of the mind, as it were free from the storms and commotion of the affections of the animus. 215. Patience also, like anger, is written in the body. Something mild and patient shines forth from the countenance, from the very sound of the speech, and so far as it appertains to the mind from the discourse also. The face is serene, smiling, even while others burn. The blood is softer, healthier, warm but not burning, full of vital heat, but not concreted

Starting point is 07:40:14 into fibers. The pulse is lighter and more constant. The bile is not dark, but more yellow in color, the arteries more yielding, the fibers tender, the organs more vigorous and ready to obey the dictates of the mind, and in awe parts there is manifest a pleasing grace, if not beauty. In a word, each particular part of the body is patient, for as is the mind and the animus such is the state of the most particular parts of the whole body, since the latter conforms to the image and nature of its soul. If otherwise, it is a sign that the mind is injured from some cause. 259. Patience, so far as it is the tranquil and serene state of the mind, free from disturbance by the affections of the animus, is itself the most perfect state, for the mind is, in this state,

Starting point is 07:41:10 left to itself, has time for its own operations, regards its reasons more interiorly, and forms its judgments more sincerely, and out of these it selects the truer, the better, and more fitting, and remits them into its will, which then is not possessed with the tumult of natural desires. Thus, enjoying an almost perfect liberty, it holds the animus subject to itself as if in chains, nor does it permit it to wander beyond the limits of its own choice. Thus also it commands the actions of its body, and more purely, and intelligently receives and contemplates its sensations. When the mind is thus left to itself,

Starting point is 07:41:55 and neither corporeal or mundane things nor the heat thence arising disturbs its ease, then it enjoys the inmost fellowship with its peer intellectory or the soul, and suffers natural and spiritual truths to flow in, for it is only the corporeal affections and desires of the animus, which obscure and pervert the intellectual ideas of the, the mind. Hence it is that the mind in its state of patience or tranquility is cold in its constitution as compared with the heats of the animus and thence of the body, but very full of love or of the more pure and perfect life. For that there be any mind it must be warmed with a certain love.

Starting point is 07:42:40 But the pure this is, the pure is the mind, because the better is the life. From this state, regards the lower loves and those purely corporeal as infantile sports or as insane and the more so as they are believed to be wise thus witnessing these it does not become heated and angered but it pities condoles pardons tries to amend rejoices in its success bears its injuries as a mother those inflicted by her child for it embraces all in its love while it hates vices. Patience, therefore, may well exist without anger, but it is not without its zeal by which it defends, although with moderation its truths. The mind is never disturbed by such a fire, still less extinguished, but is refreshed, for this agrees with its nature. For the rational mind, the more it is liberated from impure fires, the more it burns with the pure fire, which is mild and does not rage, but restores its sense.

Starting point is 07:43:48 state. 260. Such patience, which is the moderator of the passions of the animus, is rarely inborn, for everyone has an inclination to certain affections of the mind, but with age and with the judgment it grows, and especially is it perfected by its own exercise, but that which is genuine does not exist without the truths of religion and the principles of piety, nor without violence done to the natures of the animus and the body, misfortune even and sickness, which repress the fervor of the blood and the spirits, are also frequently the causes of this patience. 261. The character of impatience may be inferred from this description of patience, for it is of the rational mind which desires ends. Well, the end is hindered or obstructed by intervening

Starting point is 07:44:41 obstacles or by the ideas of impossibilities, which are so many resistances, less the will should break forth into acts. Hence the animus which desires is tortured, and the body is distressed, and the mind regard single moments as long delays. Thus, the more ardent is the animus, the greater is the impatience. The more tranquil, the mind, the less it is. Least of all is the impatience of those who commit their fortunes to the divine providence. shame 262 in shame both the internal and the external sensory as also the single fibers and single arteries contract themselves since whatever is the state of the sensory such is that of the fibers and consequently of the arteries thus the spirit is expelled by the nervous fibers into the motor fibers of the arteries

Starting point is 07:45:34 and the blood from the larger arteries into the capillaries whence arises a redness and inflammation of the face, dropping of the eyes, a hiding, a stupor of the sensations, cessation of breathing, and of the determinations of the will or inaction. For the sensory itself, being compressed, does not dare, as it were, to lift itself, but withdraws into itself so that the mind may hide itself, not only from others, but from itself, since it is the shame of self so far as the mind itself is conscious of anything indecorous, dishonest, or criminal. Therefore, we, when no one except the mind itself is aware it is rarely ashamed, unless with regard to the fact that some other may know the cause of shame.

Starting point is 07:46:20 Accordingly, without committing any crime even, the mind may be suffused with shame reflecting on the possibilities of its happening or on something noticed which it alone knows. Shame belongs to the brave and to the timid alike. In the brave, the face blushes, in the timid it turns pale. for the fear of some injury or loss ensues. Shame also lets down the muscles of the face so that they are without any determining force

Starting point is 07:46:47 like that of the pendulum. 263. There is this other difference between fear and shame, that fear causes the internal and external sensories to fall lifeless and insensible of themselves, but that shame of its own will and by a native force contracts its sensory and takes away its fernelies, faculty of changing its state, wherefore in that moment before it recollects itself, all determination of will ceases, and there follows an oblivion or forgetfulness of particular things.

Starting point is 07:47:21 264. Shame increases according to the sincerity of the mind and its love of what is honorable, for then it fears to sin against the rules of honor or against the rules of the decorous, which it believes is the Honorable, since there are those who do not well distinguish the decorous from the Honorable, and therefore are affected with the shame of both. But inasmuch as the Honorable declares itself through the Dechorus, since the Dechorus is the external of the Honorable, therefore we are careful to observe the laws of both. Shame is greater in the presence of superiors than of equals, and there is none in the presence of inferiors except the mind be greater lover of the honorable. Shame is greater also in the presence of those we love and venerate. But when the love is mutual and in place of veneration, pure love succeeds, there is, as it were,

Starting point is 07:48:18 another self. The shame, then, is none other than one feels of one's self alone. That is a sublime mind which feels shame even in no one's presence, a proof that it is led by veneration toward the truth, honesty, toward justice, and the other virtues, and regards these as being themselves, its own superiors. 265. There is little or no shame in those who scorn and are adverse to virtue itself, and who esteem no one as their superior, as also in the stupid and dull of intellect, wherefore the lowest of men, without conscience, without love of honor, are those who feel no shame, are possessed of a most criminal intent and who in the presence of crimes which they are conscious of having committed or of being about to commit stand with open and lifted eyes or as exhibiting no spark of the higher mind within

Starting point is 07:49:19 266 but inasmuch as principles regarding the honorable and decorous are somewhat various the sense of shame also varies somewhat one person not being affected with the feeling of a Thus these senses of shame take their turn. We are also affected even with the shame of those with whom we have had no acquaintance, which comes from its being reflected from them upon ourselves, and thus from a certain friendly relationship which we sustain with all of our race. Envy, 267. Envy is hatred mingled with anger, but the anger lies concealed like fire under the ashes, wherefore it is an inmost consuming heat, which when it breaks forth causes insanity.

Starting point is 07:50:08 Hence the blood is suffused and heavy with bile, thick, full of flex of obscure color, stagnant in the least pores, whence comes the blueness in the face. This same fire also consumes and scorches, and this causes leanness. The gallbladder is crowded with the black bile because of its continually spouting forth anew, and this is mingled with the blood. There is also a darkness in the countenance. Hatred mingled with anger gleams from the eyes, where there is no light of joy,

Starting point is 07:50:42 and even in the voice and speech something harsh is perceived. The animus is always obscure and the mind sad. It is rarely lightened and exhilarated, for it perceives nothing of the sweetness of harmony. The very state of the mind is a discord, wherefore it loves disharmony as harmony. Thence the very misfortune, poverty and miseries of others are what soothe and gratify it, nor does it rejoice in its own good fortune or happiness,

Starting point is 07:51:13 unless there lies hidden even in the something of revenge. 268. Particular envy is common to all and most natural, for it is found even in little children and in brood animals and they're young. For example, we envy in another that which we ourselves love as a lover the bride and a competitor the honor of his rival. So in other things, the envy never extending beyond the limit of that which we love and desire. But a general envy arises from the supreme love of self. It envies all people, all things, and each one particular thing.

Starting point is 07:51:51 It imagines the universe its own and for itself, and itself as the whole and not apart. It envies others their heaven, the devil envies even deity, his power. Thus, at heart, it is the enemy of all. But he who is not a lover of self, but generous, is not envious. From the description of hatred and anger, if these are compared, still further particulars may be derived concerning envy. Section 269 is missing from the text. End of Section 24.

Starting point is 07:52:24 Section 25 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Travis Bissell. Chapter 14, Part 7 of the Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenborg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 25. Revenge.

Starting point is 07:53:02 270. Revenge flows from hatred and envy. Hatred indeed is the contrary of love, but it is not the privation of love and thus of life. It is rather a contrary love, and especially a love of the evil, for there is a love of the good and a love of the evil. One is contrary to the other, hence one hates the other. Thus in hatred there is a life, and if life, there is also heat and fire, but that which is grosser, more impure, hence natural and corporeal. It resides in the animus and not in the mind, unless the mind be united with the animus of the body. This heat of hatred is called the lust of revenge, and if anger ensues such as is that of envy,

Starting point is 07:53:49 then it becomes fire and vengeance. Thus the lust of revenge is the very fire, the active principle or highest degree of the activity of hatred or of the love of evil. 2.71. As envy is particular and general, so also is revenge and its lust. Particular envy is natural to all, and is the lust of revenge. Thus it is inborn in tender infants before the age of reason, and in particular animals which are even by nature furnished with weapons for defense against

Starting point is 07:54:23 injuries. And since revenge is natural, it is also naturally pleasing, since it clears up the sad mind and clouded animus, refreshes and restores it to its natural condition, hatred being dissipated and envy extinguished. The pleasure of revenge is according to the degree in which hatred and particular envy had existed, but the desire of revenge is for the most part accompanied with sadness, unless the mind sees the possibility of obtaining its end, although in some minds the desire itself exhilarates the animus. 2.72. The general desire of revenge is similar to general envy, for it arises from the same

Starting point is 07:55:05 source, and thus similar attributes belong to both. The latter is always united with a spurious ambition or with the love of self. The desire of revenge is never united with true ambition, or with the universal love of the good, unless for the sake of the extirpation of evil. For zeal and righteous sorrow give birth to revenge, but still in the desire and in the revenge love remains, for it wishes to destroy the evil in order that after its destruction it may revive the good, such as the divine vengeance. But the greater the love, the greater the desire of avenging evil, since love persuades to be like itself and to be united with itself. Whatever therefore disjoins and hinders the possession of the desired good, love hates and devours,

Starting point is 07:55:56 and eagerly seeks to annihilate, and this often is accompanied with anxiety, grief, and unhappiness in the subject. Misanthropy, love of solitude, 273. Misanthropy is properly the hatred of the human race, or it flows from such a universal hatred, rarely from envy or from hatred mixed with anger, since this breathes vengeance, which presupposes life in society. misanthropy is united with contempt or probation of a sensibility of the pleasure of the body or of the delights of the animus. There are misanthropes who do not appear such because they possess an animus desirous of pleasures which can only be indulged in company and in civil life or by sociability.

Starting point is 07:56:45 There are those also who from their esteem of reputation are unwilling to appear as misanthropes. But when once this desire and this love of fame ceases, they become such. They are, for the most part, extremely given up to self-love. This vice is very natural and inborn, for it arises sometimes from the ill success of some highest love, and thus from despair, since the highest love persuades that the only thing and the all in the universe is that which it loves, and this being lost it believes all to be lost. The misanthropes is regarded in society as nobody or as an abject. And this he deserves, since by his hatred he is separated from all.

Starting point is 07:57:31 He is to be the more esteemed indeed if he separates himself than if he intermingles. For when he mixes with society, he injures others, but when alone only himself. 274. There are misanthropes, special and particular, those namely who hold in aversion or hatred some special race or nation or family or certain persons. If this proceeds from hatred and from the causes of hatred, if from aversion and indeed a natural aversion, it is antipathy. If from what is acquired, it is from some presumed or real dissimilitude of principles and of loves, this also can be turned into antipathy, which remains in one's

Starting point is 07:58:18 posterity. 275. The love of solitude is commonly believed to be misanthropy because misanthropy loves to be solitary. But the love of solitude may have its origin in a great many other causes. It arises naturally from melancholy when it is a disease sometimes curable, for then it in mostly desires to indulge its fantasies and even extends these so far that it interests itself in particular things, in thought, if not in the body. He also loves to be alone, who is devoted to studies, especially those of a theoretical nature, and who chooses solitude, less the mind

Starting point is 07:59:02 be disturbed, and he loves his studies and his solitude in equal measure. For that the mind may be at ease, it must, as it were, be separated from those things which excite the animus and the sensations of the body and also the other loves of the mind. He also is accustomed to be solitary who thinks all things to be only vanity and himself alone not a vanity, or who desires to become secure from vanities and therefore separates himself from society as certain philosophers are wont to do, the chief of whom either laugh at all things or weep at all things. Those are solitary by zeal and not by their nature who sacrifice themselves to God, lest they be drawn away by worldly enticements, like the hermits, the most illustrious of whom are those who use force and

Starting point is 07:59:56 violence in controlling the desires of their animus, and thus their bodies, and do this with the intent that they may go forth the more pure and holy. Cruelty, 276. Cruelty in general is the love of extirpating the human race, finding its highest delight in their anxieties, griefs, and pains. It flows from hatred and general misanthropy and a supreme degree of self-love. For the subject of this love regards himself alone as the universe, and all those who are about him as opposing him because he cannot alone exist. This love also arises from an extreme degree of love of the world, where it may be of honors, or from an extreme love of the good things of the earth, that is of riches,

Starting point is 08:00:48 thus from envy of a general kind. It is especially opposed to pity. What the character of cruelty is appears, therefore, from the face itself, thus whether it come from the love of self or from the love of the world or of the good things of the earth, and thus from hatred or envy toward those who possess these, that he alone desires to possess them. This is the reason why cruelty is often hidden under a very honest face, but if it be exercised is likely to change into an aspect of hatred and revenge, and to end in madness. 277. In all revenge there is cruelty, for he who is desirous of revenge

Starting point is 08:01:35 loves to have the one he hates tortured in mind and in body, and this according to the degree of his hatred. But the vengeance that arises from zeal and from a righteous displeasure loves to give pain so far as this is the means of extirpating the evil, the love toward the person remaining all the while undiminished. The cruelty is the same whether it flows from one's own hatred or from that of another whom one loves as himself. It ascends according to the degree of the love. He who slays his enemies is not cruel, but he is cruel who ill-treats the conquered and those incapable of harm. Therefore, as is the vengeance, such is the cruelty, as is the hatred such the vengeance, and as are the anger and zeal in the

Starting point is 08:02:26 vengeance, such is the pleasure of this vengeance. 278. There is a certain correspondence between venereal love and cruelty, or between the love of propagating and the love of extirpating the human race. They are contrary in themselves, but they agree in the phenomena of their effects, as those contraries often do which come together in a third term, for otherwise the circle of their relation could not exist. Each of these loves excites the organs of the sensory, the fibers, the members of generation, and produces the generative substance, as is known from natural history. Hence it appears that the affection of cruelty is as delicious to perverted minds as is the venereal love to minds that are pure, for the one does not extinguish the other but excites it.

Starting point is 08:03:20 Such would be the devil clothed in a human form. Clemency, 279. Clemency is the queen and, as it were, the goddess of virtues. Wherefore to be clement is to be not only kingly but divine. as the king by clemency emulates the deity. For true clemency is without hatred, without self-love, without envy, vengeance, anger, cruelty, or without any naturally unpleasant affection.

Starting point is 08:03:52 It is always conjoined with love towards those to whom the clemency is exercised, thus united with tranquility of the animus happiness of mind and pity. Love is always clement. from clemency the quality of the love may be known and to whom extended. If it is the love of truth, there is clemency united with justice. If the love of honor and virtues, especially if it be the love of piety and veneration of the deity, the case is the same. 2.80.

Starting point is 08:04:27 But if the love be that of vices, falsities, vanities, impiety, clemency will be exercised to the disadvantage of those by whose mutual love it is affected, and this clemency is spurious and unjust. Clemency is, for the most part, a natural trait, like patience. For he who is clement cannot be cruel. This clemency is opposed to cruelty, and from the description of cruelty the character of clemency may appear. But there is also an acquired clemency when cruelty is joined to fear, but lies hidden, a snake in the grass.

Starting point is 08:05:05 clemency may be therefore both spurious and legitimate, thus a vice and a virtue. Intemperance luxury, 281. Intemperance in general means all excess of the desires of the mind, of the lusts of the animus, of the delights and pleasures of the body, of the world, and the good things of the earth, but intemperance in particular means excess in eating and drinking, as when we call it indulging one's appetite, sacrificing to bacchus and series and caring for the belly. Every love and every pleasure is for the sake of the end

Starting point is 08:05:44 that we may live a healthy life in a healthy body. Therefore, the earth abounds in everything enabling us to enjoy these loves and pleasures, provided it be as means and not as ends. When we regard particular loves and particular pleasures as means, then we enjoy each in a temperate way and in a manner to attain the end. But when we regard these as ends and not as means, then we fall into excess,

Starting point is 08:06:12 and the more ardently as we love the end. 282. Thus in temperance denotes a perverse state of mind, very limited and material, which in a word confines its ends to very narrow limits. But the more elevated mind perceives that one thing is, for the sake of another, and that there is a chain of means to a most universal end. Such a chain is the created universe or the world, or terrestrial society, or our very selves. 283.

Starting point is 08:06:45 There is nothing in our entire body which is not a means to some higher end. The last end is the soul for the sake of which the body exists. The soul, which is the end of the loves of the body, is not the most universal end. but is an end intermediate to a more universal one, nor do we conclude with anything short of the very deity of the universe, which is the end and the beginning of all things. 284. Therefore, since there is nothing which is not an intermediate end,

Starting point is 08:07:20 it follows that there can be intemperance in all means which are assumed as ends, for all means in themselves are regarded as ends because they are distinct terms. but they are properly ends intermediate or intermediate terms. Therefore, to enumerate all kinds of intemperance and describe their cause, nature, and effect, would be to review again all the affections of the mind, the animus, and the body. Anyone from the description of the affections

Starting point is 08:07:51 may judge of their defect and excess. 285. This alone need be said, that all intemperance is contrary to nature, and what does violence to nature destroys either our mind or our animus or our body. Thus, when these are ruled by the will and the will by desire and the desire by loves, not as means, but as ends, we rush into so many causes of destruction, whence is the death of the body.

Starting point is 08:08:21 286. But the virtues, honesty, perfection, spiritual happiness, these can never be intemperately desired, and loved. For in the body we never shall be able to arrive at perfection itself, but the infinite will still remain beyond. But spiritual intemperance is to desire perfection more perfect than its own nature admits of being, thus as if the mind could become like the soul, or the soul like God, instead of being only most perfect in its own degree and thus an image type and likeness of things superior. 287.

Starting point is 08:09:00 The inferior form can never be elevated to the perfection of the superior form, unless by previous dissolution and its own death. Therefore, we subsist still within the limits of temperance as long as we desire a more perfect state, however in moderately it may appear, thus so long as the mind desires intelligence and wisdom. In temperance, therefore, is always a vice and not a virtue. Temperance, parsimony, frugality, 288. We learn what temperance is from the description of intemperance, that, namely, it is a moderate use of the delights and pleasures of the body, in order that these may be corresponding and proportionate means to ends.

Starting point is 08:09:46 Thus, intemperance properly signifies excess, but it involves also a defect. For a defect in one regard does not exist without an excess in some other, as a defect in nourishing the body indicates an excessive economy. And there is, besides, an excess of avarice or of abstinence, which is equally injurious to the body. Therefore, a moderation in all things is itself temperance, but it is known by other names when reference is had to other objects. As temperance denotes moderation in eating and drinking, parsimony, moderation, in spending wealth and the goods of the earth, while frugality has regard to domestic economy. So in other things. Meanwhile, in as much as temperance is a natural mediocrity, it is qualified according to the nature of anyone, wherefore the temperance of one is sometimes the intemperance

Starting point is 08:10:49 of another, and so on. Therefore, the measure and the scales of all the affections of the mind, as well as of the animus and of the body, of which we have thus far treated, is temperance which is the preserver of all in order that there may be a sound mind in a sound body. In a word, explore that you may understand what is true and what is good, and regard all things as immediate ends, by which you may arrive at the ultimate end in continually inquiring. For what end? End of Section 25.

Starting point is 08:11:34 Section 26 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libervox recording. All Libervox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librevox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenborg, translated by Frank Seawall 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 26. 15. Concerning the animus and the rational mind, mints.

Starting point is 08:12:07 There is nothing more difficult in the science of rational psychology than clearly to understand, and when understood clearly to set forth, what is properly the animus and what is properly the mind, mince. For the several things which are put into action in our inner sensories appear like a little chaos whose surface even we cannot distinctly see, still less its part. one of which adheres to another as in a chain. It may be, in some measure, compared with the anemocule, which we can hardly reach with the aid of the microscope, from whose motion alone we understand that it is something living,

Starting point is 08:12:44 nor do we doubt, but that its little viscera are distinctly produced and separate, and that it enjoys a brain, modulus spinalis, lungs, stomach, intestines, muscles, and sensory organs. Since the eye has detected this in similar anemocules by the aid of the optic arc, But where the sight hardly touches the surface, it is very difficult to divine the interior and more hidden things. And such is the case with our inner sensory. We are able by reflection to discover that we perceive, understand, think, choose, desire, will, are determined to act, and that these are companies of loves, cupidities, desires, pleasures, ends. Since these are all of one sensory, and appear as though continuous and united, it is

Starting point is 08:13:31 only with the greatest difficulty that they can be separately evolved and that the ideas of our own intellect may be distinctly presented to the intellect of another. For who can see in the dark the art of the painter or the beauty of the figure, and who will properly perceive it, even if the painter in the dark explains the figures by his words. Therefore, we must await the rising of the sun and of light in order that all things may be laid open, as it were, to the life. and this is the reason why we are ignorant as to what the mind is and what the animus. It was believed by the ancients, who were not philosophers, that the animus was the same as our soul,

Starting point is 08:14:11 wherefore also they said that the animus is immortal. But the philosophers distinguished between the animus and the mind, and they acknowledged a certain superior animus, which they called the mind, mence. Some even make mention of a certain superior and purer mind, mints, also in us. But in order to discover what the one and what the other is, what is their distinction and what their conjection, we ought ourselves by some untiring reflection and intellectual observation, to go into the several operations, and indeed in their order, one after the

Starting point is 08:14:46 other, and then, after having performed this labor, we ought often to go over the parts again, and so examine by what chain they are held together. For our mind is not constituted different from the internal form itself of the body, which enables us to know what it is only through operations, only by our anatomically laying bare one part after another, and exploring and inspecting it within. Such an anatomy of the mind is also required. Thus we are to be taught what we are from ourselves, and the mind is to be investigated by the mind. For so scientifically does it act from itself that all the philosophical sciences have gathered hardly more than the least part of a knowledge of it, but let us pass on and inquire, what is the animus and what is the

Starting point is 08:15:34 mind? That the animus is not the soul, and is not the same as the rational mind, is most evident, from the fact that all those affections and cupidities which are purely animal are ascribed to it, as anger, venereal love, envy, and others, which are not peculiar to the human race, but belong as well to the brute animals. The animus is not. never called rational, like the mind, all the cupidities of the animus die with us, for after death, anger, lust, haughtiness, pride, fear, revenge, and other similar affections do not remain, and without these the animus could not live, because it is of these that it consists. Thus the animus is purely animal, and as it were, an inferior or irrational mind. For while the animus is

Starting point is 08:16:23 affected and desires, it is not that which thinks, since it is beneath the that animus, so to speak, which thinks, and is called rational. Wherefore, the cupidities of our animus are to be restrained by a certain higher or rational mind, and to be moderated according to the decision of the judgment of the mind. Moreover, the soul and its every affection is inscribed on the countenance itself, on the tone, the voice, the action, that is to say, on the body, and at the same time the animus has been inscribed on everything flowing in, wherefore the animus is so close to the body

Starting point is 08:16:59 that it is in it and shows itself corporely as in anger, revenge, haughtiness, hatred, love, and the rest. Moreover, what we think does not shine forth from the face, unless the thought be conjoined with the affection of the animus, except a slight twinkling in the eyes

Starting point is 08:17:16 if they are unable to simulate. From which it clearly appears that the rational mind is most distinct from the animus, but nevertheless so conjoined with, it that we may call our rational mind the superior animus and the animus the lower mind but let us take care lest we confound the ideas through similitude of words but it is asked what is the animus if we call the animus the inferior mind still by this denomination we do not understand what the animus is so long as what the mind is is unknown to us therefore we are not thus helped to know what the

Starting point is 08:17:55 the animus is. If we define the animus as the beginning of the mutations of our body, we acknowledge indeed that there is a beginning, for nothing ought to flow forth except from its beginning, but what the animus is is still unknown, for there are infinite beginnings of mutations, and each would have to be explained as to what it is, in order that we might affirm or deny that the animus is such a beginning. If the animus is described as being the form of the material ideas of our common sensory, it will be necessary to explain what form is, what material ideas are, and how their forms are to be conceived of. And lastly, what this common sensory is to which is ascribed the form of ideas. If the animus is called the universal affection of the

Starting point is 08:18:43 sensory, or if we say that the affections taken together constitute the animus, nevertheless the question arises, what is it, where is it, of what kind is it? for the animus is still to be affected and not the universal affection so whichever way we turn our search still ends in some hidden quality thence it results that the animus is believed to be in some crypt of the brain like the regulus of the eye or that it is a quality which is without a subject and that the quality may be some such principle or beginning

Starting point is 08:19:18 as that of the mutations of the body but in order that we may understand what the animus is, we must at least approach its source, for it is not to be doubted, that the brain receives all the senses of the external organs, such as touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight. For from these several organs the nerves go out, which reach to and enter the medulla oblongata, and the brain itself, and that the brain receives the inflowing senses is shown by infinite other phenomena, since when the brain is obstructed, or a nerve entering the brain is obstructed, all sensation perishes at once. Therefore, by common consent, the brain is called the

Starting point is 08:19:59 common sensory. This is also, an admitted truth, Constance Verratus, that every nerve is divided into fibers and fibrils, and that each fiber has its own origin. If we follow the fiber to its origin, we see manifestly that it terminates in a certain little head or small globule, which is called the cortical gland. This can even be seen by the aid of the microscope. Therefore, since the sensations which run to the brain cannot subsist midway, but must by all means strive onward to their origins or beginnings, there ought to be in these beginnings, that which feels and receives the sense. These beginnings are as many as there are fibers, for such as the abundance and luxuriance that they constitute

Starting point is 08:20:45 the whole covering of the mass of the brain and also occupy its interior. It follows that these glandules, taken together are that which is called the common sensory. If we examine this cortex or this substance, we perceive that all its parts or all its glandules are together disposed into a certain form, which is most perfect, and which we call the spiral, and also that these glandules are distinguished from one another, coordinated and subordinated, in a word, that these glandules, which are so many little censories, constitute the form of the particulars. This much being premised, we may see what the animus is. This cortical brain or common sensory receives, as it is said, all the external sensations,

Starting point is 08:21:32 but it also perceives all the single differences which are impressed on the fibers and nipples of the organs. This sensation cannot be called the animus. This is the bare perception of sensations, or of the modes with their differences and discriminations. It is therefore the common sensory which is, feels and perceives but not the envious but still every simple or compound sensation is a certain form consisting it may be of the discrimination of the slightest touches and forces such is the sensation of taste such the smell such the hearing whose forms are distinctly perceived both in song and in the single word which is

Starting point is 08:22:13 thence called the articulated sound such is the sensation of sight for every object or every image is formed from the differences of light and shade, especially the composed image or the object in its totality. This form, while it appears to the common sensory or cortical brain, is not perceived simply a sensation, that is, as being sweet, bitter, pleasant, beautiful, harmonious, but it also exhilarates and gladdens the brain, or saddens the animus, exactly according to the quality, the perfection and imperfection of of its form. This is called the brain's animus, which is said to be affected. Thus, the animus is not separated from the common sensory. And so far, as it is the sensory which is affected,

Starting point is 08:23:00 this itself is, as regards the affection, the animus. So the perception is a distinct thing from the affection, and yet both are of the brain. Thus it is the common sensory which is affected pleasantly or unpleasantly, delightfully or undelightfully, whence the sense, and thus the joy, the sadness, or any other passion which is ascribed to the animus alone. Properly it is the joy or the sadness itself which flows forth from that grace, or that harmony, or disharmony, of modes in those things which are felt and perceived, which is called the external affection of the animus, but there is also an internal affection. The animus is also the principle or source of all the changes of its body.

Starting point is 08:23:45 for the affection itself of the sensory or of the single cortical substance is transfused into the containing fibers and by those into the whole body which is formed only of fibers thus passion is ascribed to the mind that is affection as also action that is the beginning or source of actions but because the mind of one is not similar to the mind of another but what affects one pleasantly affects another unpleasantly and by the same harmony of sound or former vision one is made happy another made sad it follows that the state of one sensory is different from that of another for the affection is according to the state of the sensory for the same operation upon two dissimilar subjects varies according to the state of the recipient or of him who is affected and because the animus is rejoiced saddened desires is made angry undertakes to do and thus has life in it it must be that in the common sensory and in the particular little censories there is that which lives hence we must inquire whence derives the animus this its essence and its life that we may still better understand

Starting point is 08:24:59 what the animus is let us speak by examples what in the taste is the poriphrus this is perceived in the common sensory as something sweet something bitter or acid but this perception does not go farther, and even the pleasure also is in the same sense as though in a certain common taste, but still an appetite is then secited, and indeed for those things which agree with the state of the body, as in those brutes which from taste alone, seek for those things agreeing with their nature, and this faculty of the appetite is what belongs to the animus. Similarly, in the sense of smell, in the sounds of hearing, this appears, still more evidently, the modulations of the song and the particular differences of the sounds are perceived

Starting point is 08:25:47 by the common sensory, likewise also harmony itself, and grace, of which there is, as it were, a common sensation. But the hilarity and joy and the affections, dense arising of every love, is something belonging to the animus. Likewise, in the objects of sight, the smiling grass plots of the garden, with the particular flowers, roses, and orchids, are perceived by the eye and the common-sensory, also the beauty resulting from the orderly arrangement of the plants. But the inmost delights, thence arising, love from the view of the beautiful, and revenge, fear, anger, from the sight of an enemy, pity at the sight of the miserable, these are of the animus, which is carried away into various affections, thence arising, and from these into desires

Starting point is 08:26:36 which are communicated to the body. From these things we see how difficult it is to perceive distinctly what the animus is and what perception, for there is, as it were, a distinct nature to each. The differences of perception are as many as appear in the sensations which are innumerable.

Starting point is 08:26:56 But the kinds of animus, animi, are as many as are the affections, each of which carries its own special and particular differences. from the comparison itself it may be understood that there is in the animus a certain life which is communicated to the perception of sensation or of the sensory without which there would be no sensations thus the animus is the life of the sensations but the animus lives not from itself but from the very soul which alone lives and by which all remaining things in the body live the animus however cannot live in the same manner as the soul for it is far removed therefrom and it is a more imperfect and composed form which is that of the common sensory from whose form the animus derives its being called a form therefore we must now

Starting point is 08:27:47 inquire what is that mind which is the form of forms and may be called the higher animus it is equally difficult to understand what the mind is although nothing is more familiar in common talk and that this word is always appropriately inserted in and conversation is an indication that our rational mind knows exactly what it is, but that we ourselves ignorant. We ought, however, to inquire regarding it, as we would ask of an anatomist, what is in the heart and arteries, when we know from the pulse that there is something from which the pulsation comes.

Starting point is 08:28:25 If it is not defined by the form of forms, it would be better to say that the mind is the mind, or that there is something which may be expressed by form, by which we mean a quality more hidden than the mind. But if we say that the mind is the principle of all the mutations of the animus, we must explain principle, what it is, where it is, of what nature, for principle is a general word like force and cause, which may be said to be in anything. If the mind is said to be the source of the rational affections, resulting from the harmonies of intellectual or immaterial ideas, as the animus results from ideas not immaterial, something appears to be expressed by which we approach more nearly to a knowledge of the mind but that may be perceived the source itself must be inquired into tracing it from its streams and the streams from those things thence derived which either present themselves before the senses as effects or have some analogy with sensible things

Starting point is 08:29:29 to explore therefore what the mind or the superior animus is we must proceed in the same way as above in the exploration concerning the animus that organic substance itself or we must seek out that internal sensory where the mind as it were resides for that the mind is in the brain is beyond the possibility of a doubt the state of the mind is the state of the brain they are so far united that whenever the one is injured languishes and seems about to die, the other is equally so. It is to be borne in mind that the senses of the external organs, through the containing fibers, flash even to their beginnings, or to the cortical glandules, and that in these surely ought to reside that principle, which is in the senses.

Starting point is 08:30:18 This glandial has been frequently shown above to be the brain in its least effigy, and there is in it a medullary, and cortical substance similar and analogous to that which is a brain. seen in the common brain. Some such little body, therefore, we have called the internal sensory, and we have observed that these little censories, taken together, constitute the common sensory. If accordingly there is a similar analogous cortical substance in each such little sensory,

Starting point is 08:30:48 it follows that that substance taken together is the particular or internal sensory itself. And that its each least cortical part is an intellectory in which we will suppose is the pure intellect concerning which hereafter. From this idea, by mere comparison and analogy, it may be understood what and of what kind is the superior animus, or the mind. But let us institute the comparative analogy itself. Especially may the sensations of sight be compared with the ideas of imagination or of thought, for they mutually correspond, and by cultivation the images pass over into similar ideas. Thus, in the place of the images of the sight are substituted intellectual

Starting point is 08:31:35 ideas, and with these we may proceed in the same manner as with the sensations above, for which we investigated the origin of the animus. So we shall find the mind itself. On the internal sensory itself are impressed as many ideas, as it were immaterial images, if we may use so crude a term, as there are images of the memory and the imagination, which are formed and drawn out by the changes of the state of the sensory. These immaterial or rational ideas are perceived in the pure intellect or in that most simple or simple cortex, in the same way as the images of the sight are perceived in the common or external sensory. Consequently, the ideas themselves are like so many internal sensations

Starting point is 08:32:23 with their differences. The ideas thus understood constitute the mind, but only its intellect, or its thought that good and lovable affection which results from the harmony of these ideas or from the thought is that which is said to flow from the mind consequently that which is affected is the mind and the mind is that life itself which is in the animus therefore the principle or beginning of its mutations but still we are ignorant as to what the mind is for when it is said to be life and a principle, it is rationally conceived as being a certain quality flowing from the form of its intellectory when affected, and thus, as nothing, nulla, without its organic substance. But we may not

Starting point is 08:33:10 stop here. Let us go farther. This intellectory of purest cortical substance of the internal sensory can by no means exist and subsist of itself. This ought to consist of substances still more simple, that is, of the most simple of its realm. These most simple substances are what we call the soul, anima, in which there is life, and which is the mind itself of its intellectory, and consequently the life of the mind itself, which nevertheless lies so internally hidden or dwells so deeply within, that it is distant from the animus by several degrees of perfection. From the description of the soul, we understand this mind itself.

Starting point is 08:33:54 what it is what its quality is or what its form and what its principle is there are therefore a superior mind and an inferior mind or mind properly so-called which reign in the animated body and which mutually communicate their operations the mind itself properly so called is spiritual but the animus is purely natural and may be called corporeal so far as it is immediately affected by the harmonies of the sense of the body and flows immediately into the features of the body and into the forms of the actions this therefore is the reason why some of the ancients called the animus immortal understanding by this the mind as may be seen from the proper interpretation of their language in order therefore that the mind properly so-called may communicate with the animus and by the animus with the body there intervenes a certain mind called the rational which is a our proper mind, which is affected, desires, wishes, and at length determines its desires into acts. Very many have believed that this rational mind is that superior and indeed supreme mind which lives in us, and this latter they seem to confound with thought, but that the case is otherwise plainly appears from those particulars of which we have already treated, and from others which are to follow. For the rational mind itself is not able to derive

Starting point is 08:35:24 its essence and its life from itself, but through culture, knowledges, and arts, and in the course of time, it becomes such that it can possess more in itself than all the sciences in the universe can ever exhaust. These things does not derive from that culture and experience, nor can it derive them from itself. There must be certainly a superior mind which flows in, which is pure and spiritual, and possesses in itself all that. nature which we ourselves admire as the superior in that mind and from which we draw forth only a few drops that we may conceive and put forth our theoretical and psychological sciences but this mind which is called the rational is not properly the mind for it is intermediate between the mind and the

Starting point is 08:36:15 animus and participates of both and thus is born of both for a spiritual mind flows into it from above and a natural mind, or the animus, from below, which is the reason why it is called rational. For that it may be rational, it ought to participate in both the natural and the spiritual. Thus, the more it communicates with the spiritual mind, the more eminently rational, or the more and more spiritual, this mind becomes.

Starting point is 08:36:44 But the more it derives from the animus or natural mind, the less rational or more corporeal it is. accordingly the superior mind and the animus meet and conjoined in the internal sensory they put forth their common progeny this also appears from the various affections for while the rational mind is excited by the animus as by anger revenge illicit love and other affections it does not immediately come down to take part but it is withheld by a certain higher and purer mind and so it is reluctantly led away by the animus into either commanding those things which are opposed to it or favoring them with its assent this deliberation and pondering could never exist unless the rational mind were constituted in the midst between two loves which sometimes oppose

Starting point is 08:37:38 it is therefore like the beam of the scales turning whichever way the greater weight draws it to this mind may be ascribed intellect that is thought also judgment choice and will but intellect cannot otherwise be ascribed to the mind than perception of sensations to the animus. It may be that the mind is the life itself of the intellect, or that thought could not exist and subsist without its mind, that is, without its loves and desires, which not only excite but vivify its intellect. The mind is, therefore, the life of the thoughts, as the animus is the life of the sensations. End of Section 26.

Starting point is 08:38:29 Section 27 of The Soul or Rational Psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenborg. Translated by Frank Sewell 1837 to 1915 and others. Section 27

Starting point is 08:39:00 Chapter 16 Part 1 Of concerning the formation of the rational mind and concerning its affections 307 We have treated of the affections of the animus And before treating of the affections of the rational mind which is, as it were, midway and like a center of influx, we ought to treat of the affections or loves of the pure or superior mind but to treat at once of the loves of the supreme mind would be to fly from the lowest to the highest

Starting point is 08:39:37 and from sensible things to those which do not come under our intellectual comprehension and which do not admit of being described by adequate terms but those things which are met with in the rational mind fall under the comprehension of the intellect because they are ours these also would by no means come under the comprehension of our intellect unless there were a purer intellect or a sublimer mind which flowed in and from which we were able to view those things which are in the rational mind as if beneath three hundred eight but since it has been said above that the rational mind is intermediate between the pure mind or that of the soul and the impure inferior mind or that of the body that is the animus It seems to follow that the rational mind possesses no affection proper to itself, or of itself, for it is the center of influxes or that in which are concentrated two essences. It cannot be said to be other than the common essence of the two, or one nature composed of both. This is also most true. But this composition or mixture is an essence by itself whose nature differs from both

Starting point is 08:40:54 according to the mixture. But whether, and in what sense it can be called an essence proper, this remains to be seen hereafter. Some preliminary consideration is, however, necessary here. This is sufficiently clear from experience and from reflection that our rational mind desires or is possessed of desires. Desires cannot exist without affections or loves. For what we desire, this we love, and what we love we desire according to the degree of the love. These desires in the rational mind are called cupidities in the animus, which cannot be given without bodily affections or loves. This also is clear that we are able to choose that which is best and to reject the bad, or that our irrational mind is able to judge freely and to act in accordance with its judgments.

Starting point is 08:41:50 If the loves themselves did not belong to the rational mind but only flowed in from elsewhere and forced this mind to judging and to acting, then nothing of its own and therefore nothing free could be predicated of the mind. But this free choice itself demonstrates that the rational mind is intermediate between the loves which flow in and is the umpire in the election of the best. This also is clear that there would be no will unless there belonged to the mind some affections, one of which it might will rather than another, but there would be either cupidity or instinct in the place of will, as in brute animals, for all that is cupidity which is from the animus, and all that is instinct which flows down from the superior

Starting point is 08:42:38 mind. These things clearly indicate that those loves which are insinuated into the rational mind are so united that they are distinct as to essence and nature from the loves of the superior mind and from those of the animus, and thus that they constitute a certain proper, as it were, separate mind, but still such in one, that as it exists from both, so it subsists through both, and depends upon both, not indeed equally, but just as it bends and inclines itself more to the one than to the other. To the aforesaid arguments, this also, may be added that we never could be blamed for any fault or crime if there were no love existing in the mind as proper to it or as most emphatically our own, for we acknowledge

Starting point is 08:43:28 nothing as our own and properly pertaining to us except what exists in our rational mind, for that mind is the most verily mine. Ipsissimum mayum. Other things are mine as far as that mind calls them its own. though does it consider them otherwise than as its own instruments by which it is able to be what it is and to do as it wills, which is also the reason why we say that anyone is what he is according to the state of his mind. The weak and dull and impotent of mind we hardly call a man, but the most intelligent and wise we call the true man and divine,

Starting point is 08:44:09 thus the proprium of all that is in him is of the mind. But if we regard the matter more deeply and attempt to explore what is proper to the rational mind and what is not, for what pertains to the mind and is in it, this is said to be proper to it, but still it is not therefore truly proper as sight is to the eye, which is truly proper to the internal sensory, since this sees without the eyes, while the eye does not see without the internal sensory. strictly speaking, I see nothing as proper to this whole internal sensory or human intellectory except that its mind may bend or turn itself to the superior mind or that of the soul

Starting point is 08:44:56 and admit its loves that they may flow in or receive them in what manner shall be told elsewhere, or else to the lower mind or that of the body, that is of the animus, and permit its loves to flow in or receive them. other things whatever are not proper to this intellectory except as by flowing in in this way for the rational mind is as the standard which holds the balance in the human body there is nothing except soul and body or nothing except the spiritual and the natural the other things which are intermediate participate of both and so far as they participate they like the scales depend upon both that therefore each may be held in equilibrium, the rational mind is provided to be the moderator and governor, and thus in this point solely active. But in others passive. It is commonly received as a truth because common experience teaches it to everyone that so far as our rational mind admits

Starting point is 08:46:01 loves which flow in from the body and its blood, or from the world through the gates of the senses, and applies itself to these, giving and surrendering itself to them, so far it is removed from the loves of the superior mind or from spiritual loves. And so far as it removes itself from the loves of the body and the blandishments of the world, so far it admits the loves of the superior or spiritual mind. The spiritual is, as it were, suffocated by the natural, and the natural is exterminated by the spiritual. Thus it appears that there is an internal man which fights with a certain external man, and the mind itself perceives the battle, and either gives up, conquered, or else carries off the victory. 313. Since therefore the loves of the

Starting point is 08:46:53 superior mind and the loves of the animus of themselves and freely flow into and flow together in the rational mind, and since it is the property of this latter only to bend itself in one direction or the other, we see how that the other things which are in the rational of the properly human mind flow thence, so that it may be said of them that they are proper to it. For whatever things flow from that which is proper or from the will is necessarily constitutive, these are also proper and derive their name and power from their source. But let us proceed in order, and by means of examples. 1. The first love, will, and as it were, desire of the pure mind or soul, is that of associating to itself a lower mind or animus, which it produces or creates from its own essence and into which it inspires life. That is, the soul forms, and indeed out of its own essences, the pure intellectory, whose mind is natural.

Starting point is 08:47:55 and this mind is in the pure intellectory and in each one most particularly. The common essence and life of these particulars is called the animus, in which therefore there is only the natural and the bodily, but not the spiritual, although it descends from the spiritual and is created from it. But this love is not yet that of the rational mind, but that of the pure or spiritual mind. 2. The spiritual mind, already associated with the natural mind, now loves and desires nothing except what is common

Starting point is 08:48:31 to both. The spiritual mind loves its own natural mind, and the natural mind respects and venerates its own spiritual mind, and yearns with the highest delights that it may depend upon this and may be subject to this. Hence now flows the first love common to both, namely, to form the organs and instruments by which it may so act and operate. As love and desire give and take in common, these organs are formed most conveniently for the nature and the love of each, for either mind regards those ends only, and because these cannot be attained except by organs and instrumental means, hence these

Starting point is 08:49:13 instrumental means are formed with a view to every end common to both. Thence arises that corporeal machine, which is merely organic, exactly according to the image of the operation of either mind. But neither is this yet the love of the rational mind. 3. This delicate body being formed and put forth from the maternal agor womb, at once there succeeds or is born, as it were, or unfolded from the former, another love, which is the love that it may become a man or that it may be furnished with a certain proper mind, which may be called rational, for man derives his quality of manhood from his rational mind, since such as that mind is, such is the man. Then the pure mind or soul does its part, and the mind of the pure

Starting point is 08:50:04 intellectory does its own, that is, the spiritual mind and the natural mind. And because each pursues a common cause and desires to pour into this mind its essence, nature, and life, It follows that this mind is called rational, for the rational signifies the spiritual and the natural together or mutually participating. 4. He who loves an end loves also the means conducing to that end. Each mind provides the means when it shapes the organs whereby to attain its end. Therefore common to both is the first mediate love or love of the means, which is that the organs may perceive as for instance. that the ear may hear and the eye see or the common sensory or the brain perceive those things which are heard and seen for this is the first way or first means of forming the rational mind and informing it whatever there is harmonious this is pleasing this gladden is the animus and whatever is inharmonious is unpleasant and grieves the animus so the animus is now first excited and so concurs as if of itself in producing this rational mind. Still the rational mind is not as yet

Starting point is 08:51:22 any more than in its cradle or in its first infancy, for it only begins to be in that it is able to bend and turn its sensorial organs and to imbibe objects as they flow in. This is the one thing, as said above, that is proper to it, and to which it is incited by the mind, which is affected pleasantly, joyously, and delightfully. by harmonies. Now its golden age begins, innocent, smiling, because the animus has not yet risen up against the mind, but loves it inmostly, for the mind is in the animus itself, and both conspire to one end, and the animus is thus far ignorant of what the world outside is. 5. This common love progresses always farther and grows in progressing. Already material ideas are

Starting point is 08:52:15 insinuated in the common sensory, and in the internal sensory immaterial ideas or first principles of the intellect, not from any proper love of the rational mind, but from the love common to both the animus and the spiritual mind. For the rational mind itself is thus far ignorant whence such love comes, as it flows in as much from the mind as from the animus. The mind desires the end, the animus, the animus, the animus, the effect, and it is ignorant of the end of the soul but is excited by the pleasure which flows from the harmony of the internal and external sensations. The rational mind itself does not as yet contribute anything more from itself than that it applies itself, turns and attends to what flows in

Starting point is 08:53:05 from both sources, for when it attends its attention only is required. six the ideas of the memory and the imagination being thus increased man begins to understand or to perceive something beyond or to draw some essence or higher sense from words which are all material ideas when the intellect begins to form it also thinks and thus there is further progress and at once from the things of thought into the will not indeed from any intellect but from the love of a certain pleasure with which is insinuated by the senses into the animus and by the animus into this intellect. 7. These delights of the animus which are communicated to the rational mind appear as though they were in the mind and were felt therein. But they are outside of this mind itself, for whatever appears delightful, pleasurable, and joyous to the animus, appears and is called good in the rational mind, but contrary things evil.

Starting point is 08:54:07 The goods and evils themselves are all these objects of love, or those things by which the animus is affected. Then the rational mind, curious to know whether this be good or evil, which appears pleasant and lovable, is therefore carried on by a kind of desire to wishing to find out whether it be a true good or a false good, that is, an evil, as also whether it be a real evil or an apparent evil. for the knowledge of the true signifies nothing in itself without the good, since what is true ought to regard the good as its subject. The rational mind does not stand still here, for it cannot be persuaded whether a thing be truly good unless it finds out the subject of the good, for there is no good without its subject. This subject at first appears, but to know whether it be truly good, it is necessary to inquire as you, the quality of this subject, what are its attributes, accidents, and adjuncts. And at length

Starting point is 08:55:11 these being explored, it may be persuaded whether this good, be truly good or not. Thus, the rational mind proceeds in particulars that it may explore the nature of things placed before it by which it seems to be affected. Such appears to be the intellect of the rational mind, the which if we inwardly examine we shall clearly perceive that all these affections are not proper to the intellect, but that there flows in from above some love of knowing the quality of all those things which flow in from beneath by way of the senses and the animus, so that that superior mind may call our rational mind into its service in order to inform itself of the things obvious to the senses, lest by chance it be deceived by appearance,

Starting point is 08:55:59 for the superior mind well knows how innumerable are the fallacies of things. This is the reason why we are naturally carried away by a certain desire of knowing not only the present but also future things, and not only what is apparent but also what is hidden. For this curiosity is called inborn, and it is the first mover in the perfecting of our intellect. Or it is itself the love of communicating its knowledge to that mind which is to be instructed. In these things, that mind does no other action from itself except to turn its rational view to the higher mind or to the soul. Other things spontaneously flow in, the very love exciting the desire of knowing. But from that moment in which the mind applies itself,

Starting point is 08:56:47 all this intellect is predicated of the mind as belonging to it. Indeed, the faculty not only of perceiving, but of thinking and judging, becomes as it were its own, because it is now acquired. But while it is being acquired, the mind itself is as though passive, only turn to turning itself to this or that side. 8. In the formation of the human intellect, there occur four ages, hardly otherwise than in the great world or the macrocosm. The first or golden age is when the animus is entirely subject to its mind,

Starting point is 08:57:23 for then it cannot be called the animus, but the lower or natural mind. The next or silver age is when the animus is not subject to the mind, but reigns with that an equal right. equal right. The third, or brazen age, is when the animus begins to fight with its mind and endeavors to cast this down from her throne. The fourth or iron age is when the animus subjects to itself the higher mind and makes it her handmaid. These things are perceived in our rational mind from those very loves which rule and command. If they are of the body and of the animus or of the world, it is a proof that the spiritual loves are driven from their thrones

Starting point is 08:58:05 and extinguished. But when the spiritual loves reign, the body loves yield, and as it were, become cold, and the lusts of the body are said to be dead. For so far as the things of the body live, those of the spirit vanish away, and vice versa. Nine. But a state of integrity would be that wherein the spiritual loves alone reign. Then there would not be any rational mind but the spiritual mind alone, for there would be no confluence of loves. Consequently, in order to be corporeal, we cannot easily subsist in that state. It would be superhuman and miraculous. But still it is our better life when superior and inferior loves reign equally, and the rational mind is elevated above its body and is so instructed from itself concerning what it encounters, that it has need

Starting point is 08:58:59 of no science as a teacher. We are always inclining to lower things, thus we are drawn away from this equilibrium, that is, this rationality itself. But if we remained infants, our irrational mind would be nothing, or, if something, still not rational, but spiritual. 314. But let us return to the affections or the loves and inquire whether there are any in the rational mind which may be properly called its own. Yet we cannot make this inquiry without first examining all those desires which appear to be in this mind. From these, then, we shall be able to form a conclusion. End of Section 27. Section 28 of the soul or rational psychology. This the Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to

Starting point is 09:00:01 volunteer, please visit Libravox.org The Soul or Rational Psychology by Immanuel Swedenborg. Translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915 and others. Section 28 The Loves and Affections of the Mind in General 315. In our rational mind, loves perpetually reign, nor would there be any mind without loves, as there would be no animus without affections. For the loves are of the mind as affections are of the animus. Those very objects with which the mind is affected are called its loves. The rational mind also possesses intellect, and the intellect is something separate from mind, just as sensation or

Starting point is 09:00:52 perception is separate from the animus. But still there can be no intellect without mind, that is, without objects which are loved or without loves. If only we observe the state of our mind, this appears clearly that some love is excited by the first appreception or intellection. This love first excited is the first, the last, the middle, the all in the thought. Without the love, the thought could never exist. This also is known from the desires, from the will, from ends of the mind. Unless there were love, there would be no desire, for we desire what we love. The love itself is in the will, which would become torpid or as nothing without love. The end itself is that subject or that object of love. Therefore, the love is the first, the middle, and the last in our rational mind.

Starting point is 09:01:45 But the loves are innumerable, and the very means of the ends are loves, because they are are regarded as united with ends or as continued into them. 316. The mind is therefore the soul itself or the life itself of the intellect. The intellect may be compared with the body of that soul, such is their conjunction that if the mind or its loves recede, the intellect is nothing, or like a lifeless body. And the love without the intellect can be described as a soul without a body.

Starting point is 09:02:18 therefore a certain love is in our rational mind before the intellect and the intellect is formed from the mind as a body from its soul in which it is first and last or the whole three hundred seventeen but it is asked whether these loves which are understood to be in the rational mind are its own or whether they come from elsewhere they appear indeed as if they were its own but lest we should be carried away by the appearance we ought to examine some of these loves, and afterwards the other affections which appear to be in the mind. The love of understanding and of being wise. 318. In the earliest infancy, there does not appear to be any love of being wise in our rational mind. The reason is that we are still unconscious of that love, or of knowing, by reflection upon phenomena, what may be in them as a principle. Then, too, because it is a certain universal love not yet limited or determined to the love of a particular knowledge, that nevertheless this love is there, we may conclude, as certain from the very effect of it, for without such a love we should never be able to inform our mind or furnish it with any intellect,

Starting point is 09:03:37 which nevertheless is perpetual from a certain active principle or love. What we desire to see, to hear, to retain in memory, to imagine, to think, this in our innocent state comes from an implanted love of understanding and being wise. Those delights, which are also in the senses themselves, could not be delights without this universal internal principle. But in this period of life, the love of understanding is quite general and undetermined. And so is the pure love of being wise without any object in which there is something lovable, on account of which especially we desire intelligence. But in adult age, we direct this universal love to a single kind of knowledge, which we love more than others, as to the art of war,

Starting point is 09:04:27 nautical science, politics, mathematics, science of civil law, theology, and so forth. As age still advances, we direct this love to some species or part of a more universal science. In this state, we love only the knowledges which go to perfect this chosen one, and these so far as they have an affinity with it. Hence it appears that there is some love in our mind, which is to become rational. And this from itself, or naturally, which is first a universal love of all, then in the course of time a particular love. For if there were not in infancy itself the universal love, we would be entirely unable to furnish the mind with any intellect unless there were a special determination to some particular knowledge.

Starting point is 09:05:14 This may be compared with the appetite for eating. Before taste and relish there is in the embryo and infants the love of eating, nor is it affected with any taste until time has elapsed. Wherefore it is nourished with milk which is almost tasteless. But in the course of time the appetite is awakened through the delights of taste. This love cannot be said to be properly of the rational mind, because it is in us before the formation of the intellect, and the intellect being formed it is not known to be in that

Starting point is 09:05:47 except by reflecting on its effects. Therefore it is infused from the superior mind and nourished by delights of the animus and so excited into consciousness. The love of knowing hidden things and admiration 319. That there is an inborn love of being wise we perceive from the love familiar to everyone, that of knowing hidden things. For this love it is which forms our whole intellect,

Starting point is 09:06:19 for everything which has been impressed on the memory of the infant and child were before that time hidden. As soon as they are impressed, the child is seized with the desire of knowing what still lies hidden in that which is known, that is its qualities and many other things. This love carries us into those sciences, by which we are persuaded we shall arrive at the knowledge of what is hidden. The whole learned world is carried away into physical experiments in order that from these we may know or penetrate into the hidden things of nature. The ancient philosophers were all seized with this love, but with them it was the love of penetrating into the hidden things of nature a priori, or by principles and irrational philosophy. But those of our day wish to penetrate A posteriori, or from experiment,

Starting point is 09:07:11 they both have the same love, for they concur in this end. Who does not desire to behold nature in her inmosts and unveiled? Who does not desire to know what the soul is, where it resides, what it will be after death, what is the highest good? Who would not like to know the interior things

Starting point is 09:07:31 of another's mind, the secrets of his companions, of society, of kingdoms, who is not delighted when he contemplates with the telescope the moon, a planet, and its satellites? While he wishes he might know whether there are inhabitants there, and how in this great vortex they pursue their daily and annual motions, who does not love with the microscope to detect the least things in nature and the insects invisible to the eye besides infinite other things?

Starting point is 09:08:00 all of which indicates that there is implanted in the human mind such a love, which is also the principle of becoming wise and the efficient cause of the formation of our intellect. And because it is in us before this formation of the intellect, nor do we perceive that it is there except by judging from its effects, it follows that it flows in from a certain higher mind in us to which it pertains universally to know and understand all things, and to wish to communicate this its own to some lower mind by which it may make itself present to the body.

Starting point is 09:08:39 320 Adoration is the affection of every perfection relatively to its subject, for we wonder at wisdom in a boy but not in an old man, at intellect in an insane person, at something analogous to bravery in the brute animal. So long, therefore, as we have no knowledge or only a slight knowledge of an old man, object, then we wonder at its perfection, however slight. Thus we wonder at the wonderful things in nature which are infinite, at its hidden forms and the like. Wherefore children wonder at all things because to them they are hidden, wherefore this wonder coincides with the love of knowing

Starting point is 09:09:18 hidden things. For what we wonder at is deeply imprinted on our memory. We wonder that nature is so admirable in her kingdoms. But if we knew what she herself is, and that she, she is, and that is most perfect, and able only to produce such things as these, we would then cease to wonder. We wonder at the miracles of God and the proofs of His providence, because we do not comprehend that He is infinite and His perfection infinite. If we should perceive this, we would be amazed at nothing, but only venerate and adore, in thinking that what we comprehend in mind are the least things, and that there are infinite things which surpass the intellect. But he is is the most hidden and the never-explorable to any mind in order that he may be God,

Starting point is 09:10:07 whom from the universe and from the wonderful things of nature we may admire and adore. What would God be if he were not inscrutable? The love of foreknowing the future. 321. The love of foreknowing the future concurs in the third place with the love of knowing hidden things. For we love to know the future because it is hidden and because we love love, we desire it, and the difference is only between the things simultaneously hidden and those

Starting point is 09:10:37 successively hidden. For what are now present are to be successively brought about. Therefore, when we know these things, we conceive of them as present and now existing. For all past things were once future. Therefore, also this love declares that there is something implanted in our mind, which is the active principle and the forming of our intellect. this love also so reigns in every human mind that it is present in its every desire of ends for when we desire any end and some impossibilities stand in the way we desire at once to know the final event whence comes hope wherefore in every one in whom there is hope there is the love of the future which we desire to know as the result of this love of human minds many arts have been thought out as physiognomy geomancy bethagorean arithmetic judiciary astrology in former times auspices the consultations of oracles divinations of dreams and many other similar things even the innumerable events of the past as the fates and histories of kings and empires do not so delight the mind as does that one new thing which we desire to know such as the love of self is so is the love of

Starting point is 09:12:01 knowing one's own happy destinies, which even to children is most pleasurable. As the love of country is great, so great is the delight of knowing its future prosperity. This love seems to be in the mind, but still not proper to the mind, for the same reason given above regarding the love of knowing hidden things. For one in the same love is the sign that there is such a knowledge in the soul, and that from this knowledge come the presages of mind and the coming true of dreams. The love of truths and principles. 322. The intellect of our rational mind could not be informed and become intellect without the love of truths, where it needs to have as many truths as ideas. From these analytically examined

Starting point is 09:12:51 and compared new truth arises, and from this and other similar still further new truths, until at length we arrive at those universal truths which belong to the soul and our pure intellectory. The most particular truths, and those which are first introduced, are those material truths we imbibe by means of the senses, all of which the mind at first accepts as they appear, as so many truths. From these it arranges its rational analysis and forms its intellect. As many conclusions as the mind forms, therefore, so many principles it assumes, provided it has faith in the premises and trusts in the correctness of its conclusions. These principles are the very truths which are in the rational mind as though they were its own. Still, they cannot be called

Starting point is 09:13:42 pure truths, but rather probabilities, for they are exceedingly inflated with hidden quality, and viewed in themselves are opinions and hypotheses, which the mind will perceive if it inwardly considers them, and by comparing them with others draws any conclusion from them as true from experiment. These assumed truths are acknowledged all the more as truths in the degree that they are capable of being rendered more probable and likely, or so adorned and veiled that their internal form does not appear, for we judge very much from the surface and external form regarding the internal, as we judge of the virtue of a virgin from her beauty, that accordingly there is an inborn love of establishing principles and acknowledging these as truths, or what is equivalent of

Starting point is 09:14:34 forming the intellect, has been shown above. Here, chiefly, we shall treat of the love of principles, thus regarded as truths. At veritatates speculatorum. 323. That it is not a to love truths may be proved from the order itself which is in the forms and harmonies of nature. The truth itself in intellectual things corresponding to order in natural things. And because order in itself, like harmony, affects the common sensory pleasantly and the animus gladly, so do truths affect the intellectual mind. Hence, as order presupposes harmony, so does truth presuppose some love or some good from which we may predicate its being truly good or truly bad. It follows from common experience that human minds love truths

Starting point is 09:15:30 so far as these establish the idea of good, for there are good things which are good by nature, and those which are not apparently good, and those which are not good but bad, which nevertheless affect the mind as good. Thus one who is desirous of revenge finds his delights and his good in cruelty itself, and so long as he is carried away with this love, he loves all things which sustain it, and hates everything which opposes. He often understands the truths which oppose such an animus, but he hates them, and also those who wish by means of truths to influence his mind. He also, who is avaricious and longs for the goods of others, often acknowledges the truths which show this to be contrary to the order of nature.

Starting point is 09:16:18 But he hates these very truths and loves all those probabilities which favor and foster his idea of good. Criminals often talk most wisely, yea, even make the harangues, and by a chain of truths condemn their very crimes, while still in their own minds they hate these truths they are proclaiming.

Starting point is 09:16:39 Thus there are those who love truths and those who hold them in hatred or love those things which are contrary to the truth. For hatred is love of the contrary. Likewise, the rational mind loves truths from an innate love, without which it would never be able to perfect its intellect so as to be possessed of judgment. But in place of truths, it substitutes principles,

Starting point is 09:17:04 which are so many probabilities acknowledged as truths. To love these principles or these probabilities is to exercise the same love as that by which truths are embraced, that this ardor exists in the higher mind or the soul, all of whose ideas are truths which the soul either loves or hates, appears from the effect of a similar love in the rational mind, and also from the origin of ambition and of anger, which are so many heats and fires in the soul roused in defense of these truths.

Starting point is 09:17:38 For there are those who are by nature tenacious of opinion, even in their childhood resembling old age since the aged believe their principles to be all truths it is not so with youths who are of progressive intellect and not lovers of self end of section twenty eight section twenty nine of the soul or rational psychology this is a livervox recording all libervox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit livervox dot org The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg Translated by Frank Sewell 1837 to 1915 and others Section 29 The love of good and of evil

Starting point is 09:18:35 324 Between the love of the true and the love of the good There is the difference as between intelligence and wisdom For truths are the objects of the intellect but goodnesses those of wisdom. But no intellect is without wisdom because there is none without the love of some good. Intellect is acquired through the love of understanding truths. Wisdom is not acquired because the good itself is that beloved essence,

Starting point is 09:19:06 which flows in and insinuates itself of itself. But the intellect is required in order that we may understand whether it be the truly good or the apparently good. or that which is not good but only a false good. The truly good is in itself good. The apparently good is good in itself so far as it so appears. The false good is evil because contrary to the true good. Thus the true and the good exist both united and separate,

Starting point is 09:19:37 since we are able to love the evil and to hate the good. And yet we are gifted with intellect to be able to understand the true and the false or to understand that a thing is not good although we undertake it. This is called intellective wisdom, scientific and external. Wisdom itself cannot exist without being conjoined with love, and because all love is inborn, we cannot be wise of ourselves, but from the influx of the love of the truly good. And in order that this may flow in,

Starting point is 09:20:09 the liberty is given us of inclining our mind to this or that side. Therefore, verities constitute the intellect which is greater in the degree that our principles approach the truths themselves, and free themselves from the shadow of probabilities. In order that our rational mind may be as intelligent as possible, it is necessary that it know universal truths, just as the pure intellectory and the soul know these from themselves, to whose perfections the rational mind strives to approximate. But goodnesses constitute wisdom. To love wisdom is to love the intelligence which reveals the nature of goodnesses, and to love the truly good itself is to be wise, wherefore our mind always aspires to the highest good, about which there is much dispute,

Starting point is 09:21:01 since everyone assumes the probable good to be the highest good. Science is not intelligence nor wisdom, but is the mediate or instrumental cause of intelligence, Wherefore all science is acquired either through one's own experience of these senses, or through the observation and exploration of one's own mind, or by the experience of others. Where there is natural intelligence, there is also science, for one presupposes the other.

Starting point is 09:21:32 But science does not then appear as anything contingent but as a necessity, and because it is natural for it to know this. Science is chiefly concerned with the objects of goodness. knowledge conicio on the other hand is the mediate cause whereby science is obtained whence our doctrines and instructions three hundred twenty five the rational mind never loves the good of itself but judges concerning the evil and the good and when it embraces one in preference to the other it is said to love it because it admits the one and excludes the other the mind the mind The mind admits whatever is pleasant, delightful, soothing to the animus into the senses, or what constitutes the loves of its animus. It causes that these flow into the mind,

Starting point is 09:22:26 and when it is occupied with their ideas and expels the contrary, then the mind is said to love because it calls this good. Still, its loves are not properly its own, but flow in. Likewise, when it excludes the affections of its animus, and thus admits the higher loves, then it calls these good and is said to love these because it is wholly occupied with their idea. Thus the rational mind is possessed by inflowing loves, since it is lacking in its own love. But they are called its own because they flow in and possess its idea. Affirmative and negative.

Starting point is 09:23:08 326. That the mind is able to affirm and deny clearly indicates that it is place. between two loves which influence it in opposite directions, and that it is able to choose the one and reject the other, or that this liberty is the only thing proper to the mind. Without this property, the mind could not exist, still less subsist. Throughout the whole body, there is nothing else capable of affirming and denying. Our animus cannot do this of itself because it is affected according to that harmony, which is in an object and agrees with its own nature. The eye can neither affirm nor deny, but is affected by the harmony of object and the mixture of colors,

Starting point is 09:23:54 among which there is a natural order as in the rainbow. The intellectual itself and the soul cannot affirm or deny, but are gratefully affected by those things which are perfect in themselves, and unpleasantly by imperfect things. always, however, according to the nature of the soul itself. Thus the soul can only love this and hate that, but to affirm and to deny is not in its power, this faculty belonging solely of the rational mind. The truths themselves of the soul are inborn, but its state either loves these truths in themselves or hates them, so that it is impossible to love now what

Starting point is 09:24:35 it before hated. But that it assumes this state is possible, only in this life, and thus only by means of the rational mind, which is able to affirm and deny and to choose the one rather than the other. 327. In order, therefore, that there may be in the rational mind a free choice and a will, and thus the faculty of affirming or denying, there are no loves given to it as properly its own. For if it possessed its proper and natural loves, then its affirmative and negative faculty would altogether cease. But that there seem to be innate loves, such as the love of the

Starting point is 09:25:15 honorable, the seeds of which seem to be deposited in the mind, and that there are inclinations to this love, this does not prove that these natural loves belong to the mind, but that the mind possesses a disposition only to receive these loves rather than others, to more easily change its states in this direction than otherwise. Or to be more easily, in these ideas than in others. In a word that it wishes rather to admit these loves than others. This is nevertheless not a proof that love is inborn and proper to the mind itself. Conscience 328. A good conscience or a bad conscience seems to be a proper affection of the rational mind, but whether it be so will appear from an examination into its origin. Conscience itself depends primarily

Starting point is 09:26:10 on the determination of the truly good. Whatever we believe to be the truly good when we nevertheless act in a manner contrary to it excites a bad conscience, while the opposite course produces a good conscience. Thus our conscience depends upon our principles, which we believe to be so many verities. And so the good conscience of one person

Starting point is 09:26:33 may be the bad conscience of another from one and the same cause. The good conscience of the criminal is the bad conscience of the honorable man. The devil acts against his conscience if he does not do evil, although he knows that this is contrary to spiritual truths. The conscience very plainly declares that our rational mind is midway between the higher and lower loves. A good conscience corresponds to gladness in the animus, and a bad conscience to sadness, wherefore also gladness and sadness flow by correspondence into the mind and excite its conscience.

Starting point is 09:27:14 The states of the soul also and its loves contribute much to the state of conscience in the rational mind. The soul which loves truths, when its love reigns in the rational mind, is secretly pained by those things which oppose this love. That is, it is a true conscience. But if the soul hates spiritual truths and becomes diabolical, then the mind is distressed by these truly good things themselves when it is led by them. Therefore, conscience comes from the animus and the superior mind, and is such that hardly anyone may know its quality,

Starting point is 09:27:52 since in order that anyone may judge of the truth of one's conscience, he ought indeed to know what the truly good is, of what quality is the person's mind and his animus, which knowledge belongs to God alone. conscience itself judges everyone. The highest good and highest truth. 329. This is undoubted that there is a good in itself and a principle of this good, that it is principally good itself and love itself. And if there is a good in itself, it is necessary that all those things which flow from that good and which tend toward that good,

Starting point is 09:28:32 be good in themselves. But whatever things tend out of the course and still more what are contrary to this good and tend not toward it, these are evil in themselves and insofar evil as they are removed from that good. Hence it is manifest that nothing but God alone can be the good itself,

Starting point is 09:28:54 who is the fount of every good, that is of every perfect thing. But things evil and imperfect may appear in our own, minds, as good and perfect, and thus persuade us to embrace them. Still, in the purer and more elevated mind, this is not why we embrace things which we acknowledge to be evil, but evil things are embraced because they are soothing and agreeable to the state of our mind. Then also they are sometimes called necessary evils. From this it now appears that everyone embraces and calls that the highest good which agrees with the state of his mind.

Starting point is 09:29:32 thus to the revengeful vengeance is the highest good to the miser wealth, and so with other lusts. In a word, each one places the highest good in a good conscience, but it is to be observed of what sort the good is, whether the truly good or the falsely good. Thus, universal truths are to be investigated, and our minds are to be instructed by these. 330. The highest good presupposes also a highest truth, and whatever affirms this highest good is itself the highest truth, and other things are false. But true things are also evil, hence the highest truth means that which expresses the nature itself of anything, what it is in itself, thus both the nature of the good and of the evil.

Starting point is 09:30:26 331. The good in the mind signifies the perfect in nature, wherefore these mutually correspond. Perfections themselves are superior and inferior. Thus the highest good differs in itself or is divided according to the subjects themselves which admit that good. The highest good of the body is the pleasure which most affects the body. The highest good of the animus is that love which most affects it. These goods are in themselves supremely good in respect to the state of the body and of the animus,

Starting point is 09:30:58 which receive and are affected by them. Similar is the case with the mind, the soul, and the pure intellectory. The highest good of the rational mind is that which it most joyfully admits and chiefly indulges, or to which its ideas or changes of state incline. All these things are highest goods in themselves so far as they tend to the highest good in itself, and regard this, that is, so far as they are in connection, or united by love, with the highest good. 332. Every faculty and mind, whether superior, inferior, or mediate, aspires to the highest good from an implanted love. Nevertheless, it can never arrive at that degree of good in which is the superior mind,

Starting point is 09:31:47 since there is something of the infinite in the superior mind to which the inferior mind can never attain unless by being itself dissolved or destroyed. The highest of the lower mind can hardly be called the least of the higher mind. We can thus see that our rational mind is unable to think what will be the happiness or the unhappiness of its soul. And if it cannot think this, neither can it express it. The same is true of the highest truths. Our mind may progress indefinitely and diffuse its intellect

Starting point is 09:32:20 and yet never arrive at pure truth such as is in the soul, unless it be dissolved and destroyed. Thus we cannot penetrate into the nature of the pure intelligence or the intelligence of the soul. A limit is accordingly placed to the advancement of our intellect or beyond which it cannot go. But still there is given to it a field that it may be extended indefinitely and the love to so extend itself is naturally in it.

Starting point is 09:32:50 But if it wishes to be elevated above itself or to attain two things higher than itself, then it either perishes and is dissolved or else it is reduced into such a state that it can never again emulate such a condition. And so it sins against the love and the law of order. Still such a love as this is innate in our minds, and we receive it as it were hereditaryly.

Starting point is 09:33:15 from Adam. In a word, all that which is good and true in itself is divine. All that which is evil and false in itself is diabolical. All that which is good and true in appearance and semblance is human. Thus the just, the sincere, the honorable, virtue, etc. The love of virtues and of vices, the honorable, the decorous. 333. The honorable is the common quality of all virtues, for all the virtues taken together constitute the honorable. Thus the honorable is the form whose essential determinations are the virtues in particular. Each virtue is a form whose essential determinations are the parts of that virtue, but decorum is the external form of the virtues. For that the virtues may appear, an external is

Starting point is 09:34:12 required from which we may judge regarding the honorable in it and its parts. This is why the decorous can be varied in so many ways. Every form may be varied externally in a thousand ways, and also the states of the internal form may be varied, the external form remaining. This is our political art to persuade regarding internal things those minds which judge from external things. 334. The dishonorable, on the contrary, is a form whose essential determinations are vices, and every vice is a form whose essential determinations are parts of that vice. The endocris is the external form, for every internal form has its external form, which is called the figure, and which corresponds naturally to the internal form.

Starting point is 09:35:08 335. There is nothing which is a virtue in itself except the good in itself. But in order that virtue may exist and pass for such, there must precede an affirmative and negative, a rational intuition that the good is to be chosen. There must be a will and an end which we regard as good. These faculties are not formed except in the rational, mind. Hence no moral virtue proceeds from other than the rational mind. If an inanimate machine

Starting point is 09:35:40 should extend money to some poor person, it could not be called a virtue. If anyone benefits another without knowing what he does, or from an opposite intention, or of necessity, this is not called a virtue. If an insane man renders service to society, this is not a virtue, but a good. Therefore, whatever is natural and necessary loses the name of virtue. Thus all virtues are of the mind only. Likewise in respect to vices. There is no vice which in itself is vice. Only the evil is evil in itself. The mind itself is what causes that the morally vicious exists. Thus all morality, like all vice, is of the rational mind alone. 336. What accordingly the virtues are and what are vices I have set forth above,

Starting point is 09:36:36 when treating of the affections of the animus, for instance, of ambition, love of self, love of country, revenge, anger, avarice, and other traits. All these are either goods or evils in themselves, but still they are not called virtues or vices except so far as they proceed from the rational mind. accordingly as the mind is the more instructed and the intellect greater, the greater is the virtue or the vice which flows thence. Thus, the love of self above all others is an evil in itself, and if such be in the mind it is a vice. While the love of the many or of society above self is good in itself, but is not called a virtue except in the rational mind, Virtue accordingly depends upon the state of the rational mind, so far as this regards the good which is the real good or the not truly good which is the evil.

Starting point is 09:37:34 When the mind does not know whether it be truly good or the truly evil, it is held in suspense and its conscience is said to be doubtful. In this state it ought to do nothing. Because such action would be neither good nor bad and thus not rational but brutal and irrational, or like that of an inanimate machine. Therefore, as the mind judges concerning goods, so it judges concerning virtues and vices. 337. It is therefore the rational mind which qualifies all those affections which are ascribed to the animus and to the body. These are all what they are by virtue of their proceeding from the rational mind, wherefore it is unnecessary to treat of them particularly here, since they all insinuate themselves into the loves and goods of the

Starting point is 09:38:26 rational mind, and this by its will determines them into act. This is the reason why nothing which flows into the rational mind but only that which flows from it can be called a virtue or a vice, and the greater a virtue is, the more does that which flows in under the form of good persuade the mind, that it is such a virtue, whenever the less it may be a vice. 338. The question now arises whether any love of virtue or of vices belongs naturally to the rational mind. It is proved by experience that the seeds of honor are sown in the minds of some or that there are inclinations to what is honorable, and so the reverse. But whatever there is from nature in any mind, which without cultivation is no mind or which must be formed in order

Starting point is 09:39:18 to be rational, and which possesses nothing from itself or nothing but that which is acquired. It would seem that the love of virtues is not a love proper to the rational mind, but rather that it belongs to the superior mind which flows in and constitutes this its nature. This takes place if the love of good flows in, and this good is called virtue. when the mind rationally observes that it agrees with the nature of good. Thus we cannot say that the love of virtue is proper to the rational mind, but that the soul from which that love flows is good, or also that the mind is naturally such that it inclines to receive these rather than other loves. Thus its inclination is only a faculty of bending itself to the reception of this or that love.

Starting point is 09:40:09 339. But insofar as the rational mind applies itself to either side, it is also receptive of the truly good and of its love, and it becomes conscious of this good, and from this love flowing in, it wishes and desires its actual attainment. So far, therefore, the love of virtues and of vices may be predicated of the rational mind, for by this faculty it appropriates to itself as its own these goods or evils. End of Section 29. Section 30 of the soul or rational psychology. This is Libervox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain.

Starting point is 09:41:01 For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org, recording by Amy Graymore. The Soul or Rational Psychology. by Emmanuel Swedenborg, translated by Frank Seawall 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 30 17 Conclusion as to what the animus is, what the spiritual mind, and what the rational mind. The animus is a form whose essential determinations are all those affections which flow in from the body and from the world through the gateway of the senses.

Starting point is 09:41:38 in each affection there is present as it were a special animus whose essential determinations are all those affections which are parts of this affection and so on such an animus is our peculiar disposition or genius wherefore we speak of indulging our disposition or animus and by the ancients every genius or disposition was adored and worshipped as a god and over them all presided a universal god. Hence Jupiter, Apollo, Venus, Mars, and the rest, and other specific deities belonging to these. In sacred and common language,

Starting point is 09:42:18 all those affections of the animus which come from the body are said to come from the heart, as when we say, with the whole heart, or with the whole soul, or in using the words pitiful, misery cores, stupid, ex-cores, insane, vichors, and so on, which terms all have reference to the blood. The spiritual mind is the form whose essential determinations are all those loves which flow

Starting point is 09:42:47 in from above or from God, through his spirit by means of the Word, and from heaven and the celestial society of souls. This mind is properly called the Spirit, whose subject is the soul. Thus the soul is indeed called Spirit, but much more properly. would be termed spiritual. The rational mind is the form whose essential determinations are all those loves which flow in both from the spiritual mind

Starting point is 09:43:15 and from the animus. These become mingled and are called rational. They are not the property of the rational mind, for they do not remain if the spiritual mind or the animus withdraws them. But, properly speaking, the rational mind is the form

Starting point is 09:43:31 whose essential determinations are all virtues and virtues, vices, for it is its property to be conscious of the good and the evil, thus to choose those things which are good and to reject the evil. And that which goes forth from the rational mind is called a virtue or a vice. In every virtue and vice, a rational mind is present whose essential determinations are all the parts of that virtue or of that vice. I have also mentioned a certain mind higher than the natural, which clearly is in the pure, intellectory. But this mind is the animus itself, since the animus is something universal,

Starting point is 09:44:11 and the mind of each intellectory is something particular. For an order that the universal exist, there must be the particulars from which it may exist and subsist. That the rational mind is that which is properly called man. The external shape is not what makes man, for the ape is human in face and still is an ape, and wax can be molded into the human form and still be wax, while yet the likeness of man. Neither is it the external form of the body which constitutes the man. The brute animals enjoy similar members and viscera and a similar structure, as do even the more imperfect animals, like the insects. Speech does not make man, for the parrot talks and still is not a man. The animus is not the man, for the brutes enjoy a similar animus

Starting point is 09:45:02 and are affected as man is by the loves of their body and of their world. But that which enjoys a rational mind, namely that it can think, judge, freely choose, and will, that creature is man. Also, a man is esteemed as such, by all according to his rational mind. If he only indulges his animus and his natural disposition, if he is stupid and dull,

Starting point is 09:45:27 he is called a brute, an animal, and not recognized as man, except as having still something human which enables him to think. The greater the intellect, or the more elevated the rational mind, so much the greater is the man. If it excels all others, it is declared to be superhuman and divine, and something which is above man. We also, in ourselves, recognize that only as our own which we mentally possess, for everything in the whole system is qualified by the mind. wherefore all loves as well as superior as inferior flow in and flow together into the rational mind as into its center and from this they flow forth again thus the beginning of all actions and the end of all sensations or the concentration of the whole is in the mind wherefore all other things which are without the mind are regarded as its instruments and organs which the mind neither knows nor cares to know as to what they are provided only they serve it as its slaves it even seems as if God thus held in contempt

Starting point is 09:46:36 these natural things themselves and reduced them into so many instruments since he has not revealed to us their nature and how the mind acts by means of them but has only given them and surrounded the mind with them in order that they may stand ready and obedient for every effect by which the mind wishes to promote its end we only love that which is pleasing to this same rational mind, as if to that which is proper to ourselves, for everyone wishes to appear such as he is by virtue of his mind, even if it be through the ornaments of the body. Still the desire is that these may show the quality of the mind. Thus we feel a hatred, and often are carried away into anger, toward that which injures

Starting point is 09:47:21 the mind. And what we fear for the body is lest the mind be deprived of its instruments and powers acting. In the rational mind there is the face of the soul, just as in the body is the face and likeness of the animus. The rational mind may thus be called the body of the soul, because it is formed into an image of its operations. This mind indicates what the soul is. If the soul be not spiritual and immortal, by no means can such a mind be formed in which the spiritual and natural are conjoined. Wherefore, since there are in the mind both the natural and the spiritual, the mind possesses, as in a certain center of confluences, whatever the man possesses, wherefore the rational mind is what is called man. When this mind is destroyed, the man perishes.

Starting point is 09:48:12 He then is a spirit, because the soul alone then lives. This is the reason why man may be called internal and external. That spiritual essence, which floges, which floges, which flows into the rational mind is the interior and superior man, but the natural which flows in from the animus is the external man. The mind is what perceives in itself what it is which the external and internal man advises. Therefore, the external man is the same as an animal, but the internal man the same as an angel. End of Section 30. Section 31 of the Soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Recording by Scott Grace, Spencerport,

Starting point is 09:49:16 New York. The Soul, or Rational Psychology, by Immanuel Swedenborg. Translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 31. Chapter 18. Part 1 of Free Will or the Choice of Moral Good and Evil 3.51 The learned have been in great disagreement on the liberty of the human mind. There are those who assert that in divine and spiritual things there is no mental liberty left, or, if any, that it is but shadowy and hardly to be recognized as such. There are some who say that all liberty is left in worldly and corporal things,

Starting point is 09:50:05 but others declare that this is rather slavery than liberty. For the rational mind, men's, is thus kept in chains by its affections belonging to the lower mind, animus. And there are others again who assert that there is no liberty at all, although it may appear as though there were. For it is alleged, we are drawn away either by our own love, or by other affections which flow into the sphere of our own minds, or by some absolute and divine direction which carries us away as by a stream or as a ship in full sail. Moreover, if the rational mind has no affections of its own, but if all flow into it either from above or from below, it follows that the mind would not be in the exercise of its own right or free will, but would

Starting point is 09:50:54 either belong to the soul or to the body, by the affections of which it might appear to be as it were inflamed. But let us dismiss all these controversies, since to assume arguments and then to confute them is a barren occupation. For if we remain in arguments derived solely a posteriori, or from a multitude of effects only, we shall indeed be in collision, and our minds will, as it be in a dense and dark forest, nor shall we be able to extend our own view beyond the nearest hill or the nearest tree. Let us then rise to higher views, or to the principles and origin of things, or to universal truths, and from these let us descend according to order, nor turn from the way to refute anyone but continue straight on to the goal.

Starting point is 09:51:45 3.52. That our rational mind can freely judge and decide or freely think, and when impossibilities do not hinder, can freely will and act out what it thinks, is acknowledged by everyone. Without the liberty of thinking, or of acting conformably, to what we think, there would be no understanding and no will, yea, the very name of will, would be banished from the vocabulary, and we should know nothing about it. Without free will, there would be nothing affirmative and nothing negative. There would be no virtue and no vice, and consequently no morality. There would also be no religion and no divine worship, for this requires a free mind. Thus, there could be no hearing of prayers, still less any imputation of good or evil,

Starting point is 09:52:31 because nothing could be regarded as our own. For who imputes anything to a machine, or to him who acts from necessity and not from himself? Man also regard actions as they proceed from a will which is not forced. What then shall we not believe of the divine? justice. In short, without the gift of liberty, we should not be men, but merely animals. For what would our human principle be, or that which is properly our own as men, unless we could think, will, and act freely. And he, who can think freely, can also will freely, for will and action follow thought. Therefore, not only to be free, but also the ability of acting

Starting point is 09:53:15 freely from oneself is truly human. It was a very. It was also shown above that the one only thing which belongs to us is the liberty said to be that of the will. 353. It is also an established truth that without intellectual life or understanding there is no rational liberty, and that such as is the understanding, such is the liberty, which increases or decreases, together with its understanding. So that liberty may be called the spouse of the intellect, or the one only love of the rational mind. For there is no liberty in an infant, but in adults there is liberty. There is none in an insane or delirious mind, and none in the dead, the intellect being

Starting point is 09:54:01 extinguished. From these things it follows that there is a greater liberty in an intelligent than in a stupid person, in a learned, than in an ignorant man, and so forth, for this is a consequence of what has been stated. 3.54. But inasmuch as we have formed an erroneous opinion of the essential nature of liberty, we can scarcely comprehend that it increases according to the degree and excellence of the intellect, for we always believe that man is the more free, or in the enjoyment of greater liberty, who is more powerful and wealthy than others, and who is thus left to himself, that is, who is less under the restraint of external circumstances.

Starting point is 09:54:46 Thus it is supposed that the commander is more free than the soldier, the king than his subjects, and every master than his servant, although the servant might be most intelligent. Yea, we might, under certain circumstances, pronounce that man who is shut up in a prison, or cast into chains, to be more free than one who lives in the exercise of his own right and free will. But when we speak of the essential nature and personal nature and perfection of liberty, we do not understand its external, but its internal form.

Starting point is 09:55:16 For the captive and the servant may potentially be more free than his master, although not actually so. A man who is compelled to be silent may be more intelligent than the perpetual talker, and the man whose eyes are bound may have a more acute sight than one whose eyes are open, that is, impotency, though not an act. 355. We are in the habit of confounding liberty, with license, namely to indulge our natural tempers and to obey the wishes and lusts of our lower mind, to be able to give the reins to our bodily appetites, yea, to allow the insane cupidities of the mind to break out into corresponding acts. This is not liberty, but license,

Starting point is 09:56:01 for there is a true liberty, an apparent liberty, and also a false liberty, which should be called slavery. True liberty does not consist in being able to think and to act according to our thoughts whatever they may be, but in being able to think and to judge wisely, which ability increases according to the developed state of the intellect, and to act according to right reason, that is, to choose what is good and to refuse and repel what is evil. To give the reins to our animal, or external mind, animus, is to rush into our own destruction, both as to body and soul, embrace that which is really evil, for that which is truly good. Wherefore of such a man, no liberty can be predicated, but rather slavery, for our rational mind is continually governed

Starting point is 09:56:47 by loves, in which some are good and others pernicious. This, therefore, is liberty, that the rational mind is able to cast off the yoke of its animal mind, and not to suffer itself to be governed by pernicious loves, but by loves which are truly good. This is also the end, an object why liberty is given to us. 356. If we do not well consider the liberty of the will and its free determination, we cannot avoid forming a spurious notion concerning it, imagining that it is something separate from the intellectual principle of the rational mind, or if it be adjoined to it, that it is, in itself, something per se or of itself,

Starting point is 09:57:32 whereas it is only a quality which results from this intellect itself. For if it increases and decreases with the intellect, and if it does not exist in the first period of infancy, and if, moreover, it is of such a nature as is the state of the intellect, it follows that it is in the intellect in like manner as a quality is in its subject. 3.57. In order, therefore, that we may acquire a genuine idea of this liberty, it is necessary that we again describe what the intellect or understanding is, and in what manner it is formed. The intellect, as we have shown in its own place,

Starting point is 09:58:13 consists of mere intellectual ideas which are first form from material ideas, for the thought itself is nothing but an unrolling and revolving in the mind of such material ideas, from which, when they are collated into a certain form, results the judgment or the mental conclusion in which the ideas are together, or simultaneous, which in succession come into thought. It is also confirmed above that the ideas of the memory, of the imagination, and of the thought are nothing but changes of the state of the internal sensory and of the intellectory, and that such changes can take place in the censories, and in the intellectories, an infinite variety, for their perfection consists in the mutability of their states.

Starting point is 09:58:57 wherefore, in the sensory, and especially in the intellectory, as many changes of state can be produced as there are ratios, analogies, series, equations, and varieties of forms and numbers, and in geometry, in their highest and most perfect developments. Thus, there are changes of state which are general and particular, universal and singular, that is, general, special, individual, and of manifold variety, simultaneous and successive, coordinated, and mutually subordinated one to another, and subdivided. That is, there are as many states, and of such a nature as there are equations in the calculus of infinites, with which equations and their forms, they may be fitly compared. We therefore perceive in the mind that this faculty of changing its states is the very faculty

Starting point is 09:59:47 of producing ideas, and that in which intellectual power and action consist. Let us, however, substitute for this Faculty of Changing States, the common names, intellect, ideas, thought, principles, judgment, and the rest, which while they do not precisely correspond, nevertheless, are terms more familiar to us and do not embarrass our understanding. 3.58. Wherefore, liberty itself consists in producing changes of state in the sensory and consequently in the intellectory, or in putting on states which harmonize with this or that end, for we can turn our thoughts in whatever direction we please, and in whatever universal state we keep the mind fixed,

Starting point is 10:00:33 no other ideas can flow into that state except those which belong to it. Every thought is a form which is constituted of essential determinations. Into this general form, so constituted nothing but particular determinations which harmonize with it can flow, or if it be a universal idea, no singular's or no particular idea can flow in, but those which naturally determine that universal idea. Hence, such as is the state of the mind, such are the ideas which flow into it, such also is the form which hence arises, and such is the affection of the form or the love. Other things which do not harmonize with that form are either not admitted or are reflected back. Or if they be in it, they are ejected and repudiated as heterogeneous and as destructive

Starting point is 10:01:24 of that form. This we manifestly experience every moment. For when we fix our thought on any subject, we then repudiate and reject all those things which are not similar, as though they were discordant. As when, with intention and desire, we contemplate any object we love to acquire as honor or riches, or if we experience the venereal passion, the mind then remains fixed. in that state, and admits all those things which contribute to the attainment of the object, and rejects those which endeavor to destroy that state. And the mind thus strengthens and kindles itself to that degree that it cannot be diverted from that state into another, and if perchance it should fall from that state it is saddened, and endeavors by ruminating upon

Starting point is 10:02:08 it to recall and restore it. And if it does not succeed it, is dejected and comes into a contrary state, which is wont to do violence to our rational mind. But let us return to the consideration of liberty. It is conceded to our rational mind not only to change its states, and to lapse from one thought to another, but also to be conscious of and to survey, or to have an intuition of all those particular ideas which have entered into the general state. Yay, we can thoroughly investigate that state, and see by what love it is governed. and how it is kindled, and we can also compare the state with another, and ascertain which is better and more suitable to the order of nature. It is this faculty which, in the rational mind,

Starting point is 10:02:56 is called liberty. Hence, we may manifestly see that liberty is of such an extent and nature, as is the intellect, and that both are conceived, born, and developed together. 360. But the liberty itself of the human mind, which may be called intellectual liberty, can be reduced into certain classes and thus more distinctly conceived. For there are as many divisions, parts of liberty as there are of the intellect. The divisions of the intellect are intellect, are intellect, thinking, judging, concluding, resolving, and willing, by which what we think, etc., is determined into act. The liberty of intellection, is the least of all in degree, since it is with difficulty we can prevent sensations from flowing in,

Starting point is 10:03:45 that is, material ideas from hearing, sight, and the other senses. Consequently, it is with difficulty we can prevent these sensations from exciting the animal mind, and this again from exciting the rational mind to various degrees. For there are pleasures and delights which pleasurably excite the rational mind, and carry it away naturally into such a state, thus, the cupidities themselves of the animus, which arise from the body and from the world or from our associations in the world, can scarcely be prevented from flowing in, except we were to remove the organs of our senses, yea, our very selves, from the impressions, or when they do flow in,

Starting point is 10:04:26 turn our minds away from them, which indeed is almost beyond our human nature. The thought immediately takes up the perception derived from without, thus also the liberty of the thought, which like the thought itself is complete, for we can turn the mind when once excited by ideas in whatever direction we please, and admit into it ideas from the storehouse of the memory. And again, we can reflect upon these ideas individually, which become, as it were, so many new observations and excitements to ulterior ideas. This liberty is a universally governing principle in the human mind, from which we can see of what quality we are, or what is our real nature, that is, to what loves we incline, what loves we most willingly admit,

Starting point is 10:05:12 and in what affections we most delight to indulge. Thus, from our very thoughts, we can perceive what is the use of liberty. The judgment takes up the thought, and it consists of so many principles which have been already formed, in which the rational mind considers as so many truths. These principles are so many intellectual ideas and are formed from conclusions arising from the ideas of thought. The liberty of the judgment is not of so much extent as the liberty of thought, for before things are admitted into the judgment that they may be considered as things judged, only those things are elected, which we believe to be truths. Or if we do not believe them to be truths, we can, from the intuition and balancing of several kinds of love by which we are affected,

Starting point is 10:05:57 so temper and moderate the analysis of our own thoughts that they may, as it were, appear under a becoming human aspect. The mind may then contemplate the present, not only from the past, but also from the future. For one equation is as it were formed, in which all things are, and which can even contemplate and judge as to possibility at least of the future. Wherefore, the liberty of the judgment is more restricted to a certain natural order that the liberty of thought, which not being under such restraint, is accustomed to wander. There may, however, be hidden in that liberty of the thought a love, which from the fear of losing another love, can be restrained. But to enter upon this subject now would be to prolix.

Starting point is 10:06:41 The conclusion immediately follows the judgment, for we come to a conclusion in order that what we conclude may be remitted to the will, and by that be determined into act. Thus, the conclusion is, as it were, a line drawn under the equation or under the sum, which is soon again to be resolved into its parts. In this conclusion, it is clearly perceived of what nature liberty is, or what it had been in the judgment and what in the thought. For the conclusion there are all things together, and if they do not come forth into act, they are nevertheless there, so that it is only a contemplation of future consequences, and hence a fear regarding the desired end which act as so many resistances and, as it were, impossibilities, delaying or preventing the act, but immediately

Starting point is 10:07:29 these fears are removed, the act rushes forth. Our mental liberty, therefore, is under much restraint, and in order that it may be restrained there are civil laws and penalties, the estimation in which we desire to be held by others, misfortunes, and other things which restrain, but the mind when in its conclusions is to be considered as already in its acts. The mind, however, still retains its liberty of dissolving and changing its conclusions and of forming new ones. But this liberty is very feeble, since there is generally within it the love of self, consequently the love of one's own ideas, which it estimates as truths. To this liberty succeeds the liberty of resolution, as if the equation were now to be

Starting point is 10:08:15 actually and successively resolved into its parts, and as the particular things which are in the conclusion are to be successively evolved or brought out by actions, either of the members of the body, or of the face, or of the tongue, or by the speech, there remains no liberty, as it were, to this faculty, for it depends on the essential principles which are in the conclusion, since the faculty itself of resolving the equation is not any intellectual operation, but a purely organic one and dependent solely on the intellect. If anything be determined without the intellect, it is considered as something animal, which is not regarded as virtue or vice, or considered as worthy of praise or of blame. Of the will I shall treat below.

Starting point is 10:09:02 End of Section 31, recording by Scott Grace. Spenceport, New York. Section 32 of the soul or rational psychology. This This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Immanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 32. Chapter 1818. part two of free will or the free choice of moral good and evil three hundred and sixty one from what has now been said it appears that there is a liberty of thinking and a liberty of acting and that in the middle between these two there is as it were a liberty of choosing arbitrande in which properly free will consists

Starting point is 10:10:20 and that our mind is not capable of ruling whether the objects of the senses and their exciting influences, both from the body and the world, shall flow in or not. But it is capable of choosing whether these sensations and excitements shall flow out and be determined into act. 362. In respect to the liberty of thinking and judging, it is almost absolute, but such as is the intellect, such is the thought, and consequent liberty. Essential freedom consists in controlling the thought itself, lest it rush forth, whether cupidities would urge it. For if cupidities are admitted into the thought, and are not checked and restrained on the very threshold,

Starting point is 10:11:16 they easily take possession of the entire mind, which in that case is no longer its own master. Hence, true liberty consists in the mind's ability to command itself and to cast off the yoke of its animus. It may also be physiologically demonstrated how this is affected. 363. But the liberty of acting is much restrained, since there are innumerable things which prevent every thought from coming into act.

Starting point is 10:11:52 Thus, there are civil laws and penalties. There is the sense of honor and decorum. There are perverse, ambitious propensities which are adorned with the pretexts of truths. There is the respect we have for persons whom we must obey. There are the necessaries of food and clothing for the acquireer. of which there are innumerable means, all of which, as means, have to be regarded even while the ends are kept in view. There are certain kinds of love which prevail in the mind to which special loves are subject and other things which are also restraints.

Starting point is 10:12:37 There is, moreover, the conscience itself, which is a peculiar bond of restraint and also a code of laws in which are inscribed those things which restrain the mind. All these things are to be considered as necessary restraints, which take away from liberty the power of developing into act. Therefore, as to the thought itself, there is entire liberty, but as to the act, there are many limitations and restraints, which, however, exist and operate that we may enjoy true liberty, and that we may not abuse it.

Starting point is 10:13:16 The highest liberty, as already stated, consists in governing our own minds, so that we may live in harmony with the order of nature, and on this account liberty is given to us. But how insane the human mind is, and how it suffers itself to be governed by an inferior master or by the propensities of the animal mind is abundantly evident from experience.

Starting point is 10:13:46 Thus it is evident that our desires must be restrained by laws, and we ourselves often fear less to that which possesses our minds should by some characteristic mark break out in our actions, our speech, or our looks. The greatest art consists in concealing one's own mind. 364 But the liberty of deciding, which is free will, coincides with the liberty of judging, and properly signifies that state when the mind is balanced between two kinds of good or two loves,

Starting point is 10:14:26 and can choose that which appears to it best and determine it into act. For this purpose, intellect is given to us, and liberty is adjoined to it, although some men in the use of this faculty determine it against truths or against their better conscience. This happens when the loves of the lower mind prevail, which is sometimes attributed to human weakness, and by this abuse of our liberty we inflict injury upon our conscience. 365 Therefore, liberty itself or the faculty of freely thinking, consists solely in that ability by which the mind can put on whatever changes of state it pleases and thus proceed from one state into another for every change of state produces an idea either simple or compound

Starting point is 10:15:26 thus there are as many changes of state as there are varieties of thoughts and judgments these things are said concerning that which is the essence itself of liberty three hundred and sixty six but it was observed above that there are loves which perpetually govern our intellect and that no thought whatever can exist and subsist without some love as a companion which unkindles it for love is the very life of thought but how loves operate in the mind shall be considered and explained in what follows from this however the inference might seem to be warrantable that if our rational mind is perpetually governed by certain loves, desires, and ends, there can be no liberty, or only of such a character as to be subject to some love which governs or commands it, on which account there appears to be a certain necessity in every particular of the mind. It is also most true that insofar as the mind is governed by perpetual desires, without which it would be no mind, it is not its own master and the arbiter of its own states. But essential liberty consists in this, that the mind can turn itself from one love to another, that is, can resist and reject a love which is evil or apparently good,

Starting point is 10:17:05 and devote itself to a love which is truly good or which it judges to be so wherefore liberty does not consist in this that the mind be without any love desire or actuating end for in this case it would cease to be a mind but liberty consists in the ability of adopting one principle of love and of rejecting another and indeed genuine liberty namely that which accompanies a more perfectly developed intellect consists in adopting the best love as the principle of its life for if an evil love or principle is adopted it is a sign of a perverse intellect namely of an intellect governed by perverse loves and thus it is a sign of the absence of liberty however by imperfect intellects liberty is predicated of this license or it is considered that to will and act freely according to any kind of prompting love whether good or evil is liberty whereas according to the judgment we form of the liberty from which we act such as the intellect thus there may be the highest liberty where slavery itself appears to exist the reason is because to be subject to the highest good as to a master is a subordination which is eminently according to the nature of things for in the order of things one thing must govern and another must obey wherefore that which is superior prior and more perfect must give laws and commands to that which is inferior posterior and imperfect

Starting point is 10:19:06 hence if the mind subject itself to this universal law of subordination it is most free for it cannot alone hold the keys since it cannot depend on itself wherefore to choose and adopt the highest good is to adopt it, that the mind may serve that which is more perfect and suffer itself to be governed by it. For if a servant rise up against his master, or a subject against his sovereign, or a soldier against his commander, this rebellion is not liberty, but lawlessness,

Starting point is 10:19:45 which destroys universal society or an entire army. 367 There are in the rational mind diverse loves which holds sway and draw to their side, but let us pass over this phalanx of loves and distinctly penetrate the subject in question. To this end we will only consider that in general there are superior and inferior loves.

Starting point is 10:20:16 The superior are spiritual, but the inferior are natural and corporeal. These being concentrated in the rational mind are wont to contend against each other. The superior loves, because they are spiritual, are more perfect, but the inferior loves are imperfect. The former are constant, and perpetual, but the latter are inconstant, and in a short time they terminate altogether. From experience, it is abundantly evident that these loves continually reign and devoutive. the mind between them, and that whilst one governs another yields, and is, as it were, extinguished. In order to see this, we have only to attend to ourselves, when our mind is deeply and long engaged

Starting point is 10:21:08 in the subject of meditation, which has been enkindled by some corporeal love, in which state if we desire to recall spiritual and pure things into our mind, we find it to be, to be be impossible before the former love with its meditation is expelled. Thus, when we wish to call upon God in prayer, the thought can never come forth in its purity and clearness, but is, as it were, clouded and dark, until the merely natural thought is expelled and dispersed. As when we desire to penetrate into a pure region of thought,

Starting point is 10:21:49 or to arise from nature into spirit. It is as though the thought emerged through a cloud into the light of the sun, which cannot be done before the cloud is dispersed. But as soon as the clouds are dissipated, a certain solar splendor shines forth upon the mind. Thus it is, precisely, when corporeal and worldly loves obsess the mind, and when the mind, whilst in that state,

Starting point is 10:22:18 desires to penetrate into spiritual things. 368. From this description it appears as though these loves were contrary to one another because they are in conflict together, or as though the affections of the animal mind are, as it were, waging constant warfare with the loves of the pure mind. When nevertheless the soul has associated nature to itself, when it adjoined itself to a body.

Starting point is 10:22:53 And it is evident that God did not join spiritual things with natural, that they should be in war with each other, but that they should be mutually conjoined. But it must be well considered that the lower mind, with all its affections, is associated to the body. Inasmuch as without it, the body could not live, nor could any rational mind exist, and that there is no affection,

Starting point is 10:23:18 which in itself is not lawful, and which does not spring from the universal love which is in the soul as its actuating principle. But the reason why they are at war is because the inferior love's desire to govern in the court of the mind and to exterminate the more perfect loves, and thus to govern the soul itself, which is contrary to the very order of nature,

Starting point is 10:23:47 namely that that which in itself is inconstant and imperfect should govern that which is constant and perfect. For in this manner universal nature as to its order would be ruined and destroyed. Another reason also is because the animus with its peculiar affections, since it is devoid of reason, knows no moderation and rushes whithersoever cupidity carries it along, and thus to the destruction of the body, and even to ruin of the soul itself, as we shall demonstrate below. For thus the affections of the animus are always tending to excess, and know no bounds nor moderation.

Starting point is 10:24:38 This is the reason why the rational mind, furnished with intellect, is set to preside over these affections, the animus, and that there is a perpetual battle between them. For the soul well knows that such a liberty would endanger her entire kingdom and cast her down from her throne, wherefore she combats as much as possible against these lower affections, until she at length triumphs or gives herself up as conquered. For the soul, from its own nature, resists every force and every assault by which the the economy of its body is destroyed, and by which its spiritual loves are extinguished,

Starting point is 10:25:22 or if not extinguished, are changed into such as are contrary to truths. If, however, the loves of the animus should subject themselves entirely to the loves of the soul, there would then be no warfare, but the man would live in a most happy state. is, he would live as in his primeval golden age, or as in his first infancy, but then there would be no intellect, which, as is the case now, must be formed and instructed by the senses and the affections of the animus, and that it may be free it must know what is good and evil, which it would not know if all things proceeded according to their order. Therefore all the passions are so many warm emotions and excitements of the corporeal life,

Starting point is 10:26:18 which are all allowable, provided they in moderation be made subservient to the use of what is rational and spiritual. 369. The rational mind is therefore constituted in the middle between inferior and superior loves, which combat against each other, and endeavor to possess that mind. Thus the rational mind is, as it were, a balance, and the intellect with its liberty holds the beam from which the two scales depend. One scale belongs to the body, the other to the soul, or the one belongs to the animal mind and the other to the purely rational mind.

Starting point is 10:27:09 into the scale belonging to the body there constantly flow powers like so many weights which affect and occupy the rational mind for they enter in through the doors of the senses from the world and from the body itself and its blood so that the mind can never be exempt from their operation yea, it is formed by these things so as to be a mind, for we must be informed and instructed by the way of the senses. But the loves of the soul, or the pure loves, do not enter in by any way of the senses, but are insinuated in a most secret manner from within. Nor do they come to the consciousness of our mind,

Starting point is 10:27:58 because they are too pure, for it is. purest ideas to comprehend but they are like so many forces which insensibly occupy the mind for they have had possession from the first stamen of its existence even to its birth although no rational mind then appears to exist hence it may easily be judged that the loves of the body would prevail and that the loves of the soul could not be conceived of as to their quality by our mind except by an idea fixed in those things which are obvious to our senses and with which a comparison may be established. For the soul itself cannot instruct us.

Starting point is 10:28:47 Nothing belonging to it is allied to words, nor can it be expressed in speech. Thus it cannot sensibly flow into the consciousness of the mind. From this cause it follows, that the rational mind can but with difficulty enjoy the gift of its liberty, but is, as it were, carried away like a captive by the scale of the body. We therefore now inquire what is the nature of liberty in natural and corporeal things, and what is its nature in spiritual divine things, and how from natural liberty we may be led into spiritual liberty. End of Section 32.

Starting point is 10:29:40 Section 33 of the soul, or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Immanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell 1837 to 1915. and others. Section 33. Chapter 18, Part 3, of free will, or the free choice of moral good and evil.

Starting point is 10:30:21 370. Liberty, purely natural, does not exist, for liberty without a spiritual principle cannot be called liberty, but liberty can be predicated of the rational mind, because that mind can determine itself from what is natural to what is spiritual and vice versa. For except there was a scale which could be raised or depressed, there would be no equilibration and consequently no balance. There is indeed a certain libration between various affections which are purely natural, for that which prevails bears down the scale, and one affection is ejected while another succeeds.

Starting point is 10:31:08 But these are like weights of various material and magnitude, which are placed in the same balance. For one kind of natural affection as well as another equally depresses or averts the mind and prevents it from being raised to superior things. Liberty, therefore, in natural things, or the power of betaking ourselves from one natural, love to another is not liberty but is rather servitude,

Starting point is 10:31:39 because the mind which ought to choose that which is best is in that case either drawn into an apparent good or into an absolute evil. For the liberty of exercising savage rage against enemies, even when conquered, of defrauding friends of their goods, of living sumptuously, and of aspiring at preeminence over others, is not liberty, but servitude, for, as was stated above,

Starting point is 10:32:08 to be able to conquer oneself, that is freedom. In the meantime, the mind has full liberty of removing itself from spiritual and divine things and of determining itself to corporeal loves. But provision against this is furnished in the forms of government, in established laws, and in penalties imposed upon crime, and the abuse of liberty. As another preventive, there is also the dread of losing one's earthly enjoyments.

Starting point is 10:32:45 371. There is also no purely spiritual liberty in the rational mind, because the rational mind can understand nothing of any superior love, that is, of those things which are above itself. For that which is superior can judge of inferior things, not contrary wise. Nor can the mind perceive that it is in any spiritual love, because it cannot form an idea of it except this idea be affixed to something natural, that it may by comparison understand of what nature it is. Consequently, it cannot experience any sensible delight

Starting point is 10:33:28 when it is in a spiritual delight, except that it can imagine it to be something more perfect. more stable, more illimitable, something as it were infinite, perpetual, immortal, and something incomparable in respect to that which it perceives to be inconstant, limited, finite, and something mortal, and to have an end. Nevertheless, that the mind may turn itself from those things which are perceived and felt to be something and likewise present, faith is required. For the mind cannot of itself perceive that such things exist, since the mind when it directs its attention hither, perishes as it were in a kind of abyss. This faith is either intellectual or divine. Intellectual faith can be acquired by an inmost reflection and intuition of things. It is, however, easily extinguished when material ideas

Starting point is 10:34:35 come over the mind. But faith from a divine origin is the only faith which can persuade the mind about spiritual things, otherwise not capable of perceiving them. Moreover, since the rational mind cannot of itself acquire such spiritual ideas,

Starting point is 10:34:55 neither is it gifted with the liberty of putting on those states which agree with spiritual loves. 372. we therefore now inquire in what does liberty really consist since there is none in purely natural things and none in spiritual things and since the mind cannot of itself turn itself from natural to spiritual things but if we thoroughly examine and investigate the essence of human liberty we shall find that it especially consists in this that our mind can shake off natural loves or withdraw and deliver itself from them and retain only so much as is requisite for the support of the body for to put off all natural things would be to put off the man himself or to deprive him of animal life the mind can perceive that whilst it is immersed in corporeal affections it cannot possibly direct itself to

Starting point is 10:36:04 spiritual things. The four constituents of liberty in natural things. Liberty therefore in natural things consists in the first place in the ability of withdrawing the mind from corporeal things and in considering them only as means instrumental and subservient to spiritual things, precisely as the universal body is only an organ or instrument of the soul. So the animal mind should be the instrument of the spiritual mind. 2. Liberty in the second place consists in this, that the mind can be instructed both by the sacred scripture and by other writings, and also from one's own reflection, that there is a

Starting point is 10:37:00 spiritual and divine principle which is superior and thus acquire a certain intellectual faith by which when acquired, the mind can be kept in the thought of such things and be fed and nourished by them. From this capability of thinking about spiritual things, when corporeal cupidities are removed, the mind can be led into ideas which harmonize with spiritual loves, which loves, since they are perpetually present, flow in of themselves, and thus, as it were, vivify and induce changes of state in the intellect, until at length it is imbued with some sense and perception of spiritual things. 3. Liberty in the third place consists in this, that the mind can make use of

Starting point is 10:37:56 prescribed means which are called sacred. That is, it can engage in public worship in the churches, observe the sacraments, adore God, and especially pray to him, in private. All these things are left to human minds, and they all constitute that liberty which is conceded to man, and when these sacred things are rightly employed, divine grace is never wanting, but is always present to infuse faith and love, and by its providence, so to govern man, that he can become warm with spiritual love and zeal. 4. In the fourth place, a liberty now comes

Starting point is 10:38:43 by which the mind can be delighted with spiritual things as often as it averts itself from corporeal things and submits itself to what is spiritual. For when the mind glows with spiritual zeal, the intellect is then formed, as it were, anew, and should be called a spiritual intellect, which consists in changes of state which are most universal and most perfect, and which do not belong to the sensory but to the pure intellectory.

Starting point is 10:39:15 In this case the animus with its affections yields, for the particular intellectories are parts and particulars which constitute the animus, of which if the inmost essence be purified, the common or general state will be held in obedience. but this state so far verified can never exist in the body this is the genuine state of liberty for in this state the mind relishes the supreme good and chooses that which is best in this manner the human mind is perfected and it becomes most perfected when it is most adapted to the reception of superior your loves. It is then purified and, as it were, formed anew, that is, it is renovated and regenerated, and rendered harmless and innocent, such as it is in infants whose minds are not

Starting point is 10:40:22 yet governed by any animus, but by the pure mind. Therefore, minds are to be introduced into that state in which they were prior to development and formation by the way of the senses or a posteriori for as the body in old age returns as it were into a state of infancy so also ought the mind to do and thus as it were to forget all those corporeal things which extinguish what is spiritual that is it should not be concerned about such things only so far as to be able to live prudently and perform one's duty as a member of civil society such minds almost spiritual even whilst they live in the body have their feet as it were on the threshold of heaven and of its internal felicity and for this purpose they long to be set free 374 from what has been said it appears of what nature the liberty of the first or most perfect man or adam was he enjoyed a most perfect intellect which was enkindled and animated solely by spiritual love in whom the animal mind could not as yet rebel in combat against the soul anime and the spiritual mind

Starting point is 10:41:56 for his rational mind was not instructed by the way of the senses nor was there any depraved society in existence which could irritate his mind nor the knowledge of any evil which could infest it his mind was supremely rational and was entirely subject to his soul and his soul to god thus his mind was most free because he knew what is supremely good in experiencing it, for his mind was not adapted to any other loves. Thus his entire will was most free because it was led to the best things. He could also be led to inferior or evil things, otherwise no liberty could be possible, which also experience has taught us. The ignorance of evil takes nothing away from such state of liberty, for it does not appear to have been the ignorance of evil,

Starting point is 10:42:58 but an aversion against it as being contrary to his nature, so that evil could be suggested or flow into his thought, but none could exist in his will. Thus the image of God, or the type of all spiritual loves, was manifest in his body. From him it is that we derive the propensity that as he desired to rise up against his God and to violate the laws of subordination,

Starting point is 10:43:28 so does our animal mind perpetually endeavor to do the same and to rise up in rebellion against the spiritual loves of the soul. Therefore, he of all men is the most free, who, knowing what evil is and capable of practicing it, still holds it in aversion. 375. That man who vehemently combats with himself and who bravely overcomes his corporeal desires is more free than he who never engages in any such combat, or the very use and exercise of liberty is to conquer oneself, nor can any man conquer when he has no enemy to combat. But these things we deduce from causes, or from the very nature of intellect. in which liberty resides. For he who is vehemently assaulted and impugned by corporeal loves,

Starting point is 10:44:28 that is, by temptations, may indeed admit them and harbor them in his mind. Nevertheless, if he extinguishes them before they come out into act, he restores the state of his sensory and of his intellectory, for the desires which oppose pure love change, pervert, and torment the state of the rational mind. And at that moment spiritual loves recede or are suffocated, for these spiritual loves cannot agree with either state

Starting point is 10:45:03 because they require an entire and most perfect state and they shun all imperfect states because they present nothing concordant and harmonious. but if these imperfect states are determined into act they instantly contract a nature so that the evil state spontaneously returns and passes through its vicissitudes and alternations for it is by use that we are accustomed to any form and to the changes of its state thus the tongue by usage learns its placations or foldings and the same placation returns at the first rising of a similar idea. The muscle also conforms itself only by usage to the action. But a naked endeavor, or conatus, however strong,

Starting point is 10:46:02 does not teach the mode of motion, and thus it is in other things. Our intellect, or the changes of the state of the sensory, and of the intellectory are cultivated and can be taught even to extreme old age. A naked effort or conatus can never induce a natural change in the state, but it is accustomed to relapse into its former state, and just as often that spiritual love of the soul is inflamed as with a certain zeal and warmth, and it flows in the more powerfully as,

Starting point is 10:46:42 though acknowledging the intellect as its victorious one, and so it begins to love more exceedingly its rational mind. Thus the stronger the temptations are, the greater is the joy of the soul, and the greater the reward after the victory. From these things it appears that the works of charity, although there is no merit in them, are beneficially conducive to the state of mind, since they imbue it with the faculty of receiving spiritual loves three hundred and seventy six hitherto i have spoken concerning the perfect souls in whom there are most perfect loves but there are also souls whose loves are indeed spiritual but contrary to divine love that is they love imperfections from these also a affections flow, but such as love a perverse state of mind whence contrary effects result, that concerning these souls we shall speak elsewhere.

Starting point is 10:47:54 377. Finally, the inquiry remains. Why should human minds be gifted with free will, since it is this very faculty which renders the human race most unhappy, and on account of which we are subject to infernal punishments. For from abuse of this faculty all crimes derive their origin, whereas it is thought that without such a faculty of free will, we might all be saved. But to these inquiries we thus reply. It is evident that the supreme wisdom of God requires this free will in man, and that his providence is directed chiefly in guarding and promoting this faculty, and indeed to such a degree that he will not suffer the slightest thing to interfere with it,

Starting point is 10:48:49 but he rather permits men to rush into the most abominable crimes than deprived them in the least of their free determination. This experience itself clearly shows, and nevertheless at the same time that punishment awaits every person who is wicked in his soul and mind, both in this life and and in the future. It is also allowable for us to think about the causes, since this also is conceded to our liberty of thinking, provided our confirmation be not repugnant to divine wisdom and human reason.

Starting point is 10:49:33 Four causes for the existence of free will. 1. The first cause, then, why we are gifted with free will, appears to be this. That without the liberty of thinking, judging, and acting, there could be no understanding, no intellectual life, nor could our rational mind be conscious either of good or of evil. Two, that without liberty, there could be neither virtue nor vice, and consequently nothing moral, since the rational mind is, as it were, a form, the essential determinations or determining parts of which are either virtues or vices.

Starting point is 10:50:20 3. That without liberty, nothing could be regarded as our own. Consequently, there could be no merit. Nothing either praiseworthy or blameworthy, for necessity takes away the very nature of merit. Thus, there would be nothing on account of which we could be either rewarded or punished. Without free will, there could be no favor or grace, not even from the divine being himself, nothing ought to be more free than the worship of God or religion. And this is the reason why we are commanded to believe and to love God, which from ourselves we cannot do. Nevertheless, there is something within us by which we can concur with these divine commands, and it is this concurrence alone which is required of us.

Starting point is 10:51:16 4. Without liberty, there would be no human society. There could be no society of external minds, anemorum, no society of rational minds, mintium, and of character, yea, there could be no association of bodies and no diversity. All would be either entirely equal or entirely contrary to one another, nor could there be any mutual application of one to another. Thus this, our human world, could not exist. For nature, if all things were equal, would entirely perish and be nothing, since it lives in diversity,

Starting point is 10:52:01 and indeed in a diversity of such a character that from all the varieties thence resulting, a certain harmony may exist. Five. Without liberty, there would be no enjoyments of life, for this in necessity altogether perishes. Hence it is that liberty is the essentially human delight. Six. Without liberty, there could be no diversity of souls, and consequently no heavenly society could exist, the form of whose government is celestial.

Starting point is 10:52:43 In a word, without liberty, the end of creation could not be obtained, which end consists in realizing a society of souls, or a heaven. 7. Wherefore it is perfectly consistent with the divine wisdom and with the necessity hence resulting, on account of the wisest end which is foreseen and provided for, that our minds should be endowed with liberty. and that the divine providence itself should perpetually watch over and govern in guarding this liberty and in directing it to its proper ends that is in distinguishing one thing from another even as to the minutest particulars

Starting point is 10:53:34 in order that the most perfect form of a celestial society may be the result end of section thirty three Chapter 34 of the Soul or Rational Psychology This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. chapter thirty four nineteen will and its liberty and the intellect in regard thereto three seventy eight

Starting point is 10:54:36 it is most difficult for the psychologists to explain what the will is to distinguish it rightly from the intellect and to consider clearly its parts for the will is not the intellect since we are able to wish that which is contrary to the intellect that is contrary to the truth understood or to the better conscience hence comes the art of dissimulating which so prevails in the earth we are also able to act from intellect or from the conscience of truth for the intellect itself searches for truths but will is led to act as from a certain love often without knowing whether it be a good love or not whence comes the saying i know the better and desire the worse three seventy nine but that we may know what the intellect is we must turn to those things that are below the will, of which we have a knowledge, that by comparison and a mode of correspondence we may perceive what it is. Below the rational mind, bracket, men's, end bracket, is the lower mind, bracket, animus, end bracket, and below the intellect, the five-fold sensation, or the universal sensation, which is called the perception.

Starting point is 10:56:04 Affections are attributed to the animus, as are also cupidities. Likewise, loves are attributed to the mind, men's, as also wishes, so that the cupidity of the animus corresponds to the will in the rational mind. The ardor of cupidity in the animus is called desire in the mind, men's, which is joined with the will itself. When we thus truly perceive what relation the perception holds to the animus, and also perceive the relation of the intellect to the rational mind, then also understanding the relation of the cupidities to the affections,

Starting point is 10:56:49 and of these to the mind, men's, we see the relation of the wishes, Bracket, Voluntates, end bracket, to the loves, and of these to the rational mind. 380 Now every affection has as it were its animus and particular genius, and likewise every love its own particular mind, so that its own mind is said to be in it, and as thus there are as many affections or special animi

Starting point is 10:57:25 as desires of the animus, so there are as many loves or special minds as there are wills of the mind. This parallelism occurs in other similar things, so that by mere change of terms, those things are suggested which are proper to the mind. 381. From these parallelisms flow forth as it were the synonyms, will, mind, intention, inclination. As when one says, this is your mind, your will, your intention, and so on. But no one says, this is your intellect, unless in those things which are directly subject to the operations of the intellect, 382, that we may perceive what the will is, we ought to first

Starting point is 10:58:23 separate it from the intellect, or consider the intellect abstractly from the will. Intellect viewed in itself has for its object truth, and the very essence of truth, its nature, quality, nay even the connection of truths among themselves, as well as truths in goods, as in harmonies, in affections, of the animus, in the loves of the rational mind. In a word, it extends to all things in the universe whose nature it desires to explore. It is concerned first in finding out causes from effects, or effects from causes, which is called the science of dialectics and also topics. The method itself, a priori, or from principles, is called synthetics, and that a posteriori analytics. The method itself of exploring causes is indeed analytics.

Starting point is 10:59:27 It is similar to the method, by which the intellect is produced? When the intellect is perfected, then it is possible to proceed by the synthetic way, that is from principles, which are so many truths. But truly the synthetic way in itself is of the mind, especially of the pure mind. It is then the method of the soul and of the angels who laugh at our intellect, for they have their knowledge from themselves, without science or science or demonstration. The intellect itself is beneath the mind by nature, but the rational mind ought to be

Starting point is 11:00:07 beneath the intellect. Another part of the intellect is rational logic, namely to draw conclusions from antecedents and subsequent. 383. But the mind viewed apart from the intellect is not rational, but it is all natural, and is ruled by its own desire and and from itself, for it is love, which is an operation of the soul and spiritual, which controls the mind. Loves are either those of the animus or the pure mind. These govern the rational mind, which possesses no love of its own or from itself. The mind always has an end, which may even be its principle, and which may be in its means,

Starting point is 11:00:58 and may rule everywhere, so that in a whole sea. series of means there shall be the same end. This end is viewed in the mind, and indeed as present, whether it be in things past or to come. But the mind naturally bears with it all the means which lead to that end, for nature is so formed that it may serve the mind as means while its ends are in progress. It is natural that means should be separated by time and space, but not the end, which is the same. And because the end is the same in the beginning, in the mediates, and the last, it follows that love is the end. This is desired and is promoted by the effects, so that we may perceive in the mind the same love, its complement

Starting point is 11:01:52 and ultimate end, which was in the beginning. Whence springs the pleasure of the body, when this love descends into the body. It is also possible to ascend, and there are accordingly loves of the animus or loves of the soul which control our mind, and thus are regarded as ends. The intellect viewed in itself is not mindful of any end, unless in its own mind, as, for instance, when it thinks. For what reason do I desire to know this? And it observes that there is a late cause which rules it, which is called the love of knowing truths, and which love terminates in some love in its mind. From this it appears that the intellect in itself is the instrumental cause of the superior mind, but it ought to be the principal cause in ruling the animus,

Starting point is 11:02:51 its affections, etc. 3.84. Let us now consider what the rational mind is. For as it is rational, it ought not to be carried from one end or purpose to another, naturally or spontaneously, this being known as instinct, of which instinctive mind no will can be predicated, as willing or not willing, but merely an involuntary and unconscious being born to the carrying out of its own destined ends. Thus the rational mind, which is, as it and integral sight ought to associate the intellect with itself, not only, for instance, to observe the truths of its own loves or its ends contemplated as to their quality, but also to observe what are the means and in what order they are disposed, so that the mind may pursue these ends.

Starting point is 11:03:52 For this knowledge is required a posteriori. When the mind associates with itself the intellect, it then is called rational and human. 385. The reason that the mind ought to associate the intellect with itself is because the mind is naturally born to those ends which are purely animal or of the animus, that is, to corporeal and worldly pleasures, that it should therefore be turned from these and directed towards higher ends. It is necessary that the mind adjoined the intellect to itself. The intellect ought to be the principle in controlling the cupidities of the animus,

Starting point is 11:04:39 but instrumental in the loves and desires of the superior mind. For when the mind is inclined to the affections of the body, then the intellect ought to be the most active. But when the mind inclines to spiritual, loves, the intellect will be passive. For these loves naturally disposed from themselves means to the end, since all things then flow in a provident order without the intellect, its occupation being only in rejecting and moderating the affections of its own animus. 3.86. Thus the mind regards ends as present in future things, consequently even all

Starting point is 11:05:25 intermediate ends as constituting one series or chain. For the last end or rather the last thing is not given in nature without a succession of means, nor can it be promoted without a nature in which it may, as it were, in here while the mind is intent on the effect. That the mind embraces in itself the immediate ends, while nature follows at will as an instrument, appears from the various wonderful instincts of brute animals. For the spider fabricates its own web most artificially, and fastening it under the roof tile, he places himself in the middle of it and seizes his food,

Starting point is 11:06:10 winding it in by the threads. Bees crowd their cells, filling them with honey for the winter. They hatch eggs are subject to the queen, send out colonies, kill the drones. Birds build their nests skillfully, all as it were from a most perfect intellect know all nature, science and art, mathematics, pneumatics, and anatomy. We are governed by many spontaneous activities,

Starting point is 11:06:42 such being a whole natural economy, chemistry, physics, and mechanics. The mind commands every organ and its whole nature, and our intellect, after the examinations of so many centuries, is not able to discover how it acts. Even the brain itself, today, lies hidden from our knowledge. Thus, while our rational mind is acting through the will, we are still so ignorant that we do not know what the will truly is and how it acts. 3.87.

Starting point is 11:07:19 Thus, the loves of the superior or pure mind do not need our own. intellect for attaining its ends, but the ends naturally follow the love of the mind when the love is pure. The intellect is only able to affect this, that the mind shall rest in the determining of those ends, which are the loves purely corporeal, since the loves of the body, if they are the instrumental causes of the superior mind, then flow in natural order. The intellect ought also to be interested in advancing superior ends actively, but so long as society is otherwise being carried away by so many different cupidities, it is enough that it should abstain from those things by which it is led astray.

Starting point is 11:08:12 The rest belongs to Providence, which operates secretly through our minds, flowing into actions. All things from them may. and by providence follow the purely good mind to its immortal felicity. All things from themselves and by providence follow the purely evil mind to its infallicity. But pure evils are not given in the rational mind, for in that case it would be given over to its own body and the animus which the mind loves. But let us return to the will. The will in general signifies mind, specifically some special mind or determined love,

Starting point is 11:09:02 and because the mind comprehends in itself all immediate ends, also it perceives what opposes and what does not oppose the attainment of its ends, wherefore the rational mind derives the means from its own intellect, and it disposes them in the natural order, also more methodically as the mind, is more perfect and better. In this arrangement of means there are as many parts of the mind as there are of the intellects, namely cogitation, judgment, and conclusion. The mind thinks, while it resolves and considers the means and at the same time has in view the end to which it tends. It judges when it disposes the means into their true order, in which it,

Starting point is 11:09:53 means it regards the ends which are to follow spontaneously. At length it concludes or wishes. This conclusion is called the will. For then all those things are in the will, as in an equation which before were in the thought. Thus the will possesses all the essentials of action, as the effort, all the essentials of motion. This conclusion is, different from the intellectual conclusion in which there is no will for the end is not that of acting but of knowing what is true and thus instructing the mind what end it ought to love what to wish and what to avoid thus our intellect is able to propose ends but god provides three eighty nine thus the mind with its thinking

Starting point is 11:10:55 and judging of means is always present in the will, and it contemplates the action itself in the will as present. But because it also at the same time regards oppositions and resistances, partly from its own intellect, partly from itself naturally, the will is not able to be determined into action unless the resistances are removed. Just as an effort which is always bent upon an evil the moment obstacles are removed rushes forth to its indulgence 390 there are as many wills as there are ends even the intermediate ends themselves are wills thus action is a perpetual will and rational action ceases when the will ceases and such as the will is such as the action in man but in brutes such as in the action such as the will, which is the same with the cupidity of their animus. This cupidity is controlled by a kind of mind purely natural, but not by a spiritual mind.

Starting point is 11:12:09 3.91. The will always desires to expand its own internal censories, as effort always desires to expand itself, just as in atmospheres compressed and held an equilibrium by surroundings or even as if held in cords but it is coerced by surrounding things or by so many intermediates in which it is involved which resist but in case they do not resist the will is immediately brought to open action thus will is joined to effort and action to the motion as a spiritual to its natural or the end to its effect wherefore it is not only a correspondence, but a real coupling, and thus the will can be called rational effort. For life added to nature becomes that which is called animal.

Starting point is 11:13:08 3.92. While the mind is in its own will, it is then limited and determined particularly or specifically, and is present in certain fibers of the body, which pertain namely to the action which it has in view. Consequently, it is determined within in certain internal sensors or cortical glands to which the moving fibers correspond, especially the brain from which it contemplates the action of the body as if present. But in those resistances which are in and which, as it were, surround the will, it contemplates delay, thus in time and space, or in that nature itself,

Starting point is 11:13:53 through which the end is to be obtained. Thus it is a faculty of the rational mind to regard as times and spaces these same delays, degrees, and movements of nature, or its salarities and distances. Thus, solerity of time corresponds to the idea of time and distance of place to the idea of space, as also succession to the idea of motion.

Starting point is 11:14:29 393. That the will may proceed into action, the equation it contains must be resolved particularly and by members, just so as when we wish to resolve a problem in algebra or its equation into its ratios and analogies by numbers in a row. or by figures in geometry. 394. When the will thus breaks forth into act, it is called the determination of the act,

Starting point is 11:15:02 and thus a form similar to that in the will is determined in actions. The determination itself arises through the expansion and contraction of the cortical glands, through which the animal spirit is forced into the nervous fibers, and from these into the moving powers of the body whence such an action exists as was in the will thus the mind can go through one fibre after another and one muscle after another with whatever celerity it desires for the muscular system is so articulated and formed that it may correspond to each determination of the rational mind three ninety five the will also at once recurs with its accustomed spontaneity, because the mind acquires its own mutations of state through use and culture, and thus it reverts spontaneously to a similar idea. For all things on the way have by the same use become so natural that, like instrumental causes, they serve their principle or chief. 3.96

Starting point is 11:16:18 Since thus the will is the rational effort and carries with it this nature of desiring to expand its censories, but in a way determined into the form of an action, we next inquire how this is physically accomplished in the common sensory, or what is the mutation of state in the sensory when the mind is in its own will. It is not like the mutation in the ideas of its own intellect, which are as many as the mutations of state. Very different is the case with the will and its love and desires. For in the determination of certain censories which the will desires to expand, in order to produce its actions, weaker or stronger, a form of forces then exists which is similar to a form of modes or of modifications consisting in mere attempts to expand its own glanjules.

Starting point is 11:17:22 Thus the will can exist and subsist both separately and together with the mutations of the intellect, and thus the physical cause of the will seems to be made intelligible. But as concerns that liberty which is commonly ascribed to the will, this derives its origin from the fact that we say that we are able to will and not to will to determine this to action and not to determine it to wish against the better conscience or persuasion of the intellect thus to stimulate to deceive and to contrive wiles but in this case the nearest cause of the action is taken for the remote as is often done in various other things. This is the reason why the will is commonly accepted

Starting point is 11:18:19 for the intention and for the mind itself. But while the mind thinks and judges concerning means, it is able to vary some, to select others, to change its own mind, yea, even its ends, but all this through the aid

Starting point is 11:18:37 of the intellect, which is able to consult, so that the mind and the intellect, are in this cogitation, for the most part conjoined, but afterwards they are parted according as the love and will, like a cupidity of the mind carry it away. Thus the mind is able to introduce other means and other ends to its own will, as in a conclusion, even to change those that have been presented to it,

Starting point is 11:19:08 to multiply, to divide, to withdraw them, even to the taking away of the whole will and the substituting of a new one, according as it foresees success. For this reason, when the mind associates itself with the intellect, then liberty can be predicated of it, as there is no liberty if it is carried away by its loves. Liberty, therefore, is predicated of the will,

Starting point is 11:19:38 for the mind is able to judge the whole progress of, means. When, how, and how far these shall be determined into act. 3.98. But indeed, if we look closer into this liberty, it does not seem to be separated from the liberty of the intellect or from the free will, but coupled with it. Without the liberty of the intellect, there would be no liberty of the mind. But the liberty of the mind consists solely in this, that it is able to be. to obey and not to obey its own intellect.

Starting point is 11:20:19 399. Meanwhile, there is a universal will, which is composed of the particular wills which subsist beneath it. There is a common will, which is composed of other wills as its parts. This will is then called mind. There is a general will, a special and an individual will, so that the will may be divided into genera and species. There is a will subordinate to another,

Starting point is 11:20:52 and a will coordinate with others, exactly as has before been predicated of the intellect. For there are as many intermediate ends and as many wills as there are means. In a word, all will has respect to an effect in which is an end, thence to a future event. 400.

Starting point is 11:21:19 No liberty and no will is left to the soul so long as it remains in the body, for it does not act from any previous deliberation, since all science and all intellect are conate with it, and it is itself science and pure intelligence. Thus it has not to consult any intellect and associate itself with it, because it is by nature associated and most closely conjoined with it. Of its own nature it then flows into the sphere of the rational mind, and its operations are so many spiritual loves,

Starting point is 11:21:57 which are kindled when the loves of the body and the world are removed, but under other circumstances become cold. The soul also is held to act according to the will of the rational mind, for the rational mind is not able to produce any action from itself. This belongs to the soul as to the principal cause, and indeed necessarily, for unless the soul should thus condescend, the whole corporeal machine would go to pieces, and the censories themselves would be broken up. But whether it be with its nature or against it,

Starting point is 11:22:39 it must consent to action and thus either love its mind or hate it this is the reason why no one knows the state of his mind except god himself end of chapter thirty four section thirty five of the soul or rational psychology this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to fall in here, please visit Libravox.org The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 35 20 Discourse 401

Starting point is 11:23:39 Discourse or the explanation of intellectual ideas through material ideas which are just so many words when suri's speech and conversation does not result through influx but through correspondence just as when hearing passes into the sight thus just so many mutations of the state of the sensory are formed to each of which correspond certain forces or expansions of those corticles which command the very muscles of the tongue this correspondence comes through use and culture for whether an idea of the mind is to be pronounced in one way or in another nevertheless the correspondence between the idea and the word remains four hundred and two the action of the tongue however cannot be accomplished without the will for will is the beginning of action just as the beginning of motion is effort wherefore the idea has to be carried from the thought into the will and this is the joint operation as much of the intellect as the mind thus the whole thought is as it were carried to the conclusion which thus coincides with the will four hundred and three but still it appears in discourse how distinct are the intellect and the mind for speech or conversation are the intellect talking through the connection of material ideas or words and their different dispositions conjunctions and the verbs active passive simple and compound qualities which are partly occult

Starting point is 11:25:27 a form is produced which can be understood by the rational mind and thus be elevated from the sphere of inferior ideas into that of higher ones where the mind ceases upon and understands a certain inner sense which does not appear in its true meaning except through the connection itself just described the mind however is present with its own loves and excites the very conversation and as it were vivifies not only the sound, but even supplies the more ardent words. Especially does it break forth into gesture, into the expression of the face and the forms of action, which are images of the mind itself. Thus from the speech itself, it may generally be clearly seen what kind of an animus lies hidden within,

Starting point is 11:26:20 however much it may stimulate, for it is likely to be kindled by the thought and speech itself, dwelling long upon one subject. 404. From discourse it appears of what nature is the communication of the intellect and the mind, especially what is natural and what spontaneous to the mind and to the intellect. But this matter is extremely prolix. These subjects have been but little thought out.

Starting point is 11:26:54 Human Prudence 405 Human prudence, which is sometimes called the providence of the rational mind, consists chiefly in discovering and arranging means to a good end, so that the end may follow spontaneously as it were, after the example of nature, or that the disposition and ordering of the means may be as it were a natural one. Nor does it seem to take its rise from any previous intellect, since it presupposes in itself an intellect disciplined and more perfect as also a mind which is in accord with such an intellect nor does the end reveal the intention

Starting point is 11:27:40 the prudence is greater in the degree that the end is better for what prudence allows it supposes to be good or at least in the intellect it is true or truly good that prudence may be of the highest character it is requisite it that the best end may be sought for as the preservation of society or of one's country, of religion, of the divine glory, and similar things. Then when man proposes, God disposes, or divine providence, concurs with human providence. The mind in this case proceeds no end except in intermediate, not even the last, unless in the last there is that which is first. He who arrives at this last in which is the first, perceives all ends as intermediates. His prudence does not need to be active of itself.

Starting point is 11:28:35 It is rather rendered active from a superior love, and the means are present, as if of themselves. 4.6. Prudence is required as long as human minds are so very different, some inclining to evil, others to good. and without these various minds there would be no means for advancing an end for every man is an instrumental cause and the means of some superior end for even evil minds can be of use in attaining a good end often a devil in forwarding the best end as when judas inspired by the devil betrayed the messiah but this is done not by command but by consent for infinite means are given to a single so that it is not necessary to seek such evil means, but only to admit them by consent.

Starting point is 11:29:33 4707 Human prudence extends itself to all actions in civil life, especially in evil society or among the wicked, both in protecting themselves and in furthering those things which look to the safety of society. But there is a civil as well as a moral prudence, even universal. and particular, and there are its genera and species. Simulation and dissimulation 408 Things whether true or false are to be simulated or dissimulated

Starting point is 11:30:11 exactly according to the genius of the age, or according to human inclination or circumstances, all of which are motives of prudence. Malicious and cunning methods are employed when men's minds, including toward evil thus it is that simulation is a virtue and also a vice since the object is the attainment of an end and the means must be regarded according to the quality of the end for deeds take their impress from the will therefore the noblest acts of charity love and benevolence are evil if they are assumed for the purpose of deceiving so in all other things four hundred and nine simulation and dissimulation are always the external form of the mind consequently of the body the internal form which is hidden still remaining

Starting point is 11:31:08 dissimulation is a crime if we feign virtues externally or if we pretend to have a mind filled with the most perfect love for the purpose of attaining some very imperfect end or love as for instance if when our mind is in the desire of revenge we should feign friendship or when pitiless compassion or when impious piety the vice of simulation is always the greater as the loves which are represented are better ones such pretenders are the world's actors and the real comedians of the theatre simulation and dissimulation become a virtue if we conceal our good ends while they flow as it were spontaneously through the means of prudence, yea, even if we should feign evil things externally when among evil persons, so long nevertheless as this does not flow from the end most, and through their own inclinations should insinuate ourselves into their minds. Still, after becoming friends and brothers worthy of confidence,

Starting point is 11:32:19 their animus cannot yet be turned to good, but this art cannot be described in its innumerable features since its methods are countless and all unlike four hundred and ten it is to be observed that there is no affection of the animus which does not show itself in the body either in the face the actions by gesture or by speech and even in the very eyes the art of simulation consists chiefly in this that the countenance and external forms that the countenance and external forms differ from the internal and we assume an expression which fits the contrary affection then also that we produce from the intellect reasons which are confirmatory so that the expression may be believed to be genuine four hundred eleven from these things it follows that to the intellect is given the power and the right of commanding the will of the mind but not the mind itself for the mind rules universally in in the will but the intellect favouring it admits and connects the means which tend to that end which the mind continually contemplates so that there can be one change of the state of the ideas of the intellect and another of the will and so separated may they be that one may remain after the other is changed for a change of state is one thing and a concourse of expansion determined to certain censories is that another cunning and malice four hundred and twelve cunning exists when the ends of evil are attained craftily under the appearance of good

Starting point is 11:34:08 as under a pretense of honesty of virtue of public safety of religion or by semblance of some kind of love for others or through some deception by which we flatter the cupidities or wishes of another and this knowingly and with intention. The cunning is the greater if the end itself, even though it be depraved, is veiled over by something like to the above, and appears to some minds as a thing to be approved, which is done by an intellectual coloring, making the affair to appear comely.

Starting point is 11:34:45 Sometimes this becomes the genius of an entire age, and it prevails among republics and kingdoms, whose officers are praised in the degree that they deceive others with more subtle arts, while nevertheless a semblance of honesty remains. For cunning never regards any end as terminable or ultimate, but only as a means. It would be much too prolix to enumerate the various arts it practices. It prevails among minor societies, between individual associates, and a perfect friendship itself is often used as its guise the very crafty man is a friend to no one but himself and he loves himself best of all this is at this day termed prudence while others term it sincerity or simplicity

Starting point is 11:35:41 four hundred and thirteen malice however exists when no virtue is feigned or when one does evil from nature itself in the absence of all virtue and honesty, and pretends that it would be acting against nature if one did not act contrary to the better conscience. Thus, such a one is touched by no shame for crime committed and by no fear of punishment. The wicked man is one who knows at the same time that he hates truths and virtues. The cunning man does not hate virtues, but prefers his own depraved loves to virtue, and he gradually convinces himself that his vices are virtues, and he strengthens his conscience by carefully chosen arguments, since habit and all exercises of the brain lead on the animus and make the changes of the rational mind to seem like natural ones.

Starting point is 11:36:43 Sincarity 414 Sincarity is the opposite of simulation and feigning inasmuch as it speaks what it thinks sincerity may exist in both the good and the evil there may be a praiseworthy sincerity even when the inclinations are evil because it is a token of a truth misunderstood or of a mind not intending to deceive such a one may be the friend of all it grows out of the principle that feigning is a vice or from a principle of honesty or else from the habit of not wearing a false face it is never admitted as a trusted friend in the company of the wicked justice and equity four hundred and fifteen our intellect not only arranges in order thinks and meditates but it also judges and concludes and in particular instance is governed by judgment and decision. But still the intellect is governed by the mind and its desires, which cause that desirable motives be insinuated more readily into the judgment

Starting point is 11:37:56 than those which are distasteful. Since therefore there are as many judgments because there are as many wills and desires as there are minds, it follows that the minds themselves are unable to act in the midst of so many decisions. In order, therefore, that there be someone to judge more truly than others, there must be justice. Thus it must exist among many when they themselves disagree, and it must appertain to everything which ever comes into our thought. 416. Thus in all things, where form, order, laws exist, in oneself and his mind, in large and smaller societies, and in large and smaller societies,

Starting point is 11:38:44 in kingdoms, there are constant discussions, litigations and controversies, whence results civil and natural laws, jurisprudence, judges, kings, magistrates, and other institutions. Also in the sciences, all things are employed in disputing concerning what is good and truth, and each person is drawn into the opinion to which his mind and animus carry him, and if the mind were not ruled by the animus and its desires man would know from himself what is just and equal and a perpetual harmony would rule ignorance persuasion and presumption pervert minds as also do political artifices but were there no self-love there would be no need of a code of justice four hundred and seventeen since therefore there exists that which is true and good and just in itself this is perfect in god who is truth itself goodness itself and justice itself the conscience also dictates justice less therefore any one should act contrary to his better conscience and do what is unjust and so destroy the commonwealth and himself he is subjected to a public punishment as to his body or possessing

Starting point is 11:40:08 or he is hindered by misfortunes permitted by providence or by the pangs of conscience or fears in regard to his soul and eternity all these things restrain the mind lest it should rush headlong into all manner of crimes and for this reason there are punishments for the abolition and extirpation of evil four hundred and eighteen equity truly corresponds to equilibrium in nature when the natural equilibrium is disturbed disordered motion takes place and nature is as it were confounded and each thing awkwardly stirs up acts upon and destroys its neighbor hence by the more perfect and purer forces which are within they are reduced again to their equilibrium so likewise in our body and in human society when dissensions are adjusted we call it a state of equity or as it were of equilibrium each one rendering to another that which is his and taking from another that which is not his etc knowledge intelligence wisdom four hundred and nineteen we have a knowledge scientia of all those things which are in any manner insinuated into and held by the memory these are usually insinuated immediately by ways of the senses especially by the sense of sight and hearing it also is acquired through teachers and through books containing all the sciences of things also by one's own reflection and the discovery of some new truth or principle which is termed the offspring of ingenuity

Starting point is 11:42:03 therefore he is a scientific man a doctor or one of the learned who is acquainted with many sciences experiments and histories and can rehearse all these he is to be believed to be intelligent but these two things do not always go together a very little child can be among the most knowing because it can repeat whole books by memory when nevertheless it does not follow that it is intelligent knowledge has to be acquired by mankind with beasts it is conite but it is not reproduced in like manner not only can material things be retained in the memory but also things purely intellectual as of philosophy and the deductions of logic many of which can be reduced into one and so forth and thus the memory can be filled with all things four hundred and twenty intelligence is the being able to reduce the things of memory into perfect order and into perfect forms thence to draw forth truths to scrutinize hidden things and to conclude as to present things from the past that is to be a philosopher as it were from birth there are many parts of philosophy and physics into which one penetrates from the things of the memory, from his own intellect. As he has penetrated, and from himself through reflection, possesses many truths in his memory, he is intelligent, for in the intellect

Starting point is 11:43:44 concur the pure intellectory, and a certain superior natural principles, such as will instruct the very ideas of the memory to rightly consortiate. That is, to coordinate and subordinate themselves into their proper forms, and in this principle there is present in itself all science, universally. Without this, there would be no intellect, that is, without a natural logic, dialectics, topics, grammar, mechanics, acoustics, optics, etc. For with everyone, there is inborn a certain natural law. Only the particular ideas are wanting which this law may, reduce to order. The more apt one is, in making these deductions for himself, for the difference in this regard is immense, in that degree is he the more intelligent. There are very many

Starting point is 11:44:42 persons who only feign intelligence, in that they pass off for their own numerous intellectual things which they have acquired from doctrine, and also the conceptions and discoveries of others. there are also those who cannot become intelligent owing to their want of a knowledge of things or their ignorance for these wander as it were in darkness but still they exhibit a gift of ingenuity in those things which they do know the intellect always increases with age and is called judgment or the possession of the mature judgment a great many differences occur in its development for a man can be intelligent in one line of study and not in another, and it is rarely that a man is intelligent in all things. However, it may be only application that is wanting. Wisdom 421

Starting point is 11:45:40 He is wise who in all things has regard to an end, chooses the best, enjoys properly his own liberty, embracing those things which ought to embrace, and shunning those things which ought to be shunned. the wise man is always honest or a lover of all that is virtuous he considers himself as a part of the whole he imposes obligations on himself from a sense of duty he subjugates the animus and suffers the pure mind to act the wise man loves corporeal and worldly things for the sake of uses as means in other respects and in their abuse he despises them the wise man loves intelligence as a means but otherwise or if it leads the mind into air he hates it intelligence and wisdom are rarely conjoined so long as intelligence is very imperfect and erroneous excusing the follies of the insane mind and justifying and obedience to bodily desires for this takes away wisdom the wisest of men is he who loves his neighbour as himself society as many selves and god more than himself and according to this directs his actions which are regarded as means so far as he departs from this rule so far does he depart from wisdom the wise man is known not from his speech but from the direction of his life a rustic can be wiser than the greatest philosopher for wisdom

Starting point is 11:47:19 is divine, while intelligence called philosophy is human, and it frequently happens that the one recedes and diminishes in the degree that the other advances and grows. It is the wise alone who are truly loved by sincere men and by God. To these does the divine providence open a way of assent. There are those who are wise in nature, like those who have a native sense of honor. Some are wise from experience and some from their intellect. If by the intellect, wisdom has inspired intelligence and intelligence in its turn, wisdom. Wisdom is therefore a faculty of the mind and not of the pure intellect. Causes changing the state of the intellect and the rational mind,

Starting point is 11:48:10 or perverting and perfecting causes. 422. There are conate causes. which derive their origin from the state of the soul itself, and also from its formation in the maternal womb. These are acquired causes, as from neglect of cultivation. There are causes originating in the animus, and some finely in the body,

Starting point is 11:48:38 but the mind is variously affected respectively as to knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. 423 Konek causes, are those which flow from the soul itself. This is because the soul of the progeny is derived from the soul of the parent, whose nature is transferred into the progeny. No wholly similar state of the soul is given to the state of another. The soul constructs its own organism after its own image. So also does it form the nature of the rational mind or its faculty, which is the reason why children are so much

Starting point is 11:49:20 like their parent in animus, and why frequently the grandfather is reproduced in the grandson. The soul of everyone is a spiritual form, and the loves of the mind itself are spiritual, but the difference of persons consists in this, that one loves, another hates. The soul of a divine nature loves the celestial society and God, but the soul of a diabolical nature hates,

Starting point is 11:49:50 the celestial society and God. Thus are the loves opposite in the soul itself, and as often as the spiritual mind flows into the sphere of the rational mind, it follows that contrary loves are insinuated. Thus some are born for wisdom, and some for insanity. But this insanity does not prevent the mind from being highly intelligent and becoming scientific, erudite, and learned, even to knowing better than others what wisdom is, while it is at the same time held in aversion, for all are born to intelligence, but not all to wisdom. Those who are born to wisdom are called the elect or chosen ones.

Starting point is 11:50:39 424. Causes conate through the formation in the material, womb the soul itself is from the parent or rather the inmost determination of that human form which afterwards is procreated or conceived in its own remarkable manner for the soul is introduced immediately by the parent with its pure intellectory in which similar substances are procreated in order and the mother furnishes in the ovum every external form for the use of the soul and supplies all that the liquors may contain and because the maternal censories communicate most closely with the embryo it follows that the child may assume a mixed genius of the mother and of the father for while the soul of the father is in the offspring the animus is of both father and mother. From these things it follows that according to the accidental and natural mutations of the animus in the mother, the organism itself of the internal sensory can undergo changes. Thus, for example, the memory may be more apt for the reception of objects or for knowing them

Starting point is 11:51:57 and then understanding them, for all the faculties depend upon the form itself and its relation to those things adjoined, superior, and inferior. Besides, the maternal nutriment, which the embryo imbibes, may be affected by a morbid constitution. Likewise, accidents may occur in gestation itself, as compressions, contusions, and things of such a nature, or to the newborn infant through the carelessness of the midwife or nurse, also through the or by various accidents neglect or malice it may be brought about that the rational mind cannot be perfectly developed or that it inherits some natural imperfection but whatsoever evil it thus derives is external and not an internal vice of the soul itself which is thus rendered incapable of operating into its own proximate organs and through these into the more remote four twenty five among acquired causes the chief one is that the mind is not improved or that it is not rightly cultivated thus when it is not cultivated by knowledges or when its cultivation is not in the natural order

Starting point is 11:53:18 those things being forced upon it to which it does not naturally incline or out of their own proper succession also when the mind is not excited by a love of perfecting itself for the love or ambition to excel others in knowledge intelligence and wisdom especially contributes to the perfection of the mind and in very many this ambition can be aroused but when the mind is not cultivated it remains in the state of its own ignorance since without ideas of the memory and imagination the rational mind will in vain endeavour to develop its own nature and produce its proper faculty for the mind is like an artisan who does not know how to work without instruments, and the intellect is a principal cause, and the memory and thence the imagination is the instrumental cause. Thus in the most illiterate peasant, whose mind is instructed in no science,

Starting point is 11:54:22 there may be a greater than the prince of philosophers. For thus the greatest endowments and the loftiest genius, frequently lie buried in the most obscure minds, and often are by a singular providence brought into light. In the meantime, they appear as dry sponges, as dregs, and a sterile field overgrown with thorns. 426. There are causes originating in the animus. It is evident that the animus, either naturally or by habits, or by some cause, as by misfortune, two excessive joys or by bodily disorders can become diseased and desire things not desirable, overshadowing the intellect of its own mind, being unwilling to admit anything which does not flatter this special animus, and rejecting not only intelligence itself, but also wisdom, and holding them

Starting point is 11:55:25 in hatred. Such believe in everything which agrees with this love. In a word, in so far as the animus wishes to rule over the pure mind in our rational mind so far it prevents the mind from becoming perfect since these loves are what distract and disturb the mind and make it sick neither do they only disturb it but they obscure it with a kind of ignorance just as do pride and haughtiness avarice and other base loves hence comes a contempt of the sciences of intelligence and of wisdom. The animus also infects the animal and sanguinary spirits and diffuses widely its own poison, for the animus immediately flows into the form of the body, and thence corporeal causes are aroused,

Starting point is 11:56:21 which combined operations destroy the life of the mind. 427. Corporeal causes are many, as the various diseases. which afflict the humors, especially the red and the purer blood or animal spirit. These diseases are innumerable, for many diseases pollute the blood. All things causing disease will therefore cause destruction of the mind, thus bad nutriment, poisons, drink, and every kind of intemperance,

Starting point is 11:56:57 since the vitiated blood draws deanimous apart and consequently the mind. for the animus naturally depends upon its own intellections and the form of the common intellectory, but externally it also depends upon the state of the pure blood or the animal spirit, which if diseased, drives the mind to insanity, even to delirium. But on the blood being restored to health, the mind returns to its normal state, from which it follows that these changes of state are external. and not internal. How this happens can be demonstrated,

Starting point is 11:57:38 for through the sensories or cortical glands, as from the arterial vessels into the fibers, there flows continually the blood spirit, such is the quality of the blood spirit, spiritus sanguinarius, that if it is too warm, too cold, too thin, too sluggish, too watery,

Starting point is 11:58:00 or mixed with heterogeneous or homogeneous particles, it will remain in this cavity of the gland, either not flowing in or not flowing out. Then the sensory is unable to pass through its change of state, and hence it can produce nothing from its memory it can neither imagine nor think. Besides, it can be excited internally as well as externally into absurd and irregular motions by heterogeneous causes, whence come deliriums.

Starting point is 11:58:34 Similar things take place in burning fevers, an apoplexy, epileptic fits, paralytic strokes, incatalpsy, tarantismus, loss of memory in cartoral disorders, and in other troubles. These are the ordinary bodily causes. There are also extraordinary, extraordinary, causes which injure the cerebrum itself, and thus the common sensory or the external form of the sensory, as inflicted wounds, water on the brain, inward tumors, the innumerable like things, some of which can be cured and others not, that the reasoning power of the mind or the human intellect and likewise the affections undergo at the same time noticeable changes, as confirmed by

Starting point is 11:59:27 daily experience. 428. From these causes which diminish or destroy the executive faculty of the mind, it can be judged what are the causes which perfect the same faculty, for from an examination of particulars, a knowledge of contrary's flows. In the meantime, this care is most incumbent upon, that there should be a sound mind in a sound body. or that the body and the animus should only be so indulged that the mind shall always remain sane end of section thirty five

Starting point is 12:00:10 section thirty six of the soul or rational psychology this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox dot org the soul or rational psychology by emmanuel swedenberg translated by frank sewell eighteen thirty seven to nineteen fifteen and others section thirty six chapter twenty one part one the spiritual loves or the loves of the soul number four hundred and twenty nine that we may know of what kind are the affections and love that we may know of what kind are the affections and loves of the rational mind it is necessary that we consider not only the affections of the animus concerning which we have just now treated but also the loves of the super eminent affections of the soul these are called superior the former inferior the latter spiritual and the former purely natural or corporeal because the rational mind does not possess any loves of its own but is obliged to be ruled and drawn here and there either by spiritual or superior loves of the soul or by the corporeal inferior loves of the animus therefore it is necessary that we should know what and of what nature are the loves of the soul or rather of our spiritual mind for thence flow the virtues and vices which are the essential determination of the human mind.

Starting point is 12:02:06 Four hundred and thirty, all loves of the soul which may be called the eminent or spiritual affections are universal, and they embrace in themselves in minutest particulars in potency all the affections in general, which are able to exist specially or in a part. From a certain universal love, as if from their own fountainhead, flow all special and particular loves like Brooks. They cannot manifest themselves in any place except in the animus and the mind, in which they are determined into certain genera or certain species, all of which look to a certain universal love in the soul, from which when they descend as streams, they are on the way liable to be defiled by imperfections, which are adjoined to nature, and so they

Starting point is 12:03:00 scarcely know that they are derived from so pure of fount. The animus derives its power of desiring or of loving from its own soul, but the power of loving in one manner and not in another it derives from its form, as also from its connection with the soul by means of the rational mind. Therefore, the effect of almost all science is to be able to subordinate particular under special loves and these under general ones are to arrange them into their own classes and to perceive in what manner they flow from universal or spiritual loves this is the true psychological and pneumatical science four hundred and thirty one all souls are purely spiritual forms thus all their minds and loves are purely spiritual whether they are good or even if they are very spiritual whether they are good or even if they are all souls are purely spiritual For the spirit, whether it be good or evil, is nevertheless purely a spirit or purely a mind,

Starting point is 12:04:06 and it has loves purely spiritual, that is, universal, in which are contained the principles of the inferior and purely natural loves. The good angel, as the evil angel or devil, is purely a spirit, and the loves of both are purely spiritual, with this difference, that what the good spirit purely loves is contrary to what an evil spirit loves, or is what he is said to hate. For there exist pure love and pure hate, which are purely contrary loves. Thus there are spiritual loves good and evil,

Starting point is 12:04:44 but they are all universal, superior, and belong to the soul, and are most perfectly good or evil. But because good and evil, as truth and falsity, are opposites, and in one subject there may exist a mixture of good and evil and truth and falsity, owing to that mixture in accordance with the received habit of speaking, that which is not purely good is called impure, or that which is purely evil, very impure. So love is preeminently known as the love of good.

Starting point is 12:05:21 Although there is a love of evil, which from its own nature is conjoined with the hatred of good. But lest we may produce confusion of ideas in the following parts, we propose to use the expression the mind and the purely spiritual love, but not the pure mind, or the pure spiritual love. For on account of acquired ideas, we are scarcely able to discern that that is impure which is not purely good or purely true. Strictly speaking, all that is impure, is mixed with imperfections below itself so that the human rational mind is never pure. The love of being above oneself. 432

Starting point is 12:06:10 The first and supreme spiritual love or love of the soul and the most universal is the love of a being above oneself from whom it has derived its essence and perpetually does derive it in which through which and on account of which being it is and lives. This love is the first of all, because nothing can exist and subsist from itself except God, who exists in himself and alone is who is. Because the soul feels this in itself, the supreme love is innate in it, and thus the very divine love is in us. 433. There exists a purely contrary love, yet it is spiritual and supreme, or a pure hatred of divine power or of a being above self. This love is called diabolic. From this we may recognize of what quality good love is, and from the good of what quality the evil is, for there exists infinitely different immediate loves. this love is called the love of evil the evil mind itself such as it is the mind of certain souls for the soul of no one is absolutely similar to that of another nor ought it to be similar

Starting point is 12:07:37 that there may be a society of souls and the most perfect form of a society the evil spirit or the diabolic mind even feels in itself that there is a being above itself from which which is a spirit or the diabolic mind even feels in itself that there is a being above itself from which it has derived its own essence, that that being is to be loved above self and the love to be testified by adoration. But although it recognizes, nevertheless it disdains and envies it and rebels against its own consciousness and hates the very truth that it is so, and thus it loves self above that being whence there is a perpetual incurable hatred such that he would wish to destroy himself a thousand times, if only at the same time he could destroy that superior being, both without himself and in himself, which cannot be destroyed. The conscience of such

Starting point is 12:08:36 a mind is in anguish when it is doing nothing contrary to the better conscience, and it so acts because it hates the truth most deeply and from its very nature, and would perpetually love to destroy it. There are certain rational minds which seem to be images of this spiritual mind. May such not be the state of their soul? The love of a friend as oneself. 434. The love of a friend as oneself, or where there exists a love of another equal to that of oneself, is a spiritual love, for the soul or spiritual mind recognizes another soul and mind as an associate and one of a society or divine kingdom. This flows from the nature of things, as well as from the first or most eminent of all loves. 435.

Starting point is 12:09:36 From nature One or apart by itself is as if nothing unless it has relation to many things. things with which it is, then exist a certain form of such things and the affections of form. There is no harmony unless it is of many united, and by virtue of the manner in which these are united among themselves. Thus there is no felicity of souls, unless of many together, no form and conjunction unless through love, and through love of another as oneself. whatever is in another is communicated to oneself and appropriated as one's own thence results a multiplied felicity of all which is concentrated in each one four hundred and thirty six from divine love whoever loves a friend as himself does not do so on account of the friend but for the image of himself in that friend and when the love is reciprocal

Starting point is 12:10:43 on account of the image of that one in himself, so that that one becomes a participant of that love and of the thence resulting felicity, and thus the harmony of all the friends who constitute the whole society may transcribe its joy and happiness into oneself, and from oneself in whom the idea of the whole is concentrated into each, and thus into all. by this means a felicity beyond all power to describe and inmost even a divine felicity is excited

Starting point is 12:11:22 and since that love is not towards self or society principally but towards a being above self to whom one is united by love one loves the friend through love towards him with whom he desires to be united and who resides in mostly in the friend this super eminent or divine love which extends itself to the universal society of souls and pours out that very felicity from its own essence cannot help produce this as its first effect that one loves that companion who like oneself also is love that companion who like oneself also is love loved by the divine, so that they cannot otherwise be united than by a conjoined love towards him who loves both with his own love, wherefore that very conjunction resulting from love descends solely from a common love of a superior, which is the common universal, and hence the particular bond of all. Spiritual love towards a companion extends itself so far as not to hate even a devil, but the evil which is in him, and if he were curable he would love him,

Starting point is 12:12:38 but as it is he only pities him. Therefore the most universal spiritual love is the love of a being above oneself. From this descends the love towards a friend, for the individual loves of friends are united by a supreme love, and from this they are derived. These individual loves taken together constitute that universal love, which is divine. 437. There is a contrary love, spiritual as well as natural, or a pure hatred of others and love of oneself alone. This love is diabolical, and it follows naturally from the hatred towards a superior, or God. whatever joins the minds of friends this disjoins for those impelled by it seek to cast down that superior beneath themselves and they cast him down in themselves consequently all those who are his and are in him whom they judge inferior to themselves it declares itself rather their god regarding itself as the universal or as omnipotent or of such a quality

Starting point is 12:13:55 in itself as God is. Consequently, all things which subsist from God are subject to itself. Wherefore, these do not love their companions unless they agree with their projects and are minded as themselves, not from love, but from a likeness of will to accomplish an end.

Starting point is 12:14:16 But because there is no universal or superior hatred by which the minds of those who hate may be conjoined, there is no regulation society, but one is armed against the other, for they have their very essences in hatred, and all that they love is vice. Thus, in this same hatred remain their soul and life, and one rushes to the destruction of another and tortures another. These results follow as simple consequences. From these statements it is manifest of what kind the intermediate love is, for there are infinite differences between the pure love and the pure hatred of those who are associated.

Starting point is 12:15:02 To love society as many selves. 438. The love of many, of society, of country, of the human race, is not above that of self in the ratio in which is love towards God, but is greater than that of self in an arithmetical or geometrical ratio or proportion. It becomes so by simple addition or multiplication. In an arithmetical ratio, if love increases according to number, in a geometrical one, if according to number and the greater and smaller societies, while at the same time their sums increase.

Starting point is 12:15:44 But love is elevated above self, as an inferior power is to a higher power. For example, as a root is related to its fourth power, or cube, so that while the love itself may be almost as nothing, respectively still it becomes something according to the number of those who are loved and who are able to love. Therefore, love of the neighbor as oneself supposes a multiplication of love, respectively, in the degree that the society is numerous. Nevertheless, the increase of love is wholly from the same cause, for in the degree that it is more universal there is reciprocally a greater sensation of love in oneself and of felicity thence resulting since all its delights increase in the same degree this love however being spiritual does not concern terrestrial society but the celestial society of souls it is not of the mind but of the soul and thence it is pure for since

Starting point is 12:16:53 it is of this quality pure truth is in it four hundred and thirty nine the contrary love or pure hatred increases in a similar ratio towards its many objects thus it takes place in an analogous arithmetical or geometrical ratio indeed as opposed to the divine will in a double and triplicate ratio it is not therefore necessary to describe this more fully such as diabolical hatred it is not love of one's own society but of evil alone which never intimately associates minds because there is nothing above which is a common bond hence the one aims at the eternal destruction of the other for each one numbers the other among those who are evil and because the very truth they know convicts those hence it affords a reason why they are not to be loved and why they deserve punishment the love of being near the one loved four hundred and forty the love of being near to god who is loved is the most eminent spiritual love, for it is in the very nature of love itself. Hence, when there is pure love, there is nothing of the love of being above one's companions, that is, no love contrary to the love of a friend. With this contrary love, pure love has nothing in common. It does not reflect upon itself,

Starting point is 12:18:32 but should it do so, lest there should come a desire of precedence over one's friend, it would assign itself the lowest place of all. But God himself is the one who exalts, and thus the love to be nearest to the beloved can exist without any desire of eminence, wherefore it pertains immediately to the love of God, but not to the love of the neighbor as oneself. Then indeed the love of self wholly vanishes,

Starting point is 12:19:02 and there arises a sort of contempt of self, on seeing oneself to be near god and yet so infinitely distant from him and to be almost nothing through him alone has he any being and the more in the degree that he is nearer to him when there exists this pure love together with a love towards the neighbor then there is an absence of jealousy if another is nearer to him and superior to himself for then he loves the superior so much the more because he is nearer to God, whom he himself loves. But indeed, if he does not look solely to love towards God, but regards also his own happiness, eminence, or love of self, then the love is not pure but mingled with jealousy. Envy ever presupposes something of love of self, of eminence among equals, and always reveals that it is so far distant from the love towards God. The love of being remote from God, who is love itself, is the effect of diabolical hatred itself,

Starting point is 12:20:15 conjoined with the greatest jealousy if one witnesses the success of another's kingdom or society. Thus one is stimulated by envy to prevent his neighbor's enjoying success, and his hatred is rendered most intense. But indeed, when he sees his neighbor's success assured and is not able to further resist it, then this hatred is turned into the last degree of envy and fury as much against self as against the neighbor and this seems to consist infernal torment the love of being eminent in happiness in power and in wisdom four forty two the love of eminence in happiness is never a divine love although it be spiritual for in so far as a person loves his own happiness instead of the happiness of others, so far he loves himself more than others, and thus so far he removes himself from those two fundamental loves of the first source of love,

Starting point is 12:21:21 and becomes more unhappy. To love God and the neighbor for the sake of one's own happiness is for one's own sake. Thus it is not pure love, but to love God for his own sake, because he is love itself, and to love the neighbor. for God's sake because this is his love and because any other love is the love of self is pure love but to love chiefly on account of the effect of love is contrary to order itself for happiness flows of itself as an effect from these two loves and pure love does not look to effect but to love itself abstractly from effect 443 The love of surpassing others in power is similar to the love of excelling in happiness, for one involves the other, as we always suppose there is happiness in power.

Starting point is 12:22:22 This love of eminence discloses a love of self instead of others, such as the love of ruling always is. Thus it is still less divine, although it be spiritual. The love of being eminent in wisdom is similar. To strive after wisdom is a virtue, but to do so for the sake of being eminent through wisdom is a vice. For wisdom itself, like happiness and power, is a necessary consequent of the love of God above self,

Starting point is 12:22:56 so that to love happiness, power, and wisdom chiefly, is to prefer them to God, or to love God less than self, or equally with self. This indeed is not a diabolical love, for the devil does not love or desire to love and adore God, for any end which is the necessary consequent of love, but he entirely hates him. Wherefore this seems to be the love of human souls after the fall of Adam. Thus it is in our souls and indicates their perverse state, yet we ought nevertheless to recover that pristine state.

Starting point is 12:23:35 and both by prayer and the grace of god we are even able to strive for this end with our own powers four hundred and forty five the love of eminence conjoined with hatred towards god and the neighbor is diabolical nor can it exist without the love of self above others or spurious ambition avarice in humanity and many other vices or crimes it especially manifests itself in the love of power over others the desire to be able to be over others is the desire to be more than man thus to be equal to god it loves this means as an end for instance honor riches possessions which affections go on increasing and never terminate for they aspire to the infinite and believe themselves at the last to have reached something infinite although it was will be as far distant as the finite from the infinite should they have become possessed of the universe itself the happiness to which such a one aspires is supposed to be in power itself and to be reflected by it upon him but because his love comes from a source contrary to felicity he becomes the more unhappy four hundred and forty six this love is contrary to to wisdom because it is contrary to God, who is love and wisdom. Therefore it is hatred of wisdom and also hatred of the true intelligence,

Starting point is 12:25:14 which dictates wisdom, of which nature is the love of those in the desire of ruling. These do not love wisdom on account of wisdom, but that by this means they may better rule over human minds, which power they esteem as wisdom. Except for this, they would desire all wisdom to be extinguished and wish that the dark ages might return. End of Section 36 Section 37 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording.

Starting point is 12:25:56 All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology. Emanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 37. Chapter 21 Part 2 The Spiritual Loves or the Loves of the Soul The Love of Propagating the Celestial Society by Natural Means 447

Starting point is 12:26:36 The love of propagating celestial society is spiritual. For example, the love of multiplying the members of society. This love is greater than the love of self, because it is on a plane with the love towards society. Since the soul knows that this society cannot be propagated unless by natural means, for instance by generation, therefore of itself it burns in this desire, which is the reason why venereal love is so vehement and affection of the animus. Spiritual love thus descends into nature where the means are provided.

Starting point is 12:27:18 But that this love, although made corporeal, may indeed remain spiritual in the mind, it is a pure and commendable love when it regards heaven for an end and the increase of its society. There is in this love a love of multiplying oneself, for it does not consider the offspring as separated or disjoined from self, but it considers self together with the offspring as self-multiplied. But indeed the contrary love or love of destroying the propagation of society cannot exist, not even in the devil, for he loves his own society and hate. hates the divine. Hence he eagerly desires the increase of members of his society that it may prevail. It is for this reason I believe that God gave so great power to the devil and united so great a society to him that the love of propagation may not cease even in diabolical souls. The love of destruction or cruelty reveals a hatred which is so supreme that it rebels against the love of self.

Starting point is 12:28:32 Thus that it desires to be cruel against self and wishes for the destruction of the universe. Thus in the human race there can exist a hatred that surpasses diabolical hatred. The love of one's own body 449 The love of one's own body is not to be confounded with the love of self. Everyone loves his body because it is in connection with the self. with the soul, for the sake of propagation and multiplication in it of the soul, for the soul is continually conceived and multiplied.

Starting point is 12:29:12 From this love flows the love of nourishing oneself, the sense of taste, also the love of protecting oneself from the surrounding vapors, winces the sense of smell, also sight, and even pain, when force and injury are inflicted upon the body. this love, the ends and loves before mentioned could not be obtained. Everyone can love his body, and nevertheless love his neighbor as himself, for if he loves his neighbor as himself, then he loves the body on account of the love of self, and at the same time on account of the love towards society. While he does not therefore hate his body,

Starting point is 12:29:55 he is still willing that it should be destroyed for the sake of society, rather than that society should perish, and finitely for God's sake would prefer this. Celestial society is one body whose soul is God himself. Because one loves God and his celestial body, he does not love himself and his own body otherwise than as a part of that society, or for the sake of his being a constitutive part. 450 Hatred of one's body cannot exist

Starting point is 12:30:30 unless in so far as it, the body, is not in connection with its soul and does not obey when the mind commands. For this very love is a connection of body and soul, but hatred is disjunction. So an artist does not love an instrument if it is not adapted to his use. However, when we love anything more than such,

Starting point is 12:30:54 whether the love be genuine or not as love of glory fame envy riches venery then we prefer that love to the love of our corporeal life but still we do not hate the latter we love the body in so far as it is a means of obtaining that which is loved and in so far as it is that which through the mind feels love thus when death is risked for love it is not a hatred of life but an indication that one desires that love may live. When, however, one is cut off from a hope of superior love, then he falls into the hatred of living in the body, and there is a desperation and insanity of the mind, for without that love, he thinks that to live is not to live, or but to live in misery, and thus he desires his own extinction. But such an insane love or hatred of self is never conjoined with genuine and truly spiritual love, such as the love of deity, of friends, of propagating society. Therefore it is as contrary to the essence of true love as it is to wisdom. These two being very closely

Starting point is 12:32:07 joined. The love of immortality. 451. The love of immortality is a spiritual love and coincides with the love of God and of society. For the spiritual life is to be nearer to God who is life itself and by whom all things live but it is spiritual death to be remote from him. Still that death is not extinction of essence but is the extinction and privation of love to which true life belongs. Just as a dark surface is not the extinction of light but of a suffocation that cannot exist without light. Hence it appears that the love of immortality is not that of living to eternity, but of living well and happily, for the soul knows that it is to be immortal. Hence it does not love its own immortality so far as this is assured, since all love

Starting point is 12:33:07 presupposes a change and the possibility of a contrary, and otherwise it is no longer love. Therefore, love perishes in those things which cannot be otherwise that they are, but the love of immortality appertains to those things which may be mortal or immortal, such as the exercise of love, charity, honor, virtue. These are all spiritually loved in order that they may be immortal in oneself, since the mind or the soul is the subject of these loves and they may or may not exist in it. Since, moreover, these are the means of meriting the favor of the supreme love, the soul loves these as means and also as an end, not on account of self that it may be eminent among its associates, but for the love of deity, and in order that there may be that in itself which it can

Starting point is 12:34:05 communicate with its fellows to make the bond of love between them more close and binding. In this way it is better able to attach society to itself and itself to society. 452. There is also a hatred of immortality, but not that which is absolutely such so long as some hope of happiness remains, thus not in the devil even, until after the last judgment, when all hope is gone and the happiness of the blessed becomes manifestly the source of pain. Thus there is a possible love of immortality in the vicious and criminal, in mostly resulting from the love of self. But the love of the immortality of vices arises when vices are esteemed as virtues and when there is something in vice which savors of virtue. Besides, all love of immortality perishes in vices

Starting point is 12:35:08 and brings with itself a doubt regarding all immortality, and at length a denial. These are the effects of impiety. Spiritual zeal. 453. Zeal is the active and ardent principle in the above-mentioned loves, by which they are not only excited to loving,

Starting point is 12:35:32 but also to promoting the means for obtaining the end. And so some spiritual zeal is present in every love, for love in itself is not active. except in the degree in which it is also passive. Thus without zeal, there is nothing in love proper to the subject in which the love resides. The zeal itself is the property of the spiritual soul, and it arises or is born and excited only by contraries.

Starting point is 12:36:04 Thus, without the actual existence of a contrary or without the devil or contrary souls, there could be no zeal, but it would be a non-intuitive, Zeal is accordingly excited according to the degree of the assailing or the repugnant force, and it sets itself against its opponent as its enemy. Thus the stronger the diabolical society is, the greater is the zeal of the celestial society, and with the devil extinct this would also entirely subside. Thus there would be no kindling of minds, no anger of the animus. except from really exciting opponents.

Starting point is 12:36:48 Zeal is in itself a love excited to a superior degree in order that it may equal the opposing force which it desires to extinguish. There is also a zeal in hatred and indeed fierce and deadly, thus a rage and an impure burning fire. The anger therefore proceeds not from the zeal, but from the hatred and is turned into fury.

Starting point is 12:37:17 But true zeal never degenerates into anger, but is a mild and gentle fire, inwardly and not outwardly glowing. Thus it has been demonstrated both in spiritual and natural things that zeal or a righteous displeasure is able to extinguish the furies and tempestuous angers themselves, or that one good soul is able to put down thousands and myriads of bad souls and devils.

Starting point is 12:37:47 For the devil does not ignore the truth, but hates it. Still because he knows that it is the truth which he hates, he cannot help fearing the truth itself from a certain inmost essence, because it is stronger than himself. Thus one good angel is sufficient to cast down a thousand devils, for they fly at the first blow as those who are tormented by an evil consciousness. This fear is innate, while in others there is no fear but only the zeal which belongs to bravery. The love of propagating the kingdom and city of God.

Starting point is 12:38:27 455. This is a spiritual love and flows immediately from the love of God and of society, but is excited and grows in zeal according to the degree of the opposition met. The kingdom of God is the God. the Celestial Society of Souls itself, the City of God being the Terrestrial, which is the Seminary of the Celestial. This love of propagating the city of God or the church is the mind and spirit of our religion, and all the means of propagating this religion are subject to this love.

Starting point is 12:39:08 But the love of destroying the church is diabolical, and its kingdom is on this earth it is the contrary of true religion this subject would be too comprehensive for discussion here the derivation of corporeal from spiritual loves and their concentration in the rational mind four hundred and fifty seven from comparing loves together the spiritual and the corporeal for instance it becomes evident enough that spiritual loves are the fountains of all corporeal loves. Consequently, that no corporeal love can exist unless a spiritual love pre-exists, and that the spiritual cannot exist unless there be actually a heaven or society of blessed souls and a hell or society of infernal souls, for the one presupposes the other.

Starting point is 12:40:09 As if you should deny the source, you would also deny the derivatives, and at length you would have to deny the existence of every affection of the body or of the animus, for nothing can exist from itself. It must flow from some principle to which it universally belongs. 458. Now since the spiritual loves are the sources of the loves of the body or of the animus, so the particular loves of the body can be deduced like so many special determinations of a certain spiritual love, for there is an infinite variety of affections of the animus,

Starting point is 12:40:52 but all may be subordinated and arranged in order, so that one may know from what source they flow. But this subordination cannot be unfolded and described, except in many pages. But it may happen that there is a good spiritual love in the soul, and a bad one, in the rational mind or in the body. Indeed, man himself is naturally good, and by use and habit becomes bad. Therefore, as the mind is not such, as is the soul, and still less the body,

Starting point is 12:41:31 therefore it belongs to God alone to judge concerning the soul and its love. For all the loves, both of the soul and of the animus, are concentrated in the rational mind, which thus is carried along. not only according to its own natural inclinations, but also according to principles acquired or intellectually learned. Likewise also it is drawn asunder by the authority of others,

Starting point is 12:41:59 by use, and by the natural seductions of the pleasures of the body, and so another nature is induced upon it. The most universal source of the bodily and spiritual loves is the love of deity above, and thence the love of the fellow man, as of oneself. Pure or divine love viewed in itself. 460. God is the very spiritual essay in all things. And so far as the spiritual essay itself is in corporeal things, God is that very essay in those things,

Starting point is 12:42:37 so that in him we live, move, and have our being. So far as God is the essay itself in all things, he is the love. of itself which cannot but belong to that essay, which is from itself and yet distinct from itself. For if God essentially proceeds from a created spirit, it is no spirit, since that it exists is not a property of spirit but of him by whom it is created in order that it may be. As we say from analogy, the body is not the soul, but the soul is the very essay of the body, so that if the soul departs, the body is no longer a body but falls to decay. Whatever thus belongs to another, as a primitive to its derivative,

Starting point is 12:43:27 must have an unbroken connection with it as to existence and substance, and if there is connection there is love, which here coincides entirely with the connection. For love causes that one's own image may be seen in another, but according to the degree of derivation and therefore imperfectly. Love may therefore be said to belong to him in whom there is an image of another, not that he loves himself, but that he loves in another, that which he wishes to belong to himself, or to be conjoined to himself, so that, in other words, the love may be mutual.

Starting point is 12:44:12 461. Hence it appears that God is love itself, and that we are in so far divine as we mutually love God, and thus by love draw near to Him. And because God is life itself and wisdom, it follows that we so far live and are wise as we draw near to God. Hence love is the very bond itself, the life and the wisdom. By love and this connection all those things are in us more perfectly,

Starting point is 12:44:42 and so far as we remove from it, so far are these in these, in us imperfectly and indeed so imperfectly that they can hardly be said to be in us. Therefore the most absolute and universal source of all loves is the love of deity toward us, and our mutual love to the God above us, which must be a love capable of being infinite, while our love of ourselves ought to be considered when compared with that supereminent love as the finite compared with the infinite. This infinite love is not possible, it is true, in our souls which are finite, but by the mercy of the love of God toward us,

Starting point is 12:45:27 it is possible that our love may be exalted even to an indefinite degree. End of Section 37. Section 38 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Librevox recording. all Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg. Translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others.

Starting point is 12:46:13 Section 38 Chapter 22 The influx of the animus and its affections into the body, and the body into the animus. 462. It is well known to everyone that our animus so flows in into the form of our body

Starting point is 12:46:34 that it finds its form as it were in it. We may judge from the countenance itself what is the general state of the animus or what its inclination is, sometimes also as to what are the special states of the animus or its affections. And when these these, affections exist, they present themselves visibly, not only in the countenance, but also in the

Starting point is 12:46:58 eyes, in speech, in single gestures, and actions. Thus, anger, vengeance, pride, hatred, love, and other affections are recognized by nature's speech alone. For what that form is, which is superinduced upon the substantial form of the body, we do not learn by any rules of art. Thus the animus, which is the general form whose affections are so many essential determinations, is actually inscribed upon us, and it is the countenance itself in its particulars which is varied according to our inclination to this rather than to that special desire, or animus. Also it writes itself there in time as when a new inclination is acquired through use and habit. The animus also flows in into the blood

Starting point is 12:47:51 and the animal spirit itself and thus into the particular forms of the internal organs for it renders the bloods precisely conformable to itself since anger excites the bile and disturbs the particular humors envy retains these

Starting point is 12:48:09 in the blood whence arises the bluish color then apparent pride expands the organs and erects the nerves and muscles and chloral the blood at the same time that it draws around it the clouds that it may be easily shaded so with the other affections which flow into the particular organic substances of the body and at the same time into the humors four hundred and sixty three it cannot therefore be denied but that the form of the formed body is the image of the animus and that the animus in its first formation even in the wound is itself the form of its own soul, hence that the body as to the expressions both of the face and of the actions is the image, type, and pattern of the soul, or spiritual mind by means of the animus.

Starting point is 12:49:06 For the mind first forms its animus, or it may be the soul, its pure intellectory, whose general mind is what is called the animus, and then flows in into the body before the body is able to flow in, into its animus. 464. How this takes place can also be demonstrated, but the demonstration itself demands an intimate knowledge of the internal organs of the censories, a knowledge of forms in general and in particular, and of the influx of the spiritual mind into nature.

Starting point is 12:49:43 For this is manifest that nature is universally subject to a spiritual mind as an instrumental cause, to its principle or as an instrument to the artificer so that the whole world of nature from a certain necessity and thus spontaneously ascends to the rule of mind thus also the mind rules in the body formed in order that the body and its muscles may exhibit every quality as if not of its own power but as of the mind as ruling since accordingly all the simple fibres and those thence composed spring from the intellectories and internal censories of the brain and there is nothing in the body which has to do with the form except the fibres which forms it hence it must follow that all that affection of the intellectories and censories of the brain is diffused by continuous fibres into the entire body for there is a continuous connection of all from their origins and principles. 465.

Starting point is 12:50:55 The animus is accordingly so inscribed upon the form of its body, or it is so related to that form as an internal is to an external form, that the form is internal has been shown above. Every internal form has its proper external form, that is, its figure, which is the limit or common terminus of its essential determinants of its essential determinations, and if it be natural for the internal to correspond to the external form,

Starting point is 12:51:25 it follows of necessity that the countenance shall indicate what the animus wills, for the countenance is the external form of the animus, and thus there are as many expressions as there are facera and parts. It follows that the animus cannot help flowing in into its own body, but that it may dissemble and deceive as a faculty derived from the rational mind

Starting point is 12:51:53 which is able to command the animus itself, of which subject we shall treat further on. 466. On the other hand, experience also shows that the affections, changes, and diseases of the body are so likely to flow into the animus that in the course of time they will alter and transmute the state of its affections. for a fever whether burning or otherwise often excites the animus into unusual emotions griefs and passions frequently arousing mild nature to anger and rendering it morose it is known from medical experience that gout and paralysis produce mental affections so that from the changes of the animus are conversely constructed prognostic and diagnostic signs phenomena and symptoms the gall-bladder or the bile outside of the vessel being excited by any cause the lesser and the greater channels being obstructed the animus will experience an ardor and burning as also from injuries done to the head or brain indeed diseases are often so cured by the ragings of the animus that these very excitements act as its medicines the worst of criminals sometimes being restored to the path of virtue through the tortures of the the body, and so in other cases. The animus is also changed by single senses as by sight and smell

Starting point is 12:53:26 and transported into joy, loves, and other emotions. The reason is very evident from the well-known essence and origin of the mind. For the red blood about to be dissolved always passes over into fibers by means of the cortex, each cortical gland being an internal sensory, and each of these containing its intellectories, and from these intellectories, taken altogether or their affections, rise the animus. When the blood is infected by some disease

Starting point is 12:54:01 and the purer blood is at the same time affected while flowing through these sensors, yet the infected blood induces in them a change of state, so that the animus is unable to be affected according to the natural influx, for the correspondence itself is varied according to this induced state as is a natural effect flowing from its causes and principles and as is the blood naturally according to its animus such it cannot be if the blood does not agree but the blood being changed the effect must become altogether another one four hundred and sixty seven but it may be asked whether the intellectory or the intellectories arising

Starting point is 12:54:49 from such a change in the body are changed radically or interiorly, or only externally, or superficially, so that after that change and purifying of the blood, the animus remains still the same. This is indeed what experience teaches, for after the disease, the animus usually returns the same as before, so that such a change is only superficial and does not alter the internal form. The examples are very rare of the animus being radically changed by corporeal causes. Drive out nature with a fork, it will yet come back again. 468. But by diseases and similar causes only the external or general form of the animus can be changed,

Starting point is 12:55:39 and not the internal, since only the state of the censories is changed, perhaps because the internal censories unable to pass through these or those states are compelled to assume others for the animus cannot operate except according to the state assumed by the censories as the animus adapts to itself the states of the censories hence that state arising from the internal form of the animus abides notwithstanding these external effects and returns when the outward change is past or after disease four hundred and sixty nine but indeed in order that the state of the animus or the intellectories be changed it is necessary that it be done through the rational mind and even that by reason of diseases misfortunes and similar causes the rational mind receives more healthy principles and thus expels those changes of state and puts on others which correspond to purer loves therefore the human animus can by no means be changed unless by means of the rational mind end of section thirty eight section thirty nine of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org.

Starting point is 12:57:19 The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 39. Chapter 23. influx of the rational mind into the animus, and by means of the animus into the body, and the influx of the animus into the rational mind. 470, that the animus flows into the rational mind is clearly seen from experience, for our rational mind is possessed wholly as it were by affections of the animus, since we desire what the animus desires and rush, as it were, blindly or without any understanding into its concupiscences. The cause appears evidently a priori, since the internal intellectories are what taken together constitute the animus, to whose internal form and external form must correspond. The external form is the brain or the common sensory, as accordingly the affection of the

Starting point is 12:58:34 animus is, such is the state of the sensory, for the state of the sensory puts on that form, which agrees with the affections of the mind. So long as this form remains, no thing else, however grateful or harmonious can be insinuated into the mind unless it agree with this state. The universal state includes and contains all special and individual states. The universal being formed, all the special states flow into it as harmonious. The intellectories are what form the change of state agreeably to the loves of the animus. Thus the animus flows into the state of the mind. The common animus is the agreement of all the intellectories according to that influx from the senses and from the blood.

Starting point is 12:59:27 These form and move the common and external form to which the internal form corresponds. 471 When therefore the rational mind with the consent of the intellect remains in the state of the animus, which is that of all the intellectories, then it is blindly occupied by these flowing in. But when it dispels these and rejects the affections of the animus or holds them in check, than it is enabled to put on more perfect states. These changes may be brought upon the more rational mind through sicknesses, and in that case by influx and by correspondence.

Starting point is 13:00:10 By influx it may be because diseases and diverse external accidents may so change the sensory that it can put on these states rather than those, but they are still states of the intellect by correspondence. because the mind observes in misfortunes and sicknesses that the peculiar passions of the animus, such as vengeance, anger, envy, hatred, destroy the mind, and so it is imbued with piety and the virtues.

Starting point is 13:00:42 Thus the mind itself, by its own liberty, changes the animus according to the occasion by reflection and correspondence, and puts on a state agreeing with more perfect loves. and so can the animus or its internal form be changed. 472. But to change the animus is to change the nature itself, as to change a good animus to a bad one, which is easily done,

Starting point is 13:01:12 or a bad to a good one, which is more difficult. This can only be done by means of the rational mind and its understanding, let that understanding be either really its own or one induced by faith or by authority. Nor is the nature changed even then, unless we shun and abhorre evils, and never bring our mind into that evil state, and unless, as often as it falls into it,

Starting point is 13:01:39 we snatch it forth with the liberty given us, and put on that state which agrees with a more perfect love. Nor does this avail, indeed, unless we remain a long time in this state and exert force and violence upon the other, and by frequent works and exercises of virtue put on the opposite. And so continue until the mind shall have drawn to itself a new nature, and expelled as it were the old, so that as often as the old returns,

Starting point is 13:02:11 we are aware that it must be resisted. Thus, and not otherwise, can we put off the bad nature and put on the good, a most difficult attainment in this life without the divine grace and aid, but in the same degree and end worthy of the greater mind if we apply ourselves. And what does not appear to be whole in us, we shall thrice best obtain by prayers to God. So nature as it were bends and changes nature. Not indeed by influx into the intellectories or substances of the mind, but by correspondence and reflection.

Starting point is 13:02:52 For the intellectory knows truths, or what is true and what is false, and as it expels the hatred of truth, then the love of truth succeeds in its place. End of Section 39. Section 40 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain.

Starting point is 13:03:22 For more information, or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg. Translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915 and others, Section 40. Chapter 24, Inflex of the Spiritual Mind or of the Soul into the Anamis, and of the Anemus into the Spiritual Mind. 473. The pure intellectory is that in which the animus at first resides, for it is in this as a pure natural mind. This, because it is of the intellectory, which is formed entirely from the substance of its own soul, must of necessity be also formed after the mind or spirit of its own soul. So that such as is the soul, such shall be the soul. Such shall be the soul. animus in its very formation, even while lying concealed in the womb and during earliest infancy.

Starting point is 13:04:29 For then indeed the animus is entirely subject to the spiritual mind. But afterwards, when the rational mind is formed and the states of the intellectory begin to depend on this state of the censories, then begins, as it were, an inversion, and the animus depends on an influx of objects and of harmonies through the external senses from the world and by the blood from the body. 474. From these facts it follows that the spiritual mind flows into the animus, even to being its essence and life, for this cannot exist and subsist without the spiritual mind,

Starting point is 13:05:13 wherefore also the spiritual mind always loves the animus. But when the animus rebells and wishes to render itself superior, then it is rejected by the spiritual mind, and a perpetual battle arises, almost as if it were between God and the devil. Each desires to occupy the rational mind, but the victory belongs to but one. Nor can the animus be expelled suddenly, but there must be perseverance even to the end of life. When therefore the bad animus has been changed into a good one, or a good into a bad one, thus as an acquired nature tries to expel the old nature, then is the former animus changed, and the animus being changed, the state of the soul is thereupon changed. Not by influx, however, but by correspondence, the rational mind acting as medium and the divine grace concurring. there must be a disposition that the spiritual mind may be able to flow in with its loves, at least a rejection of the loves of the animus,

Starting point is 13:06:27 so that the soul may be disposed to flow in with its spiritual loves, or at least that the mind may be disposed to the influx of those loves. The intellect here contributes nothing, except it be from what is revealed. Let faith springing from God and his divine power being in, implored, his spirit flows into the soul and changes its state or perfects it, but long exercise is needed if the soul be bad, that it may become good, although not so long to restore a good soul by a change of mind. Thus there is a certain election of souls, for without a

Starting point is 13:07:07 miraculous and particular favor, a bad soul cannot at once be made good, but there must be a self-compulsion and most ardent prayer and continual zeal for that which is truly spiritual and divine. These appear to be the true principles for our attainment of spiritual perfection, for something spiritual and divine flows down from above into what is below, nor can what is without bring any change upon what is within, except by correspondence, and such correspondence does not exist in the soul. except from the divine gift. The influx of the spiritual loves of the soul

Starting point is 13:07:54 into the rational mind and the reverse. The spiritual mind, or what is of the soul, can never flow into the rational mind except through the animus or by its means, hence only while the animus is subject to the spiritual mind. Therefore, in order that the same, spiritual mind may flow in, the animus must be subjugated so that it obey and does not command. For the soul cannot flow into the internal sensory except by means of the intellectory.

Starting point is 13:08:33 Hence we see how the spiritual can flow in, namely when the affections of the animus are wholly submissive and are held in checks so as not to occupy the mind. and when the mind suffers itself to be acted upon. And not even now, unless the intellect knows from revelation what part is to be chosen or what is divine, the verily good, the just and true. Then inasmuch as the mind does not understand this of itself, it ought to pray to God that he will inspire faith and love,

Starting point is 13:09:08 for obtaining which many spiritual means are revealed. Thus at length, the spiritual mind is able to flow into the rational mind, for so remote and deeply within dwells the spiritual mind that it is impossible to approach it immediately, or accept by a universal means, or by the animus. Hence it is evident how difficult it is to turn a bad soul into a good one, and that this is the work of divine grace alone. Only there must be the persevering human application. End of Section 40.

Starting point is 13:09:54 Section 41 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 19367. and others section 41 chapter 25 inclinations and temperaments 477 there are innumerable human natures or inclinations since no man is

Starting point is 13:10:36 similarly inclined with another but all these inclinations which are infinite in variety may be reduced to three general ones namely the inclination of being wise or to honor or virtues, the inclination of knowing which is an active principle and is natural, and the inclination of understanding, which may be called intellectual. 4.78. The inclination of being wise, or the spiritual inclination to what is honorable or virtuous, is derived from the soul, and indicates a good soul or a spiritual mind which is determined by true loves. But since the body is formed into an image of the operations of the soul, it follows that this inclination must be conate. The seeds of honor and the virtues seem to be conate,

Starting point is 13:11:31 and prevail in whole families and their posterity. The virtues themselves are innumerable. One person inclines to this virtue in particular, or to this virtuous quality, and another to that. The reason why the inclination exists is, to be sought in the spiritual state itself of the soul, which state is derived by birth from the parents, whose soul the progeny inherits. To the parent, however, it has come by frequent exercise of virtues and the practice of piety lasting to the end of life, that posterity may obliterate the crimes of parents, and also on their parents' account may receive reward, is proved in all the histories of the world

Starting point is 13:12:16 beyond the possibility of doubt. 479. The inclination of knowing or of learning the arts is also inborn, since we are born poets, musicians, architects, sculptors, and into many other avocations, as experience proves. But this aptitude is derived from parents and is perfected by use. Hence there must be industry in exploring the natures of particulars, even in boyhood itself. And when anyone, is perfected in those things to which he inclines, he may climb to the highest round, for his desire aspires thither. This inclination derives its origin from the intellectory and its animus, for the first intellectory

Starting point is 13:13:02 is infused by the parent and insinuated into the ovum from which similar ones are procreated. This intellectory is more inclined to certain mutations of state than to others, hence also the censories derived their proclivities to certain mutations of state, that is, to the forming and receiving of certain ideas which at once delight the animus, since they correspond to its mind. 480 The inclination of understanding Some are born with a prodigious memory by which they can imitate an intellect, or into a facility of expressing the senses of their animus, to a presence of mind, to meditation or fantasy, some to judging profoundly even in regard

Starting point is 13:13:53 to wisdom itself, although they are lacking in wisdom, some to certain sciences, as to mathematics, philosophy, history, and many other branches. This also is derived from the parent by the same cause, namely that the senses are more inclined to putting on these mutations of state than others, but the inmost cause is found in the Intellectory in the mutability of its animus and in the love and affection thence arising for as it was in the parent such is it in the offspring 481 But all these inclinations may be changed by age both from external and especially from internal causes Since our intellect is being formed and the rational mind coming into use

Starting point is 13:14:42 Hence, many affections and loves can be insinuated and become habitual, which are handed down to children by propagation. Nevertheless, the inclination of wisdom or the spiritual mind is longest to remain, because it is more remote from the rational mind, nor does it accordingly suffer itself to be changed. For God always inspires and provides its destinies, so that it shall not perish, except it be in its posterity. temperaments four eighty two there are four temperaments enumerated namely the sanguine the choleric the melancholy and the phlegmatic these are merely inclinations of the animus or the diverse animi into which we are born the sanguine temperament indicates a state in which the animus is conspicuously present in receiving sensations and producing ideas prone to various affections alike thus not tenacious of open to various affections alike thus not tenacious of open opinion, easily suited, lively, this animus beams forth in the face, eyes, speech, voice,

Starting point is 13:15:50 gestures, and particular actions, and a description of it is furnished by the physiologists. The choleric temperament indicates an animus not so prone to pleasure and various desires, but serious, sometimes indignant and morose, if another does not favor one's opinion or one's love, but otherwise with a good man loving in general what is honorable. The face and outward form belonging to this temperament are also described by these writers. The melancholic temperament indicates a sad mind, immersed in fantasies, indulging more in internal than in external feelings, more averse to pleasures, rather an internal than an external man.

Starting point is 13:16:37 unlike the sanguine temperament tenacious of opinion believing in hypothesis and opinions as truths in thinking oneself wiser than any it is vehement in the affections into which it falls and increases them by its own imagination is a lover of solitude or of those companions to whom it is accustomed and hates variety the phlegmatic temperament indicates an animus prone neither to anger nor to other affections silent reticent patient but cherishing an inward ardor slow in acting and so on but these temperaments are not sufficient to express the changes of the animus for they are assumed from the state itself of the blood and from the indications of the face since the animus shapes the face to its as an image as it likewise disposes the liquids and the blood in order that they may serve or favor itself therefore he who derives this or that nature from habit or from constitution natura has his blood disposed to this nature but inasmuch as the temperaments express only the external form of the animus from which some wish to deduce the internal i am not therefore certain whether the inclinations of the animus can properly be reduced to these genera or species and whether they exhaust the specific variations this is clear that as diviners they are very deceitful and that they change with change of age for the blood to which the temperaments belong is changed in various ways as we call this one sanguine who enjoys a more flowing or delicate blood choleric whose blood is sharper more bilious more flecked and drier

Starting point is 13:18:35 melancholic if the blood is more hard and dry and phlegmatic if it is more sluggish and tenacious four eighty four the animus prone to receiving and giving forth affections and consterns consequently to external and internal sensations is ready and quick and is called sanguine. But the animus, which is languid toward the internal and external sensations and affections, is phlegmatic. The animus vehement for its passions and internal and external sensations is choleric. The animus, slow toward the same, is melancholic. 485 Thus we are able to be able to draw distinctions in the animi rather than in the blood, and we may substitute them for temperaments,

Starting point is 13:19:26 for it is the animi that are prone, vehement, and languid toward passions and affections, and hence also toward the internal and external sensations, inasmuch as the sensations follow the animus, as they cannot be separated from the animus. As is the animus, such is the blood, and such the form of the body, and its forces. End of Section 41. Section 42 of The Soul or Rational Psychology. This is a Librevox recording. All Librevox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org.

Starting point is 13:20:16 Recording by Lauren White, Bellingham, Washington. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenborg. translated by Frank Sewell 1837 to 1915 and others section 42 part four immortality chapter 26 concerning death four eighty six we have shown above what the body is and what is its form or that the body consists of forms inferior by orderly and successive degrees to the soul which is the spirit spiritual form. Thus the body consists of purer and grosser parts. The form of the soul is spiritual. That of the intellectory is celestial, that of the internal sensory is vertical, that of the external sensory or the brain is spiral, and that of the appendix itself, which is properly called the body, is circular. Its bones, cartilages, and similar parts are of the angular form. Likewise, the many elements which enter into the blood and constitute it,

Starting point is 13:21:29 in every globule of which every form is concealed, from the first one to the last. 487. These forms are so connected that one holds the other most closely so that they appear like one entity, even though they be most distinct. Thus the soul is said to descend from its heaven into the world when it brings itself into such forms and shapes its organs out of itself and its own substance whose forms at length are corporeal and material.

Starting point is 13:22:01 The cause of this is that the soul may be able to engage in the functions of this lowest world and operate in a manner conformable to its forces. Since if it did not put on a corporeal form, since if it did not put on a corporeal form, it would never be able to walk upon the earth, to lift weights, to cultivate the soil, to procreate offspring, and to form a terrestrial society, but can only live in some sublunary region. Wherefore the body is formed, with a regard to the performing of these functions,

Starting point is 13:22:36 and thus otherwise in man than in the quadrupeds, reptiles, birds, and fishes. All are formed according to their nature. nature, to which are adapted the gifts which each shall exercise. 488. The destruction of these ultimate forms is called dying, and the lowest are those first destroyed, and then in order the purer and the higher, even up to the soul or the spiritual form, which cannot be destroyed. First, the angular form is destroyed, or their connection is severed, and the angular bodies which are in the blood and in the humors, are dissipated. wherefore so slight a portion of the blood is seen remaining in the dead.

Starting point is 13:23:19 Afterward the circular form, or the form of the several viscera, is destroyed, and also the outward form of the body, which collapses, then the brain or the spiral form, and so the remaining ones in their order. 489 Anything is said to die or to be destroyed when that which is proper to its form perishes or is dissolved. Thus the situation, and the connection of the parts, their order and thence their state, are the peculiar property of a thing, and besides these there is nothing which is proper to any form, and when these are dissolved, then the form perishes or dies, and then all that affection

Starting point is 13:24:01 to which was adapted to it passes away. Thus the soul is no longer able to perceive those things, which agree with itself, namely the modifications and affections of the ultimate world and its harmonies, or sensations and the like impressions, nor to perform the other bodily functions, for every muscle is destroyed, and although each motor fiber may remain, still the property of the muscle as such parishes for the situation, connection, order, and state of its motor fibers are destroyed. The motor fibers may be dissolved and die, and still the nervous fibers which compose them remain. On the dissolution and perishing of the nervous fibers, the simple fibers remain, and so on. So also in the other viscera, and even in the organs. For as these were successively

Starting point is 13:24:54 formed, so are they successively dissolved. Or as they are born into life, so do they perish, or are born out of life. Danaskantur. The lowest forms, because they are changeable, inconstant, imperfect, and their determinations less harmonious, are always the first to die, and so in order up to the foremost. The triangular form perishes before the circular, the circular before the spiral, for there is always something of the perpetual added or something of the finite and inconstant taken away as the form ascends. This is the reason why the dissolution of forms and hence of the body, which consists of forms of this kind, takes place in this order. 490 Hence it follows that more time is required for the dissolution of any higher form than of a lower, and more for that of a circular than for that of an angular form.

Starting point is 13:25:52 Thus death proceeds from the external to the internal man, and the more slowly is the progress is more to the interiors. 491. But let us take the blood as an example. A globule of this consists of all the forms even to the first spiritual. The red blood is first dissolved and the angular elements are dissipated, which effect takes place immediately. Next the pure blood then remaining is dissolved, but after considerable lapse of time. Then remains that which is properly called the animal spirit or its individual part. This is not readily dissolved because it is a celestial form. After this remains the soul purified from all that is earthily. 492. Thus by death, that is given back to the earth which was taken from the earth, as whatever was in the blood and its humors, and to the air what was likewise taken

Starting point is 13:26:52 from it, as also to the ether. That remains which is purely animal, and the animal property namely the soul, anima, which is alone what lives and lives in the body according to its organic forms. Thence all that life dies, which belongs to that organism. That is the external ultimate lowest and inferior life of the soul. Therefore, disillusion is predicated of the organism and death of the life of that organism. 493 The question arises, therefore, what lives die, or what organic connections are dissolved,

Starting point is 13:27:32 for there are as many degrees of life as there are degrees of organs. The life of the tongue is different from that of hearing, that of the ear different from that of the eye, and that of the eye from that of the internal sensory, which is called perception. The life of the sensory is further, different from that of the intellectory, and that of the intellectory from that of the soul,

Starting point is 13:27:55 which is spiritual, and is all in the remaining lives in which it lives according to form and by forms. The forms themselves are called organic, and they are the substances themselves whose affections are called sensations. 494 In order, therefore, that we may know what forms are dissolved or what lives die, this is sufficiently beyond question, that the common life of the body dies, or that the general nexus of all its parts is dissolved. Likewise, the external sensory organs touch, taste, smell, hearing, sight, with organs of each, as also the internal sensory with the intellect and the rational mind, that is, the cortical glands, with the changes of their states.

Starting point is 13:28:43 For there was no such intellect in the embryo, hardly any in the infant, it has increased with age, is completed in the adult, then decreases in old age, is enfeebled and suffers in disease, and therefore also dies with the body. This intellect indeed has been acquired, to the end that the soul by means of it might perceive what goes on outside of itself, and indeed through the senses, and also that it might perform those functions

Starting point is 13:29:11 which are to be exercised in this lowest world. When the soul no longer lives in this ultimate world, nor wishes longer to perceive what is going on here in these lowest spheres, nor what requires to be done in the earth, earth and in a terrestrial society, then with the necessity and the use the faculty itself perishes, and also the organ predestined to this use. Oh, how miserable should we be if after death we lived in a rational mind, with our imperfect intellect, with our inconstant will governed by so many

Starting point is 13:29:46 changing states and desires, and we ourselves partly spiritual and partly animal. Such a mind can equally be changed, and after its intervals die in the future as in the present life, for it would not have changed its nature. Therefore, our rational mind with its desires and affections, and our intellect with its principles, opinions, and reasonings, die, and do not survive their body. 495 As for the pure intellectory to which belongs the pure natural mind, this indeed also seems to die or to be desired, but after the longest delay, for it is a celestial form, and there are no forms present which can destroy it, but how long this continues it is not in our power to say.

Starting point is 13:30:34 As for instance, how this mind or animus can survive a long time after death, and not be able to operate, as its common or external form is dissolved, and it is yet unable to acquire it to itself a new form. But this let us dismiss as something wholly unknown, whether, for instance, the human animus may survive the life of the body even to the last judgment, when its parts are to be resolved into their principles by a most pure elementary fire. Into these mysteries, however, let us not penetrate. 496 But it is asked, why must the body be dissolved or the corporeal life extinguished?

Starting point is 13:31:15 The reason why this is ordained of the divine. providence is very evident if we regard the end of creation that, namely, there be a universal society of souls which shall constitute heaven, and which would be impossible without a seminary upon the earth, and without the death of those dwelling therein, and thus a perpetual succession, as also in order that souls may be formed in their bodies and reformed into the eternal state. What is earthly and corporeal cannot be perpetual, because it is changeable in its inconstant, imperfect, and always decreasing. Death is therefore inseparable from the corporeal life,

Starting point is 13:31:56 especially since it is subject to the will of the rational mind, which always takes away the corporeal life. Keseemper alfert vitam corporeum. 497. Beside this, the soul never would be able without death to be left to its own right and free will according to its nature of living, for it is interwoven in the body, or is the form of its own body, and so bound into it that it cannot act otherwise than according to the ability of those forms which it has attained. Thus it is most limited, and nothing is left to it but to wish and desire other conditions.

Starting point is 13:32:36 In order, therefore, that the soul may be left to itself, it is necessary that its ultimate form be dissolved. Even the soul itself desires often to be dissolved, especially when the loves of the animus have driven out the pure loves, and the soul lives as it were subjugated to the body. Then the soul itself conspires for the dissolution of the body, and indeed by those accidents which often befall us unawares and are the causes of diseases and of death. But concerning these points, more will be said elsewhere. These subjects, however, and that of death itself must be treated distinctly and in their several divisions that they may the better cohere. End of Section 42, recording by Lauren White, Bellingham, Washington.

Starting point is 13:33:31 Section 43 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Librevox recording. All Libervox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librevox.org. recording by Amy Graymore, The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emanuel Swedenborg, translated by Frank Seawall, 1837 to 1915, and others, Section 43 27 Of the Immortality of the Soul

Starting point is 13:34:02 What the Soul is has been defined and described above, namely that it is immaterial, without extension or motion or parts, hence it contains in itself nothing that will perish. But these are rather verbal predictions than true definitions, inasmuch as these names do not suit the higher forms, although they have something analogous thereto in their meaning. For except from analogy, one cannot avoid, in the above definition,

Starting point is 13:34:30 the idea of nothing. Hence we betake ourselves rather to the form itself of the soul, since it is said that the form of the soul is spiritual, and that in the spiritual form those things are infinite which are finite in inferior forms. According to this description, also every idea of place, thus of center and surface, above and below, hence of motion and extent, perishes or is abolished. This follows from the idea itself of the form, namely, that it contains nothing in it which can perish. For there must be a changing in the position and connection of parts in whatever perishes,

Starting point is 13:35:09 or is destroyed, and in a form which embraces no idea of place, center, surface, or in which the center and the circumference and surface are everywhere, destruction cannot be conceived of. This form is the very contrary of destruction, looking only to perpetuity, and indeed, the more it is attacked, the more it resists every effort of destruction. If we examine forms in their order, it appears that as the form becomes higher or ascends, to something superior, there is always something of perpetuity added. Thus in proceeding from the angular to the circular, the circle becomes perpetual, and all the lines and planes conspire to a certain perpetuity. But since this form, both by expansion from center to circumference, and also by

Starting point is 13:35:58 resisting the blow of other objects on its surface, either returns to itself, or enters upon some other state. Therefore, lest it, the circular form, should perish by expansion, there is that which is perpetual in the spiral form. For the coils terminate in a kind of circular surface and return to it, and so by expansion, as also by this returning and keeping the unbroken surface in view, this figure is more sure of permanence. But still, inasmuch as this spiral figure has regard to a center, it is yet liable to destruction.

Starting point is 13:36:36 The possibility of perishing is done away with. however, in the forms still superior, as in the vertical and celestial. Thus such is the perpetuity in the spiritual form that, by virtue of its very nature, the form is secure, for one determination so regards another, that each renders the other entirely safe from every injury. This results from the form itself, and the perfection in which it was created. Moreover, the spiritual form draws its essence immediately, from God by inspiration as a child from its parent, wherefore it acknowledges deity or God himself as its father, immediately in creation, and that it is, and exists, from the immortal

Starting point is 13:37:22 and eternal self, and can neither be destroyed nor become mortal. This is the reason why the soul is immortal, not from itself, but from God, who alone is immortal in himself. Thus through him does the soul become so? Since therefore the soul is the inmost and supreme of all forms, the first natural form itself is beneath it, and the inferior forms recede even to the angular, as earth recedes from heaven. Hence the soul can in no wise be touched, still less destroyed, by these lower forms which are in nature. Tell me, how can that which is inmost be destroyed by those things which are without, or that which is supreme, by those which are below, or that which is simple by those which are compound, or what is prior

Starting point is 13:38:12 by what is posterior, or what is most perfect in itself, by things which are imperfect in themselves. For the imperfect derives its ability to exist at all from the perfect qualities which it contains. That which has in itself the infinite cannot be touched by the finite, still less destroyed. What is constant in itself cannot be destroyed by what is inconstant. The very superior forms themselves, especially the spiritual, are able to undergo infinite changes of their state, since, in this, their perfection consists. If we suppose any attack, collision, or the like to take place, such as occurs in inferior forms, then its state is able to be changed in any manner, and even to return to its natural state. Comparatively,

Starting point is 13:39:02 as the natural substances which are most elastic can be bent and unbent, expanded and compressed, and still return to their own form. Thus, as they are acted upon, so they act, and hence cannot be forced by any power or shock out of their natural state. Hence it now follows that nothing terrestrial can by any means touch the soul, whether it be what flows in air, ether, or fire, nor anything atmospheric, not even the most pure fire of nature. All these are far below the soul and have no contact with it,

Starting point is 13:39:40 nor if they did could they exercise the least force, for the soul is safe in its own form. This also is evident in the body itself, where there is so great a disturbance of the most volatile parts taken up from the earth, the aerial atmosphere, and the ether, but still these do not disturb or injure even the least organic connection, place, or order.

Starting point is 13:40:04 Myriads of the substances such as belong to the soul might meet in the smallest angular form. It would be like saying that a large beam might split into a single particle of some ether, when the fact is that myriads of such ether particles touch so obtuse a mass and even permeate its pores. Or as if you should say that the posts and beams of a house would extinguish the abstractive and directive force of the magnet. When this flows through the metals, themselves and all things. Such would be the injuring, or the obstructing of the operation of the soul or spirit by those things which are the most minute, angular forms of nature or fire. For the magnetic force itself pervades even fire and flame, although in vertical forms.

Starting point is 13:40:52 What then must not the soul be capable of which possesses a form above the celestial? Besides, it is contrary to nature that that can be destroyed. which is without weight or lightness, or which does not resist any weight, but acts according as it is acted upon, or where action and passion exactly correspond. But what agent can there be to destroy the soul? Since there can be none without or below it, for such things do not touch it, and in order to destroy the determinations themselves of the soul, the agent must at least reach them and touch them.

Starting point is 13:41:29 but that also which is above does not destroy the soul for this is divine this preserves rather than destroys and all the more surely since human souls are the ends of creation and constitute the kingdom of god nor indeed does that which is within destroy the soul but it rather preserves it as has been set above a form showing how this protects itself spiritual death however is not the destruction of essence end of life, but of the better life itself, inasmuch as the soul is removed from the love of God, from wisdom, felicity, and perfection, and has ceased to be the image of God, and in heaven this constitutes spiritual death. For life itself consists of the truly spiritual loves, and when these are extinct and in their place the contrary loves succeed, or hatreds, then that is said to be dead, which truly lived. Truly to live is to love God and to be wise.

Starting point is 13:42:34 In such, life remains that form itself and that essence itself which cannot perish. But there is only a perversion of state, or the state of the form is so changed that it no longer corresponds with the divine loves. And thus, that image of God is lost which requires a state conformable to its loves. But it is asked why the life itself appears to die

Starting point is 13:42:56 and be destroyed with our body, or what appears to be the life itself, rather of the body indeed than of the soul, as in the case of swoonings and ecstasies, dreams, drownings, the buried coming to life, embryonic existence, and other instances, where the subjects are entirely ignorant after their resuscitation into the bodily life that they have been living, meanwhile. No sign remains impressed on their memory of what they have thought, or indeed of their having thought at all. From these and similar examples it appears as if life were merely corporeal and not at all of the soul. But in these, as in innumerable other instances, we are deluded by appearances. For the life of the soul is not like that of our sensation

Starting point is 13:43:45 or perception, or even like that of our thought, but is more perfect and superior, flowing into the thought itself and perfecting it in order that the mind may think. But the thought itself is something that is learned by practice. It is a faculty of the rational mind, and it perishes together with the body. What the pure life and intelligence of the soul is, and how it flows into the thought, may appear from reflection alone, in that, namely, the soul naturally enters into all the secrets of any knowledge when it operates in the body, and in the sensations and thoughts. this knowledge being not acquired by the soul, but inborn and flowing in from the life of the soul.

Starting point is 13:44:31 Does not the eye explore all the secrets of optics, the ear, those of acoustics, in order to know of itself and of its own nature how to form sounds and how to put together what shall be harmonious? Does not even a little boy, whenever he thinks or forms a judgment or speaks, traverse all the first philosophy, logic, dialects, grammar, and so forth, yea, the most hidden things of these sciences. Thus it is that we learn from ourselves all this knowledge. When the soul acts, or produces the least action, or moves a muscle,

Starting point is 13:45:09 it runs through all chemistry, mechanics, mathematics, and physics. Hence may appear what the life of the soul is in itself, namely, that it is such, as it is of itself, it is not something acquired by learning, like the knowledge of the rational mind whence come imagination and thought. Therefore the inmost life or essence of thought derives its origin from the soul, and thus thoughts may be withdrawn,

Starting point is 13:45:37 and still the life of the soul, or the highest spiritual intelligence, remain. Since the life of the soul is such as we have described, it cannot leave any impress on our rational mind. for it is an intelligence so universal, pure, simple, and superior, that its thought cannot be exercised by means of words or material ideas in the manner that we think. Hence it can neither impress the sensory, nor in the absence of the ideas of memory,

Starting point is 13:46:08 induce any change in it. Inasmuch, therefore, as the soul in such wise shapes its ideas without speaking words, but rather understanding inwardly those things which the mind speaks or thinks, it follows that this life of the soul can least of all impress anything of its memory on the mind, which understands things only in the crudest manner comparatively. But that this very life of the soul is our own, yea, is the life of the body itself, and that we are to return into it after the dissolution of the body, is apparent from

Starting point is 13:46:45 this, that the soul is that which experiences sensation, named namely, it hears, it sees, it perceives, it thinks, judges, wills, but according to an organic form and not otherwise, this also is vividly shown in that the soul does not seem to live separately from its bodily organs, except as these external forms are successively destroyed. Thus the sight appears as if it were in the eye, but the eye being closed we will still see with a sight, and the more the eye is closed, the the more the internal sight and imagination are perfected. And so much is this the case that the external sight

Starting point is 13:47:27 may be rather a hindrance than otherwise to the internal sight. Likewise, the imagination and thought seem so to cohere that without the imagination, the thought would seem to perish. But yet, in order to think profoundly and to enter inmostly into things themselves, it is necessary to remove the material ideas of the imagination, or to abstract the mind from material things,

Starting point is 13:47:53 since only thus can we think purely. This comes by abstraction. Thus the thought returns and is separated, as it were, from its external form. Such thought also leaves almost no impress whatever on the internal sensory, except so far as it has become fixed in some material idea or figure. When now this entire material idea recedes, there remains the life of the soul, which can make no impression on the sensory. Nor does it put itself forth as it is in the embryo or infant, although it is possessed of just as much intelligence in the smallest infant as in an adult

Starting point is 13:48:35 mind of the acuteest judgment. But it is unable to put itself forth, except so far as the rational mind is furnished with ideas of the memory. By means of it. of which it may express itself. Such is the life of the soul unmixed with ignorance, having no imperfection, having all knowledge in itself, so that it may be knowledge itself, truth, order, and intelligence. As such can by no means perish. Nature which is destructible is subject to it, and so the life of that form seems to die.

Starting point is 13:49:10 The veriest life of the soul is the veriest life appertaining to us. and it does not come to itself so that we may be conscious of it before all that life of the forms which are below itself, and in which it has been involved, has receded. These the soul itself destroys in order that it may free itself from their chains, and be restored to its own right and freedom of acting. For just as the soul knows how to form its own body, one viscous after another, how to escape from the womb, how to nourish itself at the breast, and many other things, even as the caterpillar knows how to transform itself into the butterfly

Starting point is 13:49:51 and to destroy its pristine form, so also does the soul know how to destroy its own forms, to restore itself to liberty, and thus to migrate from this dying, imperfect, and inconstant life, to that which is immortal, and this could not take place without the death of the body's life. From these very operations of the soul, it may be seen what its form is. For the soul is that very substance in which form has its being, its intelligence is that distinguishing faculty and quality of the forces and modifications, which we call form. Thus from form, and also from intelligence itself, it may be deduced and clearly seen that the soul is immortal. End of Section 43 Section 44 of the soul or rational psychology.

Starting point is 13:50:50 This is a Libravox recording. All LibraVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenborg. Translated by Frank Seawall, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 44, Chapter 4. 28, Part 1 Chapter 28

Starting point is 13:51:19 Of the state of the soul after the death of the body 511 Everyone desires to know what will be the state of the soul after death. There is no one who does not conjecture that the future state will be such as was that of the bodily life, or that which was lived in the rational mind. For who that has not in his mind penetrated into the degrees of life can conceive that there is any superior, more perfect, universal, or abstract life than that in the rational mind. They are few who deny any continuance of that life, which they attribute to

Starting point is 13:52:00 the soul and to the animus. The wise men of the Gentile nations unanimously believed in this surviving of the soul, as may be seen from the Greek authors, the sophists, Plato, Aristotle, as also from Cicero and all the rest. Besides, in order to place this doctrine beyond all chance of doubt, Pythagoras and Socrates even have attempted to describe the state of the soul after death. We Christians, still better informed out of the sacred scriptures, not only believe in the immortal life of the soul, but also that there is a happy state or heaven and an unhappy state or hell.

Starting point is 13:52:40 But let us pursue the psychological principles proponents, by us in their order, and set forth what these principles dictate. 512. It is the common opinion that at once, after the death of the body, the soul is separated and flies away and leaves its corpse. But when we consider that the universal form of the body exists only from the one substance, the soul, or from the soul, for there is nothing which does not begin with the simple fiber, and the simple fiber is from the simple cortex, and so on. and since the soul is the real essence and substance from which is the universal organic form of the body and thus the all in every part and residing as it were inmostly and in the centre of all even in the blood itself whose principal essence is the soul which is in it it follows that the whole soul does not fly from the body in the moment in which the life of the body is extinct but that it remains so long as there are any parts not dissolved in which it inherits so long as there are any parts not dissolved in which it inherits.

Starting point is 13:53:43 years. This is proved by many instances of those who some days after their funeral rights have been performed have come to life again and continued a life of years among mortals. As the historians tell us, there are those also who have been suffocated in drowning or in constriction of the throat and after days have revived. Meanwhile, the soul cannot have left the body, and when the obstructions are removed, the water discharged, the soul re-enters at once its abode. There are also those who resemble the dying in undergoing swounds, syncope, and like attacks, when nevertheless the soul does not depart but remains and lives, although the body be, as it were, extinct. There are also many examples even in the sacred

Starting point is 13:54:30 histories of its being forbidden to violate the bodies and bones of the dead, so that they may remain in peace and not be dispersed. Samuel also was resuscitated, and many of the instances are related in both sacred and profane history we know as it were from an innate sense or as if the soul itself dictated it that if the bones of the dead are disturbed their shades will confront the violators and about such occurrences also many stories are told the religion two of some people has been to kiss venerate and beseech the bones of heroes and saints in order that these may give or procure aid these things would be the merest vanities if the soul should go forth entirely from the body, and only that which is terrestrial remain. Meanwhile, from the tenor of our arguments, it follows that the soul which procreates the form itself of the body and of its parts, as also the blood and the animal spirit, can by no means be released from its bonds until the lower and more changeable forms be first

Starting point is 13:55:37 dissolved. Although it is not to be denied that much of the soul may be dissolved from its bonds. Still, it is not on this account separated. It is contrary to the nature of spirits that those substances which are born and made for the completion of one system should be separated. What is interwoven with other parts may indeed be separated. Still, although dissolved from those bonds, it appears that entire separation from all bonds is impossible before the intervention of a most pure elementary fire, or until the conflagration of the world. 513. But it is asked, what kind of a life is that which the soul lives while it still remains in the dead body, the order, arrangements, and connection of whose organic parts is wholly destroyed?

Starting point is 13:56:28 That life must necessarily be a most obscure one, or merely life without intelligence. This appears from the mere definition of intelligence. All intelligence supposes not only an internal form and change of state in the single censories and intellectories, but also an external form of these particulars, or one enabling them to preserve a mutual arrangement and order. This order being destroyed among the particulars, and with it their arrangement and connection. The communication of forces, modifications, and affections at once ceases. But there succeeds a certain irregularity from which results a certain kind of life, not distinct and determined, but confused and obscure, which may be named barely life without

Starting point is 13:57:16 intelligence. To understand, intelligere, is to live distinctly and according to a form not of particulars only, but one entirely constantaneous, which form is the reason. For our intellect is at once disturbed when the situation and connection of the sensory or cortical glands are disturbed, as we learn from the accounts of diseases of the head. The sight is destroyed or weakened by the disturbance of the fibrous or liquid parts. The cases like that of colors when all the colors are mingled together with water or when an infinite number of prisms and of the smallest irregular bits of glass are mixed together. There is then no distinct or beautiful color, but only a whiteness resulting,

Starting point is 13:58:04 which is the conflux of all. 514. But when the organism is not yet destroyed or its order disturbed, there then remains a distinct life of the soul, as in the embryo, although the soul cannot establish a communication between its universal mind and intelligence and its rational mind for reasons above given. Hence, no memory of itself remains after its resuscitation. 515. But indeed, the substance of itself remains after its resuscitation. 515. 15. But indeed, the substance of the soul, freed from its corporeal bonds, seems to live a distinct life, and indeed all the more distinct for being liberated from these its hindrances. For these most individual entities form a society among themselves, and institute a most distinct order being left to their own liberty and awaiting companions. For the greater the society, the more perfect is the life.

Starting point is 13:59:02 whoever has lived longest, and him has the society, forming a unanimous body, become so much the largest. 516 Inasmuch as the soul is distinguished most completely into substances of spiritual form, it may be believed that the individual substances or forms will, after dissolution, become dissipated, and never again unite into the society of any one body. such an opinion, however, arises from ignorance regarding the world and its purer nature and that of purer beings, for we believe that there is a something which remains when the little bodily particle is resolved into smoke, vapor, dust, and ashes. But an entirely different process ensues from this. In that supreme, most pure and perfect world, or that where nature is simple and prime, we cannot conceive of a disjunction of those beings

Starting point is 14:00:02 which by virtue of their mutual harmony and likeness belong to a single body. Each living and spiritual substance of the soul recognizes its companion in the body as its own, nor cannot live in mutual consort with any other, nor does anything prevent their coming together, for there is no space, place, or time to disjoin them. These conditions, all belonging to an inferior nature,

Starting point is 14:00:28 and not to the supreme place exists respectively to lower beings in whose relations there is an upper and a lower or right and left a centre surface a diameter thus in order that there may be a where but in the supreme world all respect of places from soul to soul since these are entirely distinct from each other nor can these substances of the soul be separated for one recognizes fee feels, nose, the other, even if it were as far off respectively as the sun from the earth, or star from star. When indeed such gross organs of vision as the eye can reach even from the earth to the sun and stars, what may not the sight of the soul, the intelligence, include, capable as it is, of being named a spiritual sympathy. Since nothing prevents the coming together again of these substances of the soul, it is therefore only our ignorance of the purer world which deceives us and suggests a dissipation which in that world is an impossibility especially since the omnipresence of the divine spirit acting upon all souls cannot suffer that anything pertaining to any one should be separated

Starting point is 14:01:48 for there is a spirit which unites all things beneath itself, joining the concordant, disjoining the discordant, and so collecting together all souls. This follows of necessity, since if we consider the influx of this universal spirit, it cannot do otherwise than join together all things that have respect to one body, and vice versa. 517. When similar phenomena occur in the world and in the lower and in the lower and less perfect nature, why not in the superior and most perfect? For there nothing exists which is irregular, but only that which is most harmonious, concordant, and united. It is well known that

Starting point is 14:02:31 shrubs, plants, flowers, roses, burned to dust, are brought to life again in water, their vegetative lives or spiritual essences, being, as it were, excited anew by some means. The very figure itself being thus excited, if by the breaking of the vessel it falls back into its ashes, it yet again revives. And thus, sometimes these parts cannot be so disjoined and separated, but that they will come back into their pristine form, and unite again in their ancient friendship and habit after these vicissitudes, and indeed in such wise that they unite again into exactly their first form. Why, then, should not human souls do likewise, after, the destruction of the body.

Starting point is 14:03:18 518. I need not speak of those manifest sympathies also recognized in this lower world, which are so numerous as to forbid their being rehearsed. So great is this sympathy and this kind of magnetism that it may often be communicated among thousands of persons. These phenomena are, however, by some reckoned as mere idle tales, still experience itself establishes their truth, nor would i care to relate that the shades of certain ones after the death and obsequies of the body have become visible which thing could never have happened even admitting the fact which i do not unless the animal spirit were mutually conjoined and not separated from their common fellowship

Starting point is 14:04:02 at least such a bond and love intervened between the constituent parts of the body itself that these preserve a mutual relation and cannot be separated and this too is the reason of the reason of the body itself that these preserve a mutual relation and cannot be separated and this too is the reason of the reason of the body of the mutual love of those who love as to the body. 519. That every substance of the soul associates to itself another such substance is evident from the love of parents toward their offspring, whose soul the parent, because he knows it to be taken from his own, so inwardly knows and loves that he wishes again to be joined to it and to enter into it, which he endeavors in vain to do by kisses and embraces.

Starting point is 14:04:45 What then will not the several parts of the universal soul of one body desire? End of Section 44. Section 45 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Librevox.org. The Soul, or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenborg. translated by Frank Seawall

Starting point is 14:05:22 1837 to 1915 and others Section 45 Chapter 28 Part 2 520 Meanwhile this must be confessed that the soul of one would never be distinct from that of another if the state of the one were absolutely similar to that of the other But since it is provided that there shall always be some difference between souls

Starting point is 14:05:49 therefore they cannot be conjoined, but each soul must form its own body and must live its own life. Thus one soul knows the fellow substance which belongs to itself and its own system, and so, drawn by a certain sympathetic love, it is unable to unite itself with any other substance, for that is not its own, and cannot be united with itself into one body. A universal divine providence therefore reigns in distinguishing, particulars from particulars, so that no one's soul shall be precisely like another. 521. But it is asked, what is to be the form of the soul in heaven, whether similar to the bodily form

Starting point is 14:06:35 or another which is called angelic? And then, whether the angelic form is like the human form. This, indeed, I do not think, that we are to put on the human form. for such a form exists solely for use in the lowest world. In heaven souls are like birds, nor do they have intercourse with any earth. They have no need of feet or arms, hence neither of muscles, that is, of flesh and bones. For they are spirits. Nay, they neither require the red blood, nor ventricle, nor intestine, nor mesentery. For these things belong to the reception of food, to killifaction,

Starting point is 14:07:16 To nutrition. The making of blood and similar uses. Nor is there need of heart in as much as there is neither red blood nor liver nor pancreas nor spleen. Neither are there teeth, jaws, throat, trachea, lungs, nor tongue. There is no use of air, of respiration, speech, digestion. Neither ear nor eye. For where there is no air, there is no sound, and where no earth exists, there is no vision. Nor could this be of any use. even the members of the brain with the menages and the medulla obligata and spinalis will there be of no use would the use itself perish as all necessity for their being for what use could degenerative organs exist all these things will serve for no use as soon as we become spirits and angelic forms hence it would appear that the soul is not to receive that form which is imperfect and not celestial unless as some hold the opinion there shall be created a new earth and a new atmospheric heaven into which we shall be admitted like new inhabitants five hundred twenty two but it is asked what form shall we have this we can no more know than the silkworm which when a miserable worm crawls over its leaves but after its long-endured labours is turned into an aurelia and flies away a butterfly it does not know that it is to have an entirely different body which shall agree with the atmosphere in which it is to live. It does not know that it will take on wings and be provided with members adequate to that new life. And so with ourselves, we are grossly ignorant about the nature of that purest aura which is called celestial,

Starting point is 14:09:04 and in which souls are to live, being completely furnished with such a form that, like birds in our atmosphere, they may everywhere to reverse their spaces and fly through universes and heavens, their members and their form being exactly adapted to that life. Therefore, until we know what that aura is and what life we are to live in it, we are wholly unable to say what form we shall put on. This only may be said that our future form is not to be such as this present one, but rather the most perfect of all, a form into which we shall be changed as nymphae and oriele are changed to more perfect forms.

Starting point is 14:09:43 a form to which our souls also aspire, and for this reason often would accelerate the death of the body, for this aspiration is inborn in the soul and is not communicated to the body. 523. In the meanwhile, when the soul is left to itself and is no longer connected with the organic forms necessary for the pursuit of the corporeal life there, it seems to be able to put on any form it may wish, so that if it should descend from heaven to earth, in a moment it might take the human form, for universal nature is so formed that it shall serve the spiritual life as an instrumental cause, so that it at once flows into conformity whenever the soul commands. Just as in the body, for the soul or spirit commands according as this or that act may agree with its will,

Starting point is 14:10:36 and at once the body submits and hastens to obey. the soul wishes to view the visible world. At once the eye is shaped for every form of modification. It wishes to hear, and at once the wonderful organism of the ear exists. It wishes to walk, to fly, to swim, at once are provided the feet, the wings, the fins, and so with infinite other desires and capacities. Nay, the soul of the infant is often affected by the strong desire or by the fear of the soul of the mother in such a way that I according to this single impression, a mouse, a frog, a rose, or other object appears upon the part of the body touched. These are evidences that nature readily hastens to obey when the soul commands. Accordingly, after death, when dissolved from these organic bonds, whatever form it wishes as agreeing with its state, it would seem capable of assuming. If, therefore, it should descend to earth, at once it would put on the human form, nay, if vocation should require any other animal form, too will this would be all that is necessary,

Starting point is 14:11:46 everything else follows of itself. Nor would these be miraculous occurrences, for it would be no more contrary to nature than that one form out of an egg should put on a human form or should in the skin show the mark of the dormouse, or similar impressions made during the tender period of growth. The soul is constituted in freedom of determination. The soul is constituted in freedom of determination, nor is it any longer limited as on earth. It can likewise put off that form and dissipate it in an instant, yea, it can present a burning countenance and the like, as in the recorded appearances of the cherubim and the seraphim, and the angels appearing to the shepherds. The reason is that the whole form is from the soul, the very elements being at once assumed out of the surrounding atmospheres,

Starting point is 14:12:35 and disposed in its intellectories and organs. five hundred twenty four for even these essential determinations of the form depend on their action and interior principle within in the soul the soul is not carried away with the affections of any animus into these or those impulses but solely into the uses which are necessary to love novelties varieties curiosities is natural to the animus and also to the rational mind for to these there is nothing which is not unknown not so the soul from which nothing is hidden. Wherefore, it is never carried away by curious desire. It follows as a consequence that the soul forms for itself its intellectories, which it disposes in harmonious order, since without arrangement and subordination and coordination,

Starting point is 14:13:30 nothing intellectual can be carried on, and therefore it also follows that the form of the body is a purely celestial one, such as is the intellectory. but as to whether it be a vortical form this indeed we may surmise although these are among the secret things and at best but mere conjectures if any one sees them reason alone has convinced him of them when we live as souls perhaps we ourselves shall laugh at what we have guessed at in so childish a manner five hundred twenty five it is not to be believed that in our soul existence we shall be wise in the same manner as while we were living in our rational mind or human intellect, in which there was always, however, more of ignorance than of understanding. This mind, or our thought, as it appears to us, becomes entirely extinct,

Starting point is 14:14:25 and the life of the soul remains, which is ignorant of nothing, but of itself knows everything. Wherefore, it is science itself and pure intelligence, which, however, does not speak or express its meaning by voice or words, these being so many material ideas, but it embraces at once everything which pertains to the subject of thought. For the intelligence of the soul is the same in the infant as in the adult and aged. It is what flows into our thought and makes us able to understand and philosophically to connect together all things which we think. Wherefore after death there is no such impure intellect. But when the soul flies away from the body, it is like going from a dense shade into the open sunlight, or coming out of a dark dungeon into the city of Rome, or into the

Starting point is 14:15:14 whole world, or like a blind man being restored to sight. For the truths of our mind are mere hypotheses, fallacious principles, appearances, opinions, and the like. But those of the soul are the various truths themselves. 526. But the soul, being pure intelligence and a spiritual essence, is above all sciences and doctrines. For these are natural, and stand still or go groping around far beneath. The soul knows the secret things of these sciences, which can never be penetrated by the mind, although always approached. For the mind is no more able to utter these hidden things than algebra its series of

Starting point is 14:15:58 infinites expressed by the differential calculus in a long series, and in a long series, capable of reduction by the integral calculus. Therefore, as to its state of intelligence, one soul is precisely like another. 527. But as regards its state of wisdom, one soul is never absolutely similar to the soul of another, for one has within it more perfect and purer loves. It loves God above itself, and its neighbor as itself. Thus the soul of one is ruled by divine love. But that of another, loves contrary things and hates what the former loves, and thus is rather to be called diabolical. From the study of spiritual loves, it is manifest how far souls may differ. Therefore, there are divine souls or those belonging to the divine society, and there are those which

Starting point is 14:16:51 are diabolical belonging to the infernal society. All nevertheless enjoy the most perfect intelligence of the good and the true, but are affected with either the love or the hatred of these. five hundred twenty eight this nature souls derive in the corporeal life and indeed by means of the rational mind for the soul is then in the process of being formed into a good or evil state but not into the intelligence of the true and the good how the soul is affected has already been shown and also what divine means ought to concur for improving and perfecting the state of the soul for rendering it more complete and restoring to it its first divine image. But still, when the body has left and the rational mind has become extinct, then the human soul has been formed. And so much, and of such quality as it is, it remains forever, for nothing can be present to improve it more. There is no influx from a changeable mind, or one that may be perfected or depraved. The rational mind alone is capable of this. There is no struggle between

Starting point is 14:18:02 it, the soul, and the animus, or between the loves of each, thence no hope of victory. The intelligence is pure and most perfect. There is therefore no changeableness in it, by which another state of the soul might be brought on. It is not annexed to any organic form which it obeys. In a word such as it is, it remains forever, particularly as regards its loves and spiritual aversions. as to eternal felicity or unhappiness. 529. Nor can this prevent the souls knowing everything which its mind ever experienced in the body,

Starting point is 14:18:46 or which the soul by means of the mind may have acquired in the world while an inhabitant of it. Since the intelligence is pure, it follows of necessity that it shall know again and be conscious of the particular things which are in every verity and in every goodness. For otherwise, it would not be necessary. not be a pure intelligence, but rather a confused ignorance. From the changes of its own state or from its acquired state itself, it knows all causes, infinite as they are. For there is not the least act voluntarily done, but that the will, the desire, and the end of it has affected the soul, and in some way contributed to its state, and hence from its own state the soul knows every cause.

Starting point is 14:19:29 It knows most perfectly that which in its own rational mind has been operating at, a cause, and it also sees beforehand, most perfectly, what to expect, whether the happy or the unhappy. 530. Therefore, it enjoys the memory of the past, not such as is the memory and reminiscence of our sensory, which is given up to material ideas and images, but such as is pure and most perfect, so that not the least moment of the past life is hidden from it. not even a word which has contributed to the changing of its state for all this the soul understands not from any memory but from its own actual state since all things past are present to it

Starting point is 14:20:16 yea even in natural things where is the connection of causes and of contingencies there is the presence of all future things this flows from the intellect alone which is the pure intelligence five hundred thirty one the soul itself cannot change its own state any better than the body its deformed countenance distorted mouth its humped back or the muscle causing the distortion or bringing on the change of state all this inheres as a natural deformity in the body and the more it wishes to mend itself the more it becomes deformed so is it affected by its self-consciousness five hundred thirty two in the meantime the soul possessed of such a state of such a state of of intelligence cannot otherwise than know everything which takes place in the heavens and earths. In the heavens, by the communication of operations which cannot be otherwise than most perfect, when there exists in this life such a communication of minds, and a kind of sympathy between friends and relatives. Granting such a communication of souls, this can also be described. For the soul is occupied with its perpetual intuition of things past and present at the

Starting point is 14:21:32 same time, and the celestial aura and common spirit of all things intervenes, which makes it impossible for the operations of one soul not to be communicated to another, since otherwise without communion there would be no connection of souls by love. This may be compared with our bodily hearing and vision, for there are oras and atmospheres which communicate to any distance things which occur most remotely. Yay, the sight even takes in objects proceeding for from the sun? Why should not the soul, which is pure intelligence, perceive the particular things which go on in other souls wherever they are? Such a communion as this is a logical consequence resulting from the celestial aura, when its existence is admitted, and from the divine spirit

Starting point is 14:22:20 embracing all things, and from mutual love as its effect? But this communication is not susceptible of comparison with that effected by the bodily senses, the sight and hearing, since nothing occurring in the universe can be hidden from the soul, for the intellectual site can terminate only with the limit of the universe, as is evident from ocular vision. End of Section 46 of The Soul or Rational Psychology. This is the Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. Lynn Lee. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Immanuel Swedenborg, translated by Frank

Starting point is 14:23:18 Seawall, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 46. Chapter 29 Concerning Heaven or the Society of Happy Souls, 533. Such is the difference of souls and of minds, such the perpetual dissension, strifes, controversies, as well in things of philosophy as of theology, and in worldly and corporeal affairs that one animus never agrees with another. Therefore so many schisms, heresies, and controversies are tolerated as though by special providence of God, and also so great power, is allowed the devil at the same time, in order that he may destroying the lower and the intellectual minds of men, and thus impress upon each soul its own special state. This also seems to have been the cause why it was permitted to Adam to commit sin.

Starting point is 14:24:22 For in the first age, the soul of no one was distinguished from that of another, and thus there was no society. From this cause also seems to have resulted the strict prohibition of parents from entering into marriage with sons and daughters and of brothers with sisters and many other circumstances which would tend to conjoin souls, also that marriages are declared to be contracted and confirmed in God. Nevertheless, proofs are extant of the divine providence in the contracting of marriages, even to the least particulars. God also leaves everyone his own free choice in acting, and, as it were, decrees that the liberty of anyone shall not suffer the least injury, but rather that everyone shall be permitted to rush into his own destruction or that of others,

Starting point is 14:25:18 since the liberty itself of human souls is the sole means of disdaining the lower minds, and hence also the souls of those who are mutually affected. 534 The divine providence operates, therefore, especially in distinguishing particulars from particulars, inasmuch as it is the end itself of creation, that there shall be a most perfect society of human souls. For the ultimate end ought to be that which is the first and the last of creation, all things else being means to this end, as will appear if we examine each separately. The progression itself of means extends even beyond nature.

Starting point is 14:26:08 Can anyone say that an earthly society can be the ultimate end when the body exists on account of the soul? Must there then not be some further end on account of which the soul and heaven and the universal exist? Can there be any other end than that there may be a society and kingdom of God to be constituted of all human souls? These conclusions are so clear that we do not know whether they can be called in doubt, and so manifest that they are capable of confirmation from everything existing in the world.

Starting point is 14:26:47 535. Since therefore no soul is absolutely similar to another, but rather some difference or diversity of state intervenes between all, this has come about not merely that souls may be mutually distinguished, but that the most perfect form of society may thence arise. In a perfect form of society, there ought to be not only a variety among all, but such variety that the particulars shall so accord as to constitute at the same time a society in which there shall be no want which someone may not supply. such a form there is in the atmospheric world itself or in the macrocosm, and such there is in every body between its constituent parts, be it the fibres, the cortical glands, or other parts.

Starting point is 14:27:42 This variety I call harmonical. It is such in fine that all the various parts are mutually related by a certain natural analogy and thus constitute a society which may be. be one. For nothing can coalesce, and as it were, constitute one form unless there be an analogy between the determining parts and the determinations. Hence arises conjunction, and hence it is that harmony is pleasing and conjoins, but disharmony is unpleasant and disjoints. Therefore, a form of government can by no means be called perfect unless there be in it a variety of and in that a harmony wherein everyone has a relation to another rightly, according to natural laws. The analogical or harmonical similitude itself resembles identity and union. In no other way is it possible for a most perfect society or form of society to be instituted.

Starting point is 14:28:49 536 But that harmonious variety does not consist of, in the external variety, but in the spiritual variety of souls and of love toward God and the neighbor, since the state of the soul imports solely its spiritual state, namely that it may be near to its God. So long as any difference or any distinction is wanting, just so long may it be said that a certain place is wanting in heaven, so that all differences are to be supplied before the most perfect form can exist. 537.

Starting point is 14:29:30 But are there to be many societies, and as it were, many heavens, out of which is to arise a universal society, which is called the kingdom of God? This seems also a possible induction, for all variety, even that which is spiritual, supposes some order,

Starting point is 14:29:49 subordination and coordination, so that in the earth, one particular society has reference to another, and all taken together constitute a kingdom. This seems to follow as a conclusion from the supposed admitted variety of the state of souls. For that the form of governments may be perfect, it is necessary that all the societies shall produce a general harmony among themselves, just as the several members constitute each a particular harmony. This is called the kingdom of God, but the true kingdom of God is on this earth, which is the seminary of that kingdom above. This is not confined to any certain religion or church, but is spread

Starting point is 14:30:39 over the whole globe, since God chooses its members out of all, namely out of those who had really loved God more than themselves and their neighbor as themselves. For this is the law of laws. In this culminate all rights, as well natural as divine. All other things, including ecclesiastical and other forms, are means which lead to this. This is church God collects from the universal globe until all places shall be occupied, allowing that difference in the form of government still to remain, which is necessary in order that the most perfect unity may result. 539. But there could be no such society without its head or chief,

Starting point is 14:31:33 who should be indeed a man without offense or wrong, the conqueror of all the affections of the lower mind, the embodiment of virtue itself and piety itself, loving God above self and his associates as neighbors, thus a divinity in himself, in whom the universal society would be represented, and through whom the members of the society might have access to their deity. Without such a king of souls, in vain would a society be collected, exist and subsist. This also follows of necessity from the admitted form of the government, from the disparity of the states of all, and from the nearness of God through love.

Starting point is 14:32:22 This form would therefore be constituted wholly by those purer ones of every degree, consequently by the purest of all, who should be without sin, that is, by our Savior and Preserver Jesus Christ, in whom, through faith and love, we are alone and able to approach the divine throne. Note, so far as this, refers to man's about, to approach and to know God as a visible and personal being, by means of the divine humanity which he assumed and glorified in Jesus Christ. This expression is not inconsistent with the theological teachings of the true Christian religion, but it would be wholly so understood as implying the mediation of Christ as a person distinct from the Father, and thus Trinity

Starting point is 14:33:09 of Persons, instead of the Trinity of Person, or the unity of Father, of Father, Son, and Holy ghost in the one and only divine person our Lord Jesus Christ, just as the soul, body, and operation unite in constituting the person of one man. So the Apostle Paul teaches that, in Him Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and our Savior himself declares that He is in the Father and the Father in Him, that He that seeth Him seeeth the Father, and that he and the father are one. Also he breathed on his apostles and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost, implying that this is a divine power or energy imparted from himself, and not a distinct or third person in the Trinity. See the doctrine of the Lord and the true Christian religion throughout.

Starting point is 14:34:04 540. Behold the form of the government of society or of celestial societies, yea, the kingdom of God briefly shadowed forth. The form of the government itself cannot wholly differ from the perfect form of government of earthly societies. Whatever feature in these is imperfect is their most perfect. And those are spiritual loves which distribute the dignities, and they are nearer to their chief. Thus also each one possesses his own heaven

Starting point is 14:34:39 and enjoys his own happiness. 541. In such a society, there cannot put rain every joy, happiness, and felicity, replete with the inmost essence and most delicious sense of love and of virtues. But no tongue can describe that felicity and those joys, for they exceed by infinite degrees corporeal delights, which in comparison stand as shadows or mere trifles of delight, and hardly to be counted as such,

Starting point is 14:35:11 if human delights which are innocent should be exalted to their highest degree or concentrated in the inmost, then some idea might seem to be formed of it. It is a universal society whose units are to be counted by myriads. It is the most perfect communion of all, or a perfect consortiation of spiritual minds, such that whatever is in one mind is common to one mind, is common to another. Thus there is one soul in the society, and likewise every variety possible in the

Starting point is 14:35:45 universe which diffuses and at the same time concentrates the felicities of mind. The happiness is concentrated upon each one of the society, and by each one it is diffused, and thus it is multiplied infinitely, if there are many societies constituting among themselves also, or a form of government and a variety. For whatever was once pleasant in life, and at the same time pure, is now exalted to the highest degree, nor is the communication of minds affected by means of language, but by a certain activity of mind, once comes the angelic speech,

Starting point is 14:36:27 which expresses nothing whatever by words or by material ideas, but is able at once and by one operation to express what we can only do by thousands of words. The sight is not ocular, but internal, so that we may know what goes on in the universal society with its infinite variety. For there is an intuition of all past things as if present, that is, as if divining by the aid of all things that ever have been on the earth. There is a representation of the universal heaven, in a word, the infinite varieties which suffuse souls. with ineffable delights. Nor does impure love exist there, but the pure friendship which has exceeded in its place. Nor is there any thought of the future, or desire, hope, or anxiety.

Starting point is 14:37:23 All things are there without anxiety, and without fear of loss, most constant, eternal. Hence the veneration and adoration of their deity, in whose praise the heaven, of heavens resound, the other spiritual delights being elevated thereby to a still higher degree, but these are only a few of the features of that life, for to narrate them all were impossible. Such seems to be that most distinct life which is life indeed, whereas the bodily life is only a representation of that life, its shadow, and its dream. For to live is to understand and to be wise, and to live by love with him who is life itself is verily to live. 542.

Starting point is 14:38:16 From these observations, it follows that by unanimous consent, the blessed ones conspired to the glory of their Lord and to the love of the citizens in heaven and on earth. For the joy is elevated, according to the number of those associated, and at the same time the inmost rejoice in love that the kingdom of, of God is increased, for this is the effect of either love. At length, from so many pure minds, the common animus of the society is inspired, just as in our body, from one animus or lower mind, is inspired by the minds of the intellectories. So it is with the common intellect. What influx,

Starting point is 14:39:01 however, that common animus has into our souls? This is not to be described here. for the communication of that society with us takes place only through our souls therefore may thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as in the heavens end of section forty six section forty seven of the soul or rational psychology this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell, 1837 to 1915, and others. Section 47 Chapter 30

Starting point is 14:40:01 Concerning Hell or the Society of Unhappy Souls 543 The Society of Those Who Live in the Contrary Loves, or in hatred to God and their neighbor, is called infernal, diabolical, unhappy. It exists wholly in order that there may be every variety interposed between the two and indeed actually,

Starting point is 14:40:30 for in the spiritual idea of the soul there can be no existence which is not actual since the soul is pure intelligence, nor is it obstructed with any shades of ignorance. nor can intermediate things exist without their opposites. For their quality is only known by knowing their relations in opposition. Hence the devil actually exists and an infernal society, or a society burning with the love of destroying the heavenly society.

Starting point is 14:41:05 Without such an evil society, the blessed would not be kindled with any zeal and ardor, nor would their souls burn with eager desire to protect the church. Thus they feel their happiness increased by the existence of a life contrary to their own. 544. Into this society come all souls which hold in hatred God and the neighbor. From their principles, that is, from their love, flow forth crimes and wickedness of every sort. they are defiled with vices they themselves suffer most deeply from their own consciences when they behold with open eyes the truths which in this life they had endeavored to dissipate with specious arguments and sophistic reasonings but when there is no ignorance only a bare knowledge of truths as after death in souls and when the state of the soul has been already deformed and has so drawn down

Starting point is 14:42:08 that nature that it cannot return to its more beautiful state, then it cannot help suffering the most deep and intense anguish and torture. And because this suffering is spiritual and in the soul, it cannot be described in words or conceived in ideas, for it surpasses flames, the gnashing of teeth, and many other punishments of earth. It is as though they were inwardly suffering from blazing and boiling oil poured from an inexhaustible vessel. 545. That this society also should be provided with its leader and chief would seem to be undeniable, because all these souls constitute one society or hell, and without a leader, one would

Starting point is 14:42:59 rush upon another, like erroneous and furies. No higher or mutual love conjoins these sons. souls, but only the fear of their leader or chief, to whom perhaps is given the power of torturing the subject souls, as often as they do not perform their duty, and so long as it is a society there seems to be some hope remaining of warring against heaven and of exulting oneself to the throne. They know indeed the impossibility of this, but nevertheless a pure hatred so persuades them. Therefore, as long as they enjoy and hope, and as this grows from the increase of their numbers, they seem in some manner to be happy, not inwardly, but superficially,

Starting point is 14:43:49 just as the envious are inwardly pained at the misfortune of even an unknown person, not from sympathy or love, but because this reminds them of the misery that they themselves are to endure forever. 546. But nevertheless, in the last judgment, when the splendor of omnipotence, omnipresence, wisdom, justice, and divine love, shall shine forth most fully,

Starting point is 14:44:20 so that each one may view his previous life clearly depicted in his own state, and without the sentence being pronounced, may know of what punishment he is worthy, since all things will then be manifest, although in the immediate light of wisdom. Then this society shall lose all hope and shall contemplate in full view its eternal ruin,

Starting point is 14:44:43 and while it beholds not only the kingdom of God, but also the felicity of the members of that society, so completely and purely revealed, hatred becomes changed into envy, and envy into misery and anxieties. then it is that this distracted form of society from its own inward hatred as though of a furious madness rushes violently one upon another and through the communion of souls agreeing in their hatred toward heavenly society but discordant among themselves one becomes the devil tyrant of another with all reigns let loose in utter freedom much as it is on earth when liberty is subject to no restraint. 547. This, although the largest society, shall after the judgment, cease to be a

Starting point is 14:45:40 society, and although it would do so, it shall nevertheless avail nothing against the least society of heaven, for these are most closely conjoined and mutual love, yea, bound together under the divine love. But infernal souls are only united under their chief, unconnected by any mutual love, but rather disjoined in perpetual hatred, and besides, separated by God the Uniter. So is the least handful of celestial souls able to put to flight a whole army of the impious, especially since these are afraid of themselves, and flee from the truth which they contemplate in themselves, and are therefore without any self-confidence. Hence one blessed soul may put to flight many thousand souls of the unhappy.

Starting point is 14:46:36 548. The ancients, both philosophers and physicists and the pagan priests, by common consent, have confirmed the doctrine of infernal sufferings. They have described their punishments, that of tantalus and others, also Erebus, Styx, the Aronese, the furies. Pythagoras, Plato and others have thought still more regarding these subjects, for by their light of nature they have seen that by no means can they be happy, who have not in this life prepared for themselves away through virtue to happiness.

Starting point is 14:47:20 End of Section 47 Section 48 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravax.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell 1837 to 1915 and others.

Starting point is 14:47:58 Section 48. Chapter 31 concerning the Divine Providence 549 There is no one, I think, so insane as to deny that there is a certain supreme direction or divine providence. For all things are full of deity, and we admire in each and everything the order which is attributed to nature and its perpetual preservation, not by itself, which would be absurd, but by some higher being from whom it has existence, and subsequently subsistence. We see blended together a multitude of phenomena going to prove a regulating providence, as that all things seem to be for the sake of use or an end, especially that

Starting point is 14:48:50 one end seems to exist on account of another, so that there may be a series of ends from a certain first through intermediates to a last, or another first. But for example, the earth itself exists that it should be inhabited by animated beings, the mineral kingdom that it may produce the vegetable, the vegetable that it may nourish and sustain the animal, the lower species of animals that they may serve the higher, and all that they may serve the human race. The atmospheres that we may be enclosed and held in in the body, and that we may breathe and talk. The ether with the sun, that each being may exist, and also that we may see. But why mention more?

Starting point is 14:49:42 There is not a worm, nor a plant, nor a blade of grass without its use, namely that it may serve as a means to a certain end, so that the visible world is a complex of means to an end beyond the world or beyond its own nature, for there is a progression of ends through natural effects, and thus through universal nature. That there is such a perpetual relation and progress of ends, namely that one is always for the sake of another, is to be held as attributable to a divine providence,

Starting point is 14:50:19 indeed as indicating that God has so provided all particulars that they shall maintain this, their order. 550. The universe, with each most particular thing, thing in it is the work of God alone, for nothing could flow from itself, but can exist without an origin if the origin belonged to nature itself. Whence then is nature, unless you worship that as God. And if these are the works of God, it is necessary that he sustain them, for without perpetual

Starting point is 14:50:55 sustentation all things would relapse into their primitive chaos. he must be actually omnipresent omniscient omnipotent and if omnipotent it follows that he provides for each and every thing in order that there may be ends intermediate to a further end to rule and provide for a universe is the divine itself and property of divinity nor has this need of counsel nor of care for from itself of its own essence wisdom and love all these things things flow in their connection order and their genuine series. 551. If there is a universal providence of God, there is also a particular one, for the universal never exists without particulars from which it is called universal. Of what quality is the universal can be judged from the particulars, thus from providence in most particular things may be.

Starting point is 14:52:00 be judged what it is in the universal, nor would there be any universal unless it concerned itself with particulars, and this indeed in the case of Providence, in order that all these may conspire to universal ends. 552. All Providence regards an end, and it foresees means to an end. is the future embraced in the present, and the present is as the complex of the past. So is there a series of means to a certain end, which is the first in the mediates and in the ultimates. But of what nature is the divine providence we may see much better from examples than from

Starting point is 14:52:45 bare axioms. 553 The End of Creation or the End on Account of of which the world was created could be no other than the first and the last, or the most universal of all ends, and that which is perpetually reigning in the created universe, which is the complex of means conspiring to that end. No other end of creation can be given than that there may exist a universal society of souls, or a heaven,

Starting point is 14:53:19 that is the kingdom of God. that this was the end of creation may be proved by innumerable arguments, for it would be absurd to say that the world was created on account of the earth and terrestrial societies, and this miserable and perishable life, since all things on earth are for the sake of man, and all things in man for the sake of his soul, and the soul cannot be for no end. If then it exists for any end, it must be, for a society in which God is present,

Starting point is 14:53:54 for His providence regard souls which are spiritual and his works are adapted to men and to their consuliation. In order that a celestial society, or society of souls, may exist, it is necessary that there be a most perfect form of government, namely souls distinct among themselves and every possible variety which may be called harmonies between the souls and so from such harmony there will arise a consensus and accord which shall produce that entire effect and end which is always foreseen and provided five hundred and fifty five let there be this most universal end which is at once the first the all in the mediates and the last and thus the same as the first and we shall see at once how the divine providence reigns in foreseeing and dispensing the mediates it may be said god might create such a society at once without our earth and worldly things that is he might fill heaven with souls without any generation and multiplication in this earth this indeed cannot be denied all things to god are possible but there are also innumerable things which are to him impossible for instance to be imperfect mortal inconstant wicked unjust this is repugnant to his nature

Starting point is 14:55:32 and because such a society as we have described whose form is most perfect can in no wise be given without every variety even from the most perfect to the most imperfect from the pure to the impure from love to hatred or because there are intermediates from given opposites thus between the highest good or god and the greatest evil or the devil therefore from these promises it would follow that god because he is perfection itself wisdom goodness and love could in no wise create immediately any devil or any soul in whom evil or any guilt should reside hence not man together with vice, crime, and sin, and hence not such a variety as is required for such a society as we have described. For whatever immediately flowed from God

Starting point is 14:56:29 cannot be otherwise than the best and the most perfect. But that the evil and the imperfect should have come into existence can be traced not immediately to God as a cause but to the created subject itself in which it is a nature. Thus it is from the devil himself that he arose against his God and became a rebel. It was from Adam that he did contrary to the

Starting point is 14:56:55 divine commandment, seeking how he might enjoy a higher and more perfect existence. It is clear from the sacred scriptures that the divine providence did not lead Adam immediately to this evil, but that it permitted it, that it permitted the serpent, that it forbade to him the tree, that it created Adam free and did not instruct him that in the moment that he ate he was not checked and made to abstain, as was Abraham when he would sacrifice his son, beside many other things which clearly demonstrate that there was a providence that he should be able to sin, and for knowledge that he would sin and lose his pristine integrity, and thus that this result should flow as from the very principle of his business,

Starting point is 14:57:46 being, namely that souls are to be distinguished one from another, and that every possible variety must exist between them, and so the end of creation or the kingdom of God be reached, whose seminaries are terrestrial societies, which likewise represent the heavenly society, for there is nothing given in this world which does not contain a representation of the future world. That this end may be obtained it as necessary that man shall be allowed of free will. The cause of variety of subjects arises solely from free exercise and liberty of the will. Without this, there would be no intellect, no morality, no virtue, no vice, no crime, no guilt, no affection of the mind or change of state. This is the reason why God has wished to preserve the free

Starting point is 14:58:44 human will, strong and inviolate, even for the doing of evil deeds, so that we would seem to be almost willing to deny a divine providence for the same reason that we would affirm it. But the liberty allowed to human minds is not absolute, but limited. It is like a bird which the fowler holds bound by its foot or tied with a string and which can move about to a certain distance. It is provided that it shall not go beyond this limit. 556. The means which restrict the free wills of men are numerous. There are, for instance, societies and the forms of their government, laws, punishments of the body, judges, all things done in order that men shall not abuse their free will. There are consciences and laws and rights

Starting point is 14:59:41 impressed on our minds, which are the most stringent bonds. There is religion or divine worship, the fear of eternal punishments and condemnation, and the love and hope of happiness. This therefore may be called the bond of society and of societies. There is a certain fate which follows everyone and abides with him continually according to his crimes or his virtues. Concerning this, we shall treat further on. There is especially the cause of fate,

Starting point is 15:00:18 the influx of God himself by his spirit into souls, which nevertheless exist as contingently as if nothing by provision or consultation. 557. Meanwhile, unless such means had been provided, and God himself had been acting as the ruler and establisher of all, no human society whatever could have existed, where one always seeks the destruction of the other

Starting point is 15:00:49 and despises to despoil him of his goods, and when many esteem themselves higher than societies, and imagine that all things exist for themselves alone. Such a society animated by a spirit destructive of society itself, nevertheless exists entire, and this could not be the case without a divine providence. 558. The very divine providence itself principally reigns in distinguishing particulars from particulars, lest there should be given one state of mind absolutely like another. On this account, liberty is granted. Marriages are said to be for ordained in heaven.

Starting point is 15:01:36 Marriages of parents and children of brothers and sisters are wholly forbidden. Schisms and controversies as well of religion as of principles of economy, politics, philosophy, and physics are tolerated and almost inspired. All differ in their principles and dense in their mental dispositions so that we say many heads, many minds, animi. nature herself abhors every equality between one thing and another, for such would be one and the same, and there would be nothing distinct, and hence nothing natural. 559 Providence reigns both particularly and universally in selecting and foreseeing those who are to attain to heavenly happiness, for the human race is the seminary itself of heaven,

Starting point is 15:02:37 and the city of God or the church is scattered throughout the universal world, and from thence is the celestial society collected. Thus all those who are called the elect are ruled by a particular providence of God. 560 This is the principal end, and these the means, to that end. But there are still infinite means which in their essence as means pursue either immediately or immediately this series of ends, whether as pertaining to things mundane or corporeal or to things spiritual. In regard to things corporeal in order that the body

Starting point is 15:03:28 may be covered or clothed, the whole globe furnishes divestments, yea even the world. worms do this. And as food is also necessary that man may live in the body, this is also provided. As for mundane affairs, there are the wealth and possessions necessary for civil existence, also the sciences, and innumerable other things. For the spiritual interests of man, it is revealed of what nature heaven is, what the will is, how God is to be adored, and by what means the state of the soul is to be perfected, so that it may be a member of heaven, and this in such manner that its liberty may not be injured,

Starting point is 15:04:16 but that it may freely turn itself to God. But concerning providence, fate, fortune, predestination, and human prudence, we have already treated, which passages see and end. add. End of section 48. Section 49 of the soul or rational psychology. This is a Libravox recording. All Libravox recordings are in the public domain.

Starting point is 15:04:57 For more information or to volunteer, please visit Libravox.org. The Soul or Rational Psychology by Emmanuel Swedenberg, translated by Frank Sewell 1837 to 1915 and others. Section 49 Chapter 32 The Universal Mathesis or a Mathematical Philosophy of Universals 562

Starting point is 15:05:29 The celebrated Locke in his treatise on the human understanding says, quote, The ideas which form the basis of morality being all real essences, and of such a nature that they sustain a mutual connection and adaptation, which may be discovered, it follows that as soon as we discover these relations, we shall to that point be in possession of so many real, certain, and general truths. And I am sure that in following a good method one might bring a large part of moral science

Starting point is 15:06:06 to such a degree of evidence and certitude that an attentive and judicious man would no longer find in it any matter of doubt more than he would in propositions of mathematics which have been demonstrated to him End quote. Book 4, Chapter 12, Section 8. And elsewhere, quote, Perhaps if one should consider distinctly and with all possible care the kind of science which proceeds upon the basis of ideas and words,

Starting point is 15:06:40 this would produce a logic and a critique different from those hitherto seen. End quote. Book 4, Chapter 21, Section 4. again quote i do not doubt that in the state and present constitution of our nature human knowledge may be carried far beyond any point thus far attained if men will undertake sincerely and with entire mental freedom to perfect the means of discovering the truth with the same application and the same industry which they employ in coloring and maintaining a falsity in defending the system of which they are declared partisans or certain interests in which they are engaged." End quote. Book 4, Chapter 3, Section 6. Further, quote, the highest degree of our knowledge is intuition without reasoning,

Starting point is 15:07:42 for this is certain knowledge, secure from all doubt, having no need of proof and incapable of receiving it, because it is the highest point of all human certitude. such as that which the angels now possess and that which the spirits of the just made perfect will attain to in the life to come it embraces a thousand things which at present escape entirely our understanding our reason in its limited range of vision catching few gleams of them the rest remaining veiled in darkness from our view end quote book four chapter seventeen section fourteen five hundred and sixty three there is given a science of sciences or a universal science which contains all others in itself and parts of which can as it were be resolved into these and those particular sciences such a science as a science as acquired by learning, but it is conate, especially in souls which are pure intelligences. Such is the science of souls released from the body and of angels, who if they communicate their thoughts or converse would seem unable to form any connection by words,

Starting point is 15:09:04 which are all material ideas and forms, in which the mind understands as signs, knowing their meaning, and this from experience. but the soul from this its science contemplates all objects immediately as they are in themselves, thus whether good or evil, and according to their nature it ascents or is a verse. Unless the soul were furnished with such a science it would be wholly unable to flow into our thoughts and to infuse as it were the power of understanding and of expressing higher things. as also it would be unable to adapt all its organic forms to the inmost and most secret laws of mechanics, physics, chemistry, and many other phenomena.

Starting point is 15:09:54 Therefore, that such a science exists, there can be no doubt. 564 For there are truths a priori or propositions which are at once acknowledged as true, nor is their need for any demonstration a posteriori for proving them, nor of confirmation by experience or by the senses. The truth itself presents itself naked and as it were declares itself true. The mind is often indignant that such truths should have to be proved when they are above all demonstration.

Starting point is 15:10:31 For all harmonies and thus all order naturally soothe and delight the organs of our sense, while this harmony constrains and wounds them. So it is with truths, in which there is, as it were, an intellectual order. Wherefore, if we were not overburdened with the fetters of sciences, with the turbulent desires of the lower mind and similar hindrances, we should be able to know truths purely, since a certain consent shines forth as something harmonious and as from a sacred shrine.

Starting point is 15:11:07 I know not where. 565. But the reason for this is that higher forms contain in themselves all those things which can be contained in the lower forms, as a universal genus contains all the species, so that the higher form is the order itself and the principle of the following forms, thence also of all other forms, modes and qualities,

Starting point is 15:11:35 and in themselves as of their very nature they perceive whatever agrees or disagrees with the form, and thence all that ever is given in the lower forms if there is a connection therewith, such as that of the soul with the body by means of the organic forms. This science indeed may seem to be capable of being reduced to rule, but by what mode of reasoning can be perceived from those things which are immediately around the internal sensory. Thus all ideas, both material and intellectual, are only mutations of the state of the sensory and of the intellectory. And these changes of state can be understood from a description of the forms, especially the circular and spiral. The soul perceives every such change and knows what it signify.

Starting point is 15:12:34 The changes of state are universal and singular, common and particular, general, special, and individual, and all these can be subjected to a certain algebraic calculation and be reduced by rules to equations in the same manner as is customary in the calculus of infinites. In the mind itself also all things are reduced to their equations in which those things are together present, which before have been collected or have taken place successively. Those things which are in contact with the internal sensory can be raised to higher powers or elevated to higher degrees by their proper rules, and so changes of state still more universal exist, which contain together and successively infinitely more particulars corresponding to

Starting point is 15:13:30 the truths themselves, perceived by the soul for the soul for. from the changes of state. 567. Thus, indeed it is possible to submit ideas of the mind to calculation, whence arises the universal methesis, but it is not possible to deduce any certitude thence, unless there be a certitude proposed and acknowledged, from which equations are to be commenced.

Starting point is 15:14:00 I would wish also to propose one other attempt. Indeed, I have ascertained its possibility, but there are many rules to be premised, and data proposed, and truce to be adjusted, before I may approach this. And still we fall at length into a great Gordian knot and equation, out of which greater labor is required to extricate ourselves than it is worthwhile to devote to it. And from the smallest fault in reckoning we are able to fall into many fallacies. On this account, I forbear making the attempt, and in place of it I have desired to propose a certain

Starting point is 15:14:45 key of natural and spiritual mysteries by the way of correspondences and representations, which more directly and certainly leads us into hidden truth. and upon this doctrine since it is as yet unknown to the world i ought to dwell at somewhat greater length end of section forty nine

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