Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 200
of his life is inscribed. 187
All this makes clear the nature of
angelic wisdom. In comparison with human wisdom it is as a
myriad to one, or as the moving forces of the whole body,
which are numberless, to the activities from them which appear
to human sense as a single thing, or as the thousand particulars
of an object seen under a perfect microscope to the one obscure
thing seen by the naked eye.
[3] Let me illustrate the subject by an example. An angel
from his wisdom was describing regeneration, and brought
forward arcana respecting it in their order even to some
hundreds, filling each of them with ideas in which there were
interior arcana, and this from beginning to end; for he
explained how the spiritual man is conceived anew, is carried as
it were in the womb, is born, grows up and is gradually
perfected. He said that the number of arcana could be
increased even to thousands, and that those told were only
about the regeneration of the external man, while there were
numberless more about the regeneration of the internal man.
From these and other like things heard from the angels it has
been made clear to me how great is their wisdom, and how
great in comparison is the ignorance of man, who scarcely
knows what regeneration is, and is ignorant of every least step
of the process when he is being regenerated.
270. The wisdom of the angels of the third or inmost heaven
shall now be described, and also how far it surpasses the
187. That which universally rules or is dominant in man is in every
particular of his life, thus in each thing and all things of his thought and
affection (n. 4459, 5949, 6159, 6571, 7648, 8067, 8853–8858). A man is
such as his ruling love is (n. 917, 1040, 8858); illustrated by examples (n.
8854, 8857). That which rules universally constitutes the life of the spirit of
man (n. 7648). It is his very will, his very love, and the end of his life, since
that which a man wills he loves, and that which he loves he has as an end (n.
1317, 1568, 1571, 1909, 3796, 5949, 6936). Therefore man is such as his
will is, or such as his ruling love is, or such as the end of his life is (n. 1568,
1571, 3570, 4054, 6571, 6935, 6938, 8856, 10076, 10109, 10110, 10284).