Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 314Lord and heaven; for the interiors of their minds, that is, of theirthought and will, are actually elevated by the Lord into heaven, andare there conjoined to Him; thus the Lord flows into theirthoughts, intentions, and ends, and governs them and withdrawsthem from their proprium [what is their own], which is solely fromthe love of self and of the world. The moral life of such persons is,in appearance, like the moral life of those described above, and yettheir moral life is spiritual, because it is from a spiritual origin.Their moral life is simply an effect of spiritual life, which is theefficient cause, thus the origin. For they act well, sincerely, andjustly with their fellows from fear of God and from love of theneighbor; in these loves the Lord keeps their mind and disposition(mentem et animum); consequently when they become spirits,which takes place when the body dies, they think and actintelligently and wisely, and are elevated into heaven. Of these itmay be said, that with them every good of love and every truth offaith flows in out of heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord.But this is not true of those described above; for their good is notthe good of heaven, nor is their truth the truth of heaven; but whatthey call good is the delight of the lust of the flesh, and it is falsitytherefrom that they call truth; these flow into them from self andfrom the world. From this it can also be known what moral lifefrom spiritual life is, and what moral life apart from spiritual life is;namely, that moral life from spiritual life is truly moral life, whichmay be called spiritual, since it has its cause and origin in thespiritual; but that moral life apart from spiritual life not moral life,and may be called infernal, for so far as the love of self and of theworld reign in it, so far it is fraudulent and hypocritical.[4] From what has now been said, the quality of external sanctitymay also be inferred (by which is meant worship in churches,prayers, and gestures then), with such as are in the love of self andof the world, and yet live an apparently moral life, namely, thatnothing of these is elevated to heaven and is heard there, but thatthey flow out from some thought of the external or natural man,and thus from their mouth into the world. For the interiorthoughts of such, which are of their very spirits, are full of craftinessand fraud against the neighbor; and yet it is through interiors thatthere is elevation into heaven. Moreover, their worship in churches,