Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 482in, or the lack of, intelligence and love, thus of the understandingand will of good; also for the reason that garments cover the bodyand flesh, and “body” and “flesh” signify good, therefore“garments” signify the things that cover good.[2] There is the understanding of truth, and the understanding ofgood; the understanding of truth is the understanding of suchthings as are of faith, and the understanding of good is theunderstanding of such things as are of love and charity. There isalso the will of truth and the will of good; the will of truth is withthose who are of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom; but the will of goodwith those who are of His celestial kingdom. The latter, becausethey are in love to the Lord, and from this in mutual love, which isto them charity towards the neighbor, have truths inscribed ontheir hearts, and thence do them; and what proceeds out of theheart is out of the will of good, “heart” meaning the will of good.But those who are in love towards the neighbor, which love ischarity, have truths inscribed not on their hearts but on thememory, and therefore on the intellectual mind, and what proceedstherefrom out of the affection is the will of truth. Thus it is thatspiritual angels are distinguished from celestial angels. The latterappear naked in heaven, but the former clothed. Celestial angelsappear naked because they have no need of the memory to retaintruths, nor of understanding therefrom to comprehend them,because they have them inscribed on the heart, that is, on the loveand will, and thence see them. But spiritual angels appear clothedbecause they have truths inscribed on the memory and thence onthe understanding, and truths of the memory and of theunderstanding therefrom correspond to garments; they therefore allappear clothed according to their intelligence. (That angels are thusclothed, see in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 177–182.) Fromthis it can be seen what “naked” signifies in both senses, namely, inthe one sense it signifies those who are in celestial good, but in theother those who are not in good because not in truths.240b. [3] But these things can be better seen from the passages inthe word where “naked” and “nakedness” occur, which now follow.In Isaiah: