Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 3951else is signified in the internal sense by “spies” is evident from theseries, for in the internal sense the truths of the church are treatedof, that they are to be appropriated to the natural, and that theycannot be appropriated to it except by means of influx from thecelestial of the spiritual through an intermediate. These truths ofthe church are the “sons of Jacob,” or “Joseph’s brethren”; thecelestial of the spiritual is “Joseph”; and the intermediate is“Benjamin.” How the case herein is has been told above (n. 5402),that the truths of faith of the church, which are called doctrinalthings, when learned in early life, are taken into the mind andcommitted to memory just like any other memory-knowledges, andremain as such until the man begins to view them with his owneyes, and see whether they are true, and after seeing that they aretrue, wills to act according to them. This viewing of them, and thiswill, make them no longer memory-knowledges, but precepts oflife, and finally life; for in this way they enter into the life to whichthey are appropriated.[2] They who have arrived at maturity, and still more they whohave arrived at old age, and have not viewed with their own eyesthe truths of the church, which are called doctrinal things, and seenwhether they are true, and then been willing to live according tothem, retain them merely as they do all other memory-knowledges;they are in their natural memory only, and thence on their lips; andwhen they utter them, they utter them not from their interior manor from the heart, but only from the exterior man and from themouth. When a man is in this state he cannot possibly believe thatthe truths of the church are true, although it seems to him that heso believes. The reason why it seems to him that he believes themto be true, is that he relies on others, and has confirmed in himselfthe teachings of others. It is very easy to confirm things taken fromothers, whether true or false; for this needs nothing but ingenuity.[3] These truths of the church, or they who are in this manner inthe truths of the church, are signified by “spies coming to see thenakedness of the land.” For they do not believe the doctrinal thingsof their church from any affection of truth, but from an affection ofwinning honors or getting gain; wherefore in themselves they