Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 4065anxious, and supposes that if these were got rid of he would haveno life left, for he vests everything in the natural or external man; orsupposes that afterward he could do nothing of himself, and all thathe would think, will, and do, would flow in through heaven, thusthat he would not be his own master any longer. When the naturalman on being left to himself is in this state, he draws back andresists. But when some light flows into his natural through heavenfrom the Lord, he begins to thinks differently, namely, that it isbetter for the spiritual man to have the supremacy, because therebyhe can think and will what is good, and so can come into heaven,but not if the natural man were to rule. And when he reflects thatall the angels in the universal heaven are of this character, and thatthey are consequently in unspeakable joy, he then fights with thenatural man, and at last desires it to be subordinated to the spiritualman. In this state is the man placed who is to be regenerated, inorder that he may be in freedom to turn whither he will; and so faras he turns to this in freedom, so far he is being regenerated. Allthis is treated of here in the internal sense.5651. And take us for servants, and our asses. That this signifiesuntil whatever is in both naturals be as nothing is evident from therepresentation of Jacob’s ten sons, who say this of themselves, asbeing truths in the natural (see n. 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5512);and from the signification of “servants” as being things of slightimportance (n. 2541), here of none at all (of which in whatfollows); and from the signification of “asses” as being things in thenatural which are memory-knowledges (n. 5492), here in theexterior natural, because the truths signified by “Jacob’s sons” are inthe interior natural.[2] In regard to whatever is in both naturals being as nothing thecase is this. In order that a man may become spiritual, his naturalmust become as nothing, that is, be able to do nothing whatever ofitself, because insofar as the natural is able of itself, so far thespiritual is not able; for the natural has imbibed from infancynothing else than the things of the yearnings of self and of theworld, thus those which are contrary to charity. These evils preventthe influx of good through the internal man from the Lord, for