There are two faculties of life in man, one called the understanding and the
other the will. These faculties are entirely distinct from each other; but they
were created to make one, and when they make one they are called one mind; but
with man they are at first divided, and afterwards united.
They are distinct
just as light and heat are. For the understanding is from the light of heaven
which in its essence is the Divine truth or the Divine wisdom; and while man is
in the world the understanding in him sees, thinks, reasons, and concludes from
that light. Yet man is ignorant of this fact, since he knows nothing about that
light or its origin. The will is from the heat of heaven, which in its essence
is the Divine good or the Divine love; and while man is in the world the will in
him loves from that heat, and has from it all its pleasure and delight. Of this
fact also man is ignorant, since he knows nothing about that heat or its origin.
Since, then, the understanding sees from the light of heaven, it is evidently
the subject and receptacle of that light, and thus the subject and receptacle of
truth and of wisdom therefrom. And since the will loves from the heat of heaven,
it is evidently the subject and receptacle of that heat, and thus the subject
and receptacle of good, that is, of love. From all this it can be clearly seen
that these two faculties of man's life are distinct, as light and heat are, also
as truth and good are, and as wisdom and love are.
That these two
faculties are at first divided in man, is plainly perceptible from the fact that
man is capable of understanding truth, and good from truth, and of accepting it
as good, even though he does not will it and from willing do it; for he
understands what is true and thus what is good when he hears and reads about it,
and understands so fully as to be able afterwards to teach it by preaching and
writing. But when alone and thinking from his spirit he can apprehend that he
does not will the truth, and even that he wills to act contrary to it, and does
act contrary to it when not restrained by fears. Such are those who are able to
speak intelligently, and yet live otherwise. This is "seeing one law in the
spirit, and another in the flesh," "spirit" being the understanding, and "flesh"
the will. This division between the understanding and the will is perceived
especially by those who wish to be reformed, and but little by others.
This division is possible because the understanding with man has not been
destroyed, but the will has been destroyed. For the understanding is
comparatively like the light of the world by which man is able to see with equal
clearness in the winter season and summer season; while the will is
comparatively like the heat of the world, which may be absent from the light or
be present in the light. It is absent in the winter season and present in the
summer season. But the fact is this, that nothing except the will destroys the
understanding, as nothing except the absence of heat destroys the germinations
of the earth. The understanding is destroyed by the will in those who are in
evils of life when the two act as one, and not when they do not act as one. They
act as one when man thinks by himself from his love, but they do not act as one
when he is with others. When he is with others he conceals and thus sets aside
his will's own love; and when this is set aside the understanding is raised up
into higher light.
This shall be shown by experience. I have occasionally
heard spirits talking with one another and also with myself so wisely that an
angel could scarcely have talked more wisely; and I was in consequence led to
believe that they would soon be raised up into heaven; but after a while I saw
them with the evil in hell, at which I wondered. But I was then permitted to
hear them talking in a wholly different way, not in favor of truths as before,
but against them, because they were now in the love of their own will and
likewise of their own understanding, while before they were not in that love. It
has also been granted me to see how what is man's own [proprium] is
distinguished from what is not his own; for this may be seen in the light of
heaven. What is man's own has its seat within, and what is not his own has its
seat without; and the latter veils and conceals the former, and the former does
not appear until this veil is taken away, as takes place with all after death. I
have noticed also that many were amazed at what they saw and heard; but these
were such as judge of the state of a man's soul from his conversation and
writings, and not also from his acts which are from his own will. All this makes
clear that these two faculties of life in man are at first divided.
Something shall now be said about their union. They are united in those who are
reformed, which is effected by combat against the evils of the will. When these
evils have been removed the will of good acts as one with the understanding of
truth. From this it follows that such as the will is such is the understanding,
or, what is the same, such as the love is such is the wisdom. The wisdom is such
as the love is because the love belonging to the will is the esse of man's life,
and the wisdom belonging to the understanding is the existere of life therefrom;
therefore the love, which belongs to the will, forms itself in the
understanding, and the form it there takes on is what is called wisdom; for as
love and wisdom have one essence it is clear that wisdom is the form of love, or
love in form. When these faculties have thus been united by reformation the
will's love increases daily, and it increases by spiritual nourishment in the
understanding; for it has there its affection for truth and good, which is like
an appetite that hungers and desires. From all this it is clear that it is the
will that must be reformed, and as it is reformed the understanding sees, that
is, grows wise; for as has been said, the will has been destroyed, but the
understanding has not. The will and the understanding also make one with those
who are not reformed, that is, in the evil, if not in the world yet after death;
for after death man is not permitted to think from his understanding except in
accordance with the love of his will. To this everyone is finally brought; and
when he is brought to this condition the evil love of the will has its own form
in the understanding, and as this form is from the falsities of evil it is
insanity.
Let the following be added to what has been said.
(1) Before reformation the
light of the understanding is like the light of the moon, clear according to the knowledges of truth and good; but after reformation it is like the light of the
sun, clear according to the application of the knowledges of truth and good to
the uses of life.
(2) The reason that the understanding has not been destroyed
is that man may know truths, and from truths see the evils of his will, and
seeing them he may resist them as if from himself, and thus be reformed.
(3) And
yet man is not reformed from his understanding, but by means of the recognition
of truths by the understanding and its seeing evils by them; for the operation
of the Lord's Divine providence is into the love of man's will, and from that
into the understanding, and not the reverse.
(4) The love of the will gives
intelligence according to its quality. Natural love from spiritual love gives
intelligence in civil and moral matters; but spiritual love in natural love
gives intelligence in spiritual matters; but merely natural love and the conceit
that comes from it does not give intelligence in spiritual matters, but gives
the ability to confirm whatever it pleases, and after confirmation so infatuates
the understanding that it sees falsity as truth, and evil as good. Nevertheless,
this love does not take away the ability to understand truths in their light;
when it is present it takes it away, but not when it is absent.
(5) When the will has been reformed,
and the wisdom belonging to the understanding has come to be of the love
belonging to the will, that is, when wisdom comes to be the love of truth and
good in its form, man is like a garden in spring time, when heat is united to
light and gives a soul to the germinations. Spiritual germinations are such
productions of wisdom from love; and in every such production there is a soul
from that love, while its clothing is from wisdom; thus the will is like a
father and the understanding like a mother.
(6) Such is man's life, not only the
life of his mind, but also the life of his body, since the life of the mind acts
as one with the life of the body by correspondences. For the life of the will or
love corresponds to the life of the heart, and the life of the understanding or
wisdom corresponds to the life of the lungs; and these are the two fountains of
the life of the body. Man does not know that this is so; nevertheless it is for
this reason that an evil person cannot live in heaven, or a good person in hell.
For either of these becomes as it were dead when he is not among those with whom
the life of his will and thus the life of his understanding acts as one. When he
is among such his heart beats freely, and his lungs respire freely; but not when
he is among others.
(Apocalypse Explained 1170:2 - 1171)
