What Is Meant By The Soul
From The Word
Selection from
APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED
According to the spiritual sense
in which the arcana there predicted
but heretofore concealed
are revealed
A posthumous work
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the
word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
(Revelation 12:11)
And they loved not their soul, even unto death, signifies the faithful who have
endured temptations for the sake of these truths, and who have regarded the life
of the world as of no account in comparison with the life of heaven. This is
evident from the signification of "not to love the soul," as being to regard the
life of the world as of no account in comparison with the life of heaven (of
which presently); and from the signification of "even unto death," as being to
endure temptations; for those who are in the combats of temptation regard the
life of the world as of no account in comparison with the life of heaven, and
consequently regard the death of their body as of no account in comparison with
the life of the soul, as is evident from those who suffered martyrdom. The
reason is, that they know that life in the world, which is only for some years,
is as nothing compared with the life in heaven, which is eternal life; yea,
there is no ratio between the time of man's life in the world and the life in
heaven that will continue to eternity. Think if you can whether there can be any
ratio between a hundred thousand years and eternity, and you will find there is
none. These with many other thoughts flow in from heaven with those who endure
spiritual temptations, therefore "they love not their soul (that is, their life
in the world), even unto death."
What is meant by "soul" is but little
known in the world, because scholars have put forth several theories about the
seat of the soul in the body, as also about its essence, and its influx into and
operation in the body, and from notions drawn therefrom, about its immortality.
From this it has come to be believed that the soul is a cogitative something, in
its essence ethereal, and when separated from the body has no organs of motion
or sense as it had in the world, until it is again conjoined with the body,
which they say will take place at the time of the Last Judgment. As so
unsuitable an idea of the soul of man has been accepted in the learned world it
is important to illustrate from the Word what is meant by the soul.
In general,
the soul means the man, and in particular the life of man; and as there are in
every man three degrees of life, there are also as many degrees of the soul. But
as the whole life of man resides in his two faculties that are called will and
understanding, on which account these are sometimes in the Word called "lives,"
in the plural, and as the soul means the life, it follows that there is a soul
of the will and a soul of the understanding, and that the soul of the will is
affection, which is of love, and the soul of the understanding is thought therefrom. But in the Word, the "soul" means properly the life of man's
understanding, which is thought, and the "heart" the life of the will, which is
affection. And as the respiration of the lungs corresponds to the life of the
understanding, which is thought, and the pulsation of the heart corresponds to
the life of the will which is affection, so in the lowest natural sense the life
of respiration is meant by "soul;" consequently the dying are said to give up
the soul or spirit, also that they have no more animation, or that no breath
from the mouth is perceived. That such is the meaning of "soul" in the Word can
be seen from passages where it is mentioned.
(1) That in general "soul"
signifies man is evident from the following passages.
In Moses:
Abram took
every soul that they had gotten in Haran; and they departed into the land of
Canaan (Gen. 12:5).
The king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the souls, and
take the substance to thyself (Gen. 14:21).
All the souls of the sons and
daughters from Leah were thirty and three (Gen. 46:15).
The sons of Joseph
were two souls; every soul of the house of Jacob which came into Egypt, seventy
(Gen. 46:27).
Every soul which hath eaten of a carcass, or of that which is
torn, shall be unclean until the even (Lev. 17:15).
Of the cities of the
peoples thou shalt not keep any soul alive (Deut. 20:16).
If a man hath
stolen a soul from his brethren and hath made gain of him (Deut. 24:7).
The
soul that eateth fat and blood shall be cut off (Lev. 12:27).
The soul that
is not circumcised shall be cut off from his people (Gen. 17:14);
and
elsewhere. In these passages "soul" is used in place of man.
(2) That in particular
"soul" signifies the life of the body is evident from these passages.
In
Luke:
The rich man thought with himself, I will say to my soul, Soul, thou
hast many goods laid up for many years; rest, eat, drink and be merry. But God
said unto him, Thou unwise one, this night they shall require thy soul of thee
(Luke 12:19, 20).
In Moses:
When the soul of Rachel was departing, she
called his name Benoni (Gen. 35:18).
All the men are dead who sought thy soul
(Exod. 4:19).
And elsewhere:
By the hand of them that seek thy soul (Jer.
19:7, 9; 34:21).
He that falleth away to the Chaldeans shall live, and his
soul shall be to him for a spoil (Jer. 21:9).
I will give thy soul for a prey
(Jer. 45:5).
Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a man to afflict his
soul? (Isa. 58:5)
Reuben said to his brethren respecting Joseph, Let us not
smite him in the soul (Gen. 37:21).
Soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for
tooth (Deut. 19:21).
Thou shalt not take the mill or the millstone for a
pledge, for he receiveth the soul for a pledge (Deut. 24:6).
Samson said, Let
my soul die with the Philistines (Judg. 16:30).
Jezebel said to Elijah that
tomorrow she would make his soul as the soul of one of them; and Elijah went
away for his soul (1 Kings 19:2, 3).
Peter said, I will lay down my soul for
Thee; Jesus answered, Wilt thou lay down thy soul for Me? Verily I say, the cock
shall not crow till thou hast denied Me thrice (John 13:37, 38).
In these
passages "soul" is used for the life of the body.
Likewise the Lord said of the
life of His body in the Gospels:
As the Son of man came not to be ministered
unto, but to minister and to give His soul a redemption for many (Matt. 20:28;
Mark 10:45).
So elsewhere:
Behold I love thee, therefore I will give a man
for thee; and peoples for thy soul (Isa. 43:4).
Jesus said,
Greater love hath
no one than this, that one lay down his soul for his friends (John
15:13).
Jesus said, I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd layeth down his
soul for the sheep. I lay down My soul and I will take it again; no man taketh
it away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself; I have power to lay it down and I
have power to take it again (John 10:11, 12, 15, 17, 18).
(3) That "soul" signifies the life of man's spirit, which is called his
spiritual life, is evident from the following passages.
In the Gospels:
Jesus
said, Fear not them that can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; rather
fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:4,
5).
Whoever wisheth to find his soul shall lose it, and whoever would lose
his soul for Jesus' sake shall find it (Matt. 10:39; Luke 17:33).
He that
loveth his soul shall lose it; but he that hateth his soul in this world shall
keep it unto the life eternal (John 12:25).
Jesus said,
Whosoever will come after Him, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Him. For he that
will save his soul shall lose it, but he that would lose his soul for His sake
shall find it. For what doth it profit a man if he should gain the whole world
but should lose his soul? Or what shall a man give as a sufficient price for
the redemption of his soul? (Matt. 16:24-26; Mark 8:35-37; Luke 9:24,
25)
Jesus said, I have come not to destroy souls but to save (Luke
9:56).
Mary said to Elizabeth, My soul doth magnify the Lord (Luke
1:46).
Simeon said unto Mary concerning the infant Jesus, And a sword shall
also pierce through thine own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be
revealed (Luke 2:35).
Jesus said of the last times, In your patience possess
ye your souls (Luke 21:19).
And elsewhere:
The foundations shall be
broken, all that make gain from the pools of the soul (Isa. 19:9, 10).
We get
our bread with the peril of our souls, because of the sword of the desert (Lam.
5:9).
They have digged a pit for my soul (Jer. 18:20).
Their soul
shall be as a watered garden (Jer. 31:12).
I will water the wearied soul, and
every soul that grieveth I will fill (Jer. 31:25).
Woe to them that sew
pillows under all the joints of My hands, and make kerchiefs upon the head of
every stature to hunt souls. Will ye hunt the souls of My people, that ye may
make souls alive for yourselves? Thou hast profaned Me with My people, to slay
the souls that should not die, and to make alive the souls that should not live
(Ezek. 13:18, 19).
Behold all souls are Mine, as the soul of the father so
the soul of the son, they are Mine; the soul that sinneth it shall die (Ezek.
18:4, 20).
I will go away for the bitterness of my soul (Isa. 38:15).
The
waters compassed me about even to the soul (Jonah 2:5).
The waters came even
unto the soul; I was sunk in the deep mire (Ps. 69:1, 2).
They afflicted my
foot with a fetter, my soul came to the earth (Ps. 105:18).
Bring
my soul out of prison (Ps. 142:7).
Thou hast delivered my soul from death
(Ps. 56:13).
To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in
famine (Ps. 33:19).
Deliver me not up to the soul of my adversaries (Ps.
27:12; 41:2).
I afflicted my soul with fasting; let them not say in their
heart, Ah, for his soul (Ps. 35:13, 25).
Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell,
nor wilt thou give thine Holy One to see corruption (Ps. 16:10).
The man who
feareth Jehovah, him shall He teach in the way that He shall choose; his soul
shall lodge in good (Ps. 25:12, 13).
The clean in hands and the pure in
heart, who doth not lift up his soul unto vanity (Ps. 24:4).
He shall save
the souls of the needy, He shall redeem their souls from deceit and violence
(Ps. 72:13, 14).
Bless Jehovah, O my soul (Ps. 103:1, 22).
Let every soul
praise Jah (Ps. 150:6).
They will ask food for their soul (Ps.
78:18).
Jehovah breathed into man's nostrils the breath of lives, and man
became a living soul (Gen. 2:7).
In these passages "soul" is used for the
life of man's spirit, which is called his spiritual life.
(4) Since man has two
faculties of life, namely, a faculty to understand and a faculty to will, and
these two faculties constitute the spiritual life of man, it can be seen from
certain passages cited above, as also from the following, that "soul" signifies
that faculty that is called the life of man's understanding.
As in
Moses:
Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
and with all thy might (Deut. 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 26:16).
And in the
Gospels:
Jesus said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and
with all thy soul and with all thy mind (Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30, 33; Luke
10:27).
"To love Jehovah God with all the heart and all the soul" means with
all the will and all the understanding, also with all the love and all the
faith, for "heart" signifies the love and the will, and "soul" signifies the
faith and the understanding. "Heart" signifies these two, the love and the will,
because a man's love is of his will; and "soul" signifies the two, namely, faith
and understanding, because faith is of the understanding. This is the
signification of "heart and soul" because the heart of man corresponds to the
good of love that belongs to his will, and the soul [or breath] of the lungs
corresponds to the truth of faith that belongs to man's understanding. "With all
the might and with all the mind" signifies above all things.
In Ezekiel:
Their silver
and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah's anger;
they shall not satisfy their soul, neither fill their bowels (Ezek.
7:19).
Here, too, "soul" stands for the understanding of truth, which is said
"not to be satisfied" when there is no truth in the church, and "bowels" stand
for the will of good, and are said "not to be filled" when there is no good in
the church. Because "silver" from correspondence signifies truth, and in the
contrary sense falsity, and "gold" signifies good, and in the contrary sense
evil, it is said, "their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them
in the day of Jehovah's anger;" "silver and gold" meaning what is not true and
what is not good, and also what is false and evil, and "day of anger" meaning
the day of judgment.
In Isaiah:
The light of
Israel shall be for a fire, and His Holy One for a flame, and it shall burn and
consume the glory of his forest and of Carmel, it shall consume from the soul
even to the flesh (Isa. 10:17, 18).
"The light of Israel," and "His Holy
One," which shall be for a fire and a flame, mean the Lord in relation to the
Last Judgment; "fire and flame" signify the destruction of those who are in the
falsities of evil; "the glory of the forest and of Carmel that the fire and
flame shall burn and consume" signifies the truth and the good of truth of the
church, which shall be destroyed because they have been turned into falsities
and the evils of falsity; "from the soul even to the flesh" signifies even from
its understanding to its will, "soul" meaning the understanding of truth, and
"flesh" the will of good.
In the same:
The fool speaketh foolishness, to make empty the
soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail (Isa.
32:6).
Here, again, the soul signifies the man in respect to the
understanding of good and truth, "the soul of the hungry" the understanding of
good, and "drink for the soul of the thirsty" the understanding of truth. That a
man who is in the falsities of evil will endeavor to deprive a man who is in
truth from good of that truth is signified by "the fool speaketh foolishness, to
make empty the soul, and to cause it to fail."
In the same:
It shall
be as when a hungry man dreameth as if he were eating, but when he awaketh his
soul is empty; and when a thirsty man dreameth as if he were drinking, but when
he awaketh behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite; so shall be the
multitude of all nations that make war against Mount Zion (Isa. 29:8).
This
is said of those who are in falsities from evil and yet think them to be truths
from good; the falsities from evil combating against the goods of the church are
signified by "the multitude of all nations that make war against Mount Zion;"
"multitude" is predicated of truths, "nations" signify evils, and "Mount Zion"
signifies the church in respect to the good of love. Believing evils to be good
when they are the evils of falsity is signified by "It shall be as when a hungry
man dreameth as if he were eating, but when he awaketh his soul is empty;" "a
hungry man dreaming as if he were eating" signifies an erroneous opinion and
belief about good; "to dream" signifying an erroneous opinion and belief, and
"to be hungry and as if he were eating" signifying as it were a desire for good
that will give nourishment; "but when he awaketh" signifies when it is
discovered what good is; "his soul is empty" signifies that there is no
understanding of good. Like things are said of truth, which are signified by
"when a thirsty man dreameth as if he were drinking, but when he awaketh behold
he is faint, and his soul hath appetite;" "to be thirsty and as if drinking
while he dreams" signifies an opinion and belief that it is true; "but when he
awaketh behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite," signifies that still it
is not true but false; "soul" here signifying the belief in falsity from truth
not being understood; for evil and falsity, like good and truth, pertain to
faith and understanding when they are of the thought alone. For a man can think
so as to understand and thus believe that evil is good, and that falsity is
truth. Such are all those who are in the falsities of doctrine, and have faith
merely in masters and books, and do not consider whether what they are taught is
false and evil, believing it to be true and good because it can be confirmed,
not knowing that falsity and evil can be confirmed just as well as truth and
good.
In the
same:
If thou shalt draw out thy soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted
soul thy light shall arise in darkness, and thy thick darkness be as the noonday
(Isa. 58:10).
"To draw out the soul to the hungry and to satisfy the
afflicted soul" signifies to teach one who desires it what is good and what is
true; "the hungry" signifies one who desires good, and "the afflicted" one who
desires truth, and "to draw out the soul" signifies to teach good and truth,
that is, from the understanding, doctrine and faith. That to those who are in
ignorance and yet have a desire there shall be given an understanding of truth
and good, is signified by "thy light shall arise in darkness and thy thick
darkness be as the noonday;" "darkness" and "thick darkness" meaning ignorance
of truth and good, and "light" and "noonday" meaning the understanding of good
and truth.
In Lamentations:
All
the people groan, they seek bread, they have given their desirable things for
food, to restore the soul. The comforter who restoreth my soul is far from me;
my sons are made waste because the enemy hath prevailed. My priests and my
elders have expired in the city, for they sought food for themselves with which
to restore their soul (Lam. 1:11, 16, 19).
This is said of a church in which
there is no longer any truth and good of doctrine, consequently the men of the
church who desire these lack them; the lack of good and truth in doctrine, and
the desire for them to nourish the life of faith and of the understanding is
signified by "all the people groan, they seek bread, they have given their
desirable things for food to restore the soul;" lack is signified by their
"groaning;" desire for good by "seeking bread;" desire for truth by "giving
their desirable things for food;" and the nourishment of the faith and
understanding by "restoring their soul;" that there is no nourishment of faith
and understanding because there are no longer any truths on account of the evils
of life is signified by "the comforter who restoreth my soul is far from me, my
sons are made waste because the enemy hath prevailed," "sons made waste"
signifying that there are no longer any truths, and "the enemy that hath
prevailed" signifying evil from hell, thus the evil of life. That there are no
longer any that teach good and truth is signified by "my priests and my elders
have expired in the city;" "priests" signifying those who teach good, and
"elders" those who teach truths, and "city" doctrine, and "to expire" that these
no longer exist. That they have no spiritual nourishment is signified by "for
they sought food for themselves with which to restore their soul."
In Lamentations:
They
say to their mothers, Where is the corn and the wine? when they faint as one
pierced in the broad ways of the city, when their soul is poured out upon their
mother's bosom (Lam. 2:12).
This has a similar signification as the preceding
passage, namely, that the church is so desolated by the lack of good and truth
in doctrine that spiritual life in it faints and perishes. "Mothers" signify the
truths of the church; they say to them, "Where is the corn and the wine"
signifies where is now the good of doctrine and its truth? "Their soul is poured
out upon their mother's bosom" signifies the fainting and perishing of spiritual
life because of the desolation from lack of truths. Because the "soul" means the
life of faith and of the understanding of good and truth, which is the spiritual
life of man, it is said "they faint as one pierced in the broad ways of the
city;" "one pierced" signifying one who perishes by falsities, and "the broad
ways of the city," truth of doctrine.
In Jonah:
When my
soul fainted upon me (Jon. 2:7).
This treats of temptations; and that "his
soul fainted upon him" signifies that the truth fainted (or ceased) in the faith
and understanding.
In David:
Mine eye wasteth away with vexation, and my
belly (Ps. 31:9).
In the same:
My soul is bowed down to the dust,
our belly cleaveth to the earth (Ps. 44:25).
This also describes the state of
temptations. The "eye" signifies the understanding, the "soul" the belief in
truth and the understanding of truth, and the "belly" the belief in good and the
understanding of good. This is the signification of "belly" because the belly
receives food, and "food" and "bread" signify good that nourishes, here the
understanding and faith. The lack of these in temptation is signified by
"wasting away with vexation," and "bowing down to the dust," and "cleaving to
the earth."
In
Moses:
They said, Now is our soul dried up, there is nothing at all except
this manna before our eyes (Num. 11:6).
Because "manna" signifies spiritual
nourishment, and it is the faith and understanding, or the intelligence of man,
that is spiritually nourished, and because the sons of Israel had no natural
nourishment, which yet they desired, so they said, "Our soul is dried up, there
is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes;" "the soul dried up"
signifies the life of faith and of the understanding failing when there was not
at the same time any natural nourishment; "there is nothing at all except this
manna before our eyes" signifies that there was nothing except spiritual
nourishment; and because they loathed this, the flesh of quails, or selav, was
given to them, and the flesh of these signifies natural nourishment.
In the first book of
Samuel:
Hannah said unto Eli, I have poured out my soul before Jehovah (1
Sam. 1:15).
"To pour out the soul before Jehovah" signifies to declare the
thoughts of her mind and heart. In the Gospels:
Be ye not anxious for your
soul what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink, nor for your body what ye shall
put on; is not the soul more than nourishment, and the body more than the
raiment? (Matt. 6:25; Luke 12:22, 23)
Although this is said of the life of
the body, still it signifies such things as pertain to the life of the spirit,
for all things of the sense of the letter of the Word, which is natural, contain
within them an internal sense which is spiritual; in this sense "to eat," "to
drink," and "food" signify spiritual nourishment, which is the nourishment of
faith together with the nourishment of the understanding, from which comes
intelligence in spiritual things; therefore it is said, "Be not ye anxious for
your soul what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink; is not the soul more than
nourishment?" "To eat" means to perceive good intellectually and thus
spiritually; "to drink" means to perceive truth intellectually and thus
spiritually; and "nourishment" means good and truth from which is nutrition. "To
clothe the body" and "raiment" signify truth investing the good of love and of
the will; "raiment" signifies such truth, and the "body" the good of love which
is the good of the will.
In
David:
My soul, I lie in the midst of lions, the sons of man are set on fire
(Ps. 57:4).
Here, too, "the soul" signifies spiritual life, which is the life
of faith, and thus the life of the understanding, for the understanding is
formed from truths and consists of them, the same as faith. As this is the
signification of "the soul," and the vastation of truth is here treated of, it
is said, "I lie in the midst of lions;" "lions" signifying the falsities that
destroy the truths of the church; also it is said, "the sons of man are set on
fire;" "sons of man" signifying the truths of doctrine and of the church, and
when these are taken possession of by corporeal love, and thereby perish, they
are said "to be set on fire."
In Moses:
Abraham spake with the sons of Heth,
If it be with your soul that I bury my dead (Gen. 23:8).
In Jeremiah:
Thy
lovers will abhor thee, they will seek thy soul (Jer. 4:30).
"Lovers" mean
those who are in the love of evil; "to seek the soul" signifies to wish to
destroy the belief in truth and the understanding of truth by the falsities of
evil.
In Ezekiel:
Javan and Tubal traded with the soul of man and vessels of
brass (Ezek. 27:13).
This is said of Tyre, which signifies the church in
respect to the knowledges of truth and good; "to trade" signifies the
acquisition and communication of these; "Javan and Tubal" signify external
representative worship; and "the soul of man" signifies the knowledge [scientia]
of truth in the natural man, and "the vessels of brass" the knowledge of good in
the natural man. The knowledge [scientia] of natural truth is signified also by
"the souls of men" in Revelation 18:13; "the souls of men" mean properly slaves
or servants, which also signify in the spiritual sense the true knowledges [vera
scientifica] of the natural man that are serviceable to the spiritual.
(5) Since the life of
faith and also the life of man's understanding is from Divine truth, therefore
Divine truth also is signified by "soul;" as can be seen from the following
passages.
In Jeremiah:
I will plant them in this land in verity, with My
whole heart and with My whole soul (Jer. 32:41).
As there are two things that
proceed from the Lord, Divine good and Divine truth, and as these, when received
by the angels of heaven and the men of the church, constitute the heavenly life
with them, so it is clear what is signified by "planting them with the whole
heart and with the whole soul," namely, in His Divine good and in His Divine
truth, for the "heart" signifies the Divine good of the Divine love, and the
"soul" Divine truth.
In the same:
Jehovah hath sworn by His soul (Jer. 51:14; Amos
6:8).
Jehovah is said "to swear by His soul" when He confirms by His Divine
truth, for "to swear" signifies to confirm, and "the soul of Jehovah" Divine
truth.
In David:
Jehovah proveth the righteous; the wicked and him that
loveth violence His soul hateth (Ps. 11:5).
Here, also, "the soul of Jehovah"
signifies Divine truth, for "the violent" in the Word signifies one who offers
violence to Divine truth; and because this is done by the falsities of evil this
is signified by the "wicked and him that loveth violence."
In Isaiah:
My chosen in
whom My soul is well pleased, I have given My spirit upon Him (Isa.
42:1).
This is said of the Lord, who is meant by "the chosen of Jehovah;" and
as "the spirit of Jehovah" that was given upon Him signifies the Divine
proceeding, so "the soul of Jehovah" that was well pleased in Him signifies
Divine truth; for the Lord was in that Divine in respect to His Human in the
world.
In Jeremiah:
Jehovah said, Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My
soul would not be towards this people (Jer. 15:1).
"Moses and Samuel" in the
representative sense signify the Word; and as the Word is Divine truth, and
"people" mean here the sons of Israel, who had no Divine truth that was not
falsified and adulterated, it is said, "My soul would not be towards this
people."
In the same:
Shall not My soul take vengeance?
(Jer. 5:9, 29)
Here, again, "the soul of Jehovah" means Divine truth; when by
this the Lord executes judgment it is said that "His soul takes vengeance." "The
Son of man who is to execute judgment" has a similar signification; "the Son of
man" meaning the Lord in relation to Divine truth.
In the same:
Receive
chastisement, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be torn away from thee, and I reduce
thee to wasteness (Jer. 6:8).
"Jerusalem" signifies the church in respect to
doctrine; "to receive chastisement" signifies to receive discipline; "lest my
soul be torn away from thee" signifies lest Divine truth depart from them; and
"to reduce to wasteness" signifies lest the church be desolated in respect to
all truth.
In
Isaiah:
Jehovah that giveth soul to the people upon the earth, and spirit to
them that walk therein (Isa. 42:5).
"The soul that Jehovah gives to the
people upon the earth" signifies Divine truth from the Lord to those who will be
of His church; "the spirit that Jehovah will give to them that walk upon the
earth" signifies life according to Divine truth; "to walk" signifying to
live.
(6) Since
"soul," in reference to the Lord, signifies Divine truth, so it signifies
spiritual life from truth.
In Moses:
The soul of all flesh is the blood (Lev.
17:14).
As the ultimate life of man, which is the life of his body, consists
in the blood, it is said that "the soul of all flesh," that is, the life
thereof, "is its blood;" but as there is a spiritual sense in every least
particular of the Word, and in that sense "blood" signifies the truth of
doctrine from the Word, therefore this too is signified by "the soul of flesh."
That "blood" signifies the truth of doctrine from the Word, which is Divine
truth, may be seen above (n. 328, 329, 476). Because this is the signification
of blood, the sons of Israel were forbidden to eat blood; therefore the blood of
the burnt-offerings and sacrifices was sprinkled about the altar, and by the
blood sanctifications and also consecrations were effected; so likewise the
covenant of the God of Israel, that is, of the Lord, with the people was entered
into by blood; and furthermore, the Lord has entered into a new covenant with
the church of this day. This is why the blood of the Lord is called "the blood
of the covenant," that is, of conjunction with the Lord; and it is so called
because it is Divine truth proceeding from the Lord that conjoins. From this it
is clear why blood is called "soul."
It was because of this
signification of blood that from the most ancient time it was forbidden to eat
blood, as can be seen in Moses:
Every creeping thing that liveth shall be for
food to you, but the flesh with the soul thereof, the blood thereof, ye shall
not eat (Gen. 9:3, 4).
Here, too, it is said that "the blood is the soul of
the flesh;" and it was forbidden to eat it because eating blood signified the
profanation of truth. In the same:
Whosoever shall eat any blood, I will set
My faces against the soul that eateth blood that I may cut it off from the midst
of his people; for the soul of the flesh is in the blood; therefore I have given
it upon the altar to expiate for your souls, for it is the blood itself that
expiateth for the soul (Lev. 17:10, 11).
Because "soul," like "blood,"
signifies truth from the Word, which is Divine truth proceeding from the Lord,
and because all worship of the Lord is performed by means of Divine truth, it is
said, "for the soul of the flesh is in the blood, therefore I have given it upon
the altar," "to give the blood upon the altar" signifying worship from Divine
truth. And as all deliverance from evils and falsities, which is expiation, is
effected by Divine truth and by a life according to it, it is said, "to expiate
your souls, for it is the blood itself that expiateth for the soul."
In the same:
Surely the
blood of your souls will I require, at the hand of every wild beast will I
require it, especially at the hand of man, at the hand of man his brother will I
require the soul of man (Gen. 9:5).
Here "blood" and also "soul" mean the
spiritual life of man, which is a life according to Divine truth, as can be seen
from this, that whoever extinguishes that life perishes in eternal death, for
that life is not extinguished but by one who is in infernal evil and falsity.
(But this may be seen explained in the Arcana Coelestia.)
(7) That "living soul"
signifies life in general can be seen from passages where beasts, birds,
creeping things, and fishes, are called "living souls."
As in the
following:
God said, Let the waters bring forth the creeping thing, the
living soul. God created great whales, and every living soul that creepeth which
the waters brought forth (Gen. 1:20, 21).
God said, Let the earth bring forth
the living soul according to its kind, beast and wild beast (Gen.
1:24).
Jehovah brought unto the man every beast of the field and every bird
of the heavens, to see what he would call it; and whatsoever the man called it,
the living soul, that was its name (Gen. 2:19).
Every living soul that
swimmeth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live; whence there is much
fish (Ezek. 47:9)
Every living soul died in the sea (Rev. 16:3).
In the
spiritual sense all animals signify the things belonging to the natural man, and
its life; and as the life of the natural man, which is life in ultimates,
signifies life in the whole complex, so they are called "living souls."
From this it can now be seen what "soul" signifies in the Word, namely, the life
of man both natural and spiritual, thus the life both of his body and of his
spirit. This also makes evident how perverted is the idea of the soul of man
that is entertained, first by the learned, and from them by the common people,
namely, that it is a sort of indivisible entity, having its seat in some part of
the body, either in the brain or in the heart, or elsewhere; and that when it is
loosed from man by death it is without a body and without such sensory and motor
parts as belong to a body, but that these will be added to it at the day of the
Last Judgment; also that in the meantime it is a something flitting in the
ether, or is abiding in a somewhere, awaiting its additional part, which is the
body. Such is now the world's idea of the soul of man; although in the Word
"soul" has no such meaning, but means instead the life of man, which has no
existence separate from the body, but only in the body; for the body is the
external form of that life that is called the soul, giving effect to its will
and pleasure in both worlds, the natural in which men live and the spiritual in
which spirits and angels live. And as the Divine proceeding from the Lord
constitutes the life of all, therefore that life is signified by "soul" in the
celestial sense. Because the Divine proceeding, wherever it comes, forms an
image of the Lord, thus it so forms angels and spirits that they may be human
forms according to reception; thence it now follows that the soul that lives
after death must mean the spirit of man, which is a man with both a soul and a
body, a soul that rules over the body, and a body by which the soul effects its
will in the world in which it is.
(Apocalypse Explained 750) |
