How to Acquire Spiritual Faith
Selection from
APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED
According to the spiritual sense
in which the arcana there predicted
but heretofore concealed
are revealed
A posthumous work of
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
And they worshipped the dragon which gave authority unto the beast, and they
worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make
war with him? Revelation 13:4
790. And they worshipped the beast, signifies acknowledgment of the reasonings
by which the disagreement with the Word is seemingly cleared away. This is
evident from the signification of "to worship," as being to acknowledge as
certain, and thus to adore as Divine (as above, n. 789); also from the
signification of "the beast," as being the reasonings from the natural man
confirming the separation of faith from life (see above, n. 774). And as this
beast was seen to have seven heads and ten horns, and moreover was like a
leopard as to his body, a bear as to his feet, and a lion as to his mouth, by
which various things are signified, so here also the same things are meant by
"the beast," since it was on account of these that they worshipped the
beast.
[2] As the preceding article treated of this, that faith alone, or
faith separated from charity, cannot produce goods of life as a tree does
fruits, it is important to now set forth how to acquire spiritual faith, which
is faith from charity. But as the learned world has not heretofore known what is
meant by the spiritual or what is the nature of the spiritual in its essence,
and how it is distinguished from what is natural, so neither could it know what
spiritual faith is, and how it is distinguished from natural faith. And yet
natural faith apart from spiritual faith as its origin is no faith at all, but
merely knowledge [scientia] and thought therefrom that a thing is so; and if
this is called faith, it is historical faith, and when it is confirmed is a
persuasive faith, and both of these kinds of faith are natural, and faith merely
natural does not save, but spiritual faith; consequently it shall now be told in
what follows how spiritual faith is formed by the Lord.
It is known in the
world that there is a natural man and a spiritual man, as also that the natural
man is worldly and the spiritual man heavenly; but still it is not known what
spiritual faith is, and how it differs from natural faith.
[3] It is
therefore to be known, (1) That every man has two minds, one natural and the
other spiritual; and as it is the mind that wills and thinks, every man has also
natural will and thought and spiritual will and thought. The natural mind wills
and thinks like a man in the world, and the spiritual mind wills and thinks like
an angel in heaven. From this it follows that as faith is in man, it, too, is
natural or spiritual; and that natural faith is according to man's will and
thought in the world, and spiritual faith is according to his will and thought
in heaven. It is said the will and thought, because all things from which man is
a man have relation to these two, for from the will he acts, and from the
thought he speaks. And as a man acts and speaks either from self or from God, so
he wills and thinks either from self or from God. From this it is clear, in the
first place, that there is natural faith and spiritual faith; and that natural
faith apart from spiritual faith is to think such things as are in the Word from
self, while natural faith from spiritual faith is to think such things as are in
the Word from God; although this also seems to the man to be from
himself.
(2) [4] As every man has two minds, a natural and a spiritual, and
the natural mind is opened and formed by such things as are in the world, while
the spiritual mind is opened and formed by such things as are in heaven, and as
the things that are in heaven are all spiritual, so a man's spiritual mind must
needs be opened and formed by such things as are in the Word, in which all
things are spiritual because they are Divine. In the Word there are truths that
are to be known and thought, and goods that must be willed and done; therefore
it is by these goods and these truths that man's spiritual mind is opened and
formed. From this it follows, that unless the spiritual mind is opened and
formed by truths and goods from the Word it remains closed; and when this is
closed the natural mind only is opened and formed by such things as are in the
world, from which man, indeed, derives a natural lumen, but such as has in it no
wisdom from heaven. From this it is clear, in the second place, that faith is
not faith so long as the natural mind only is opened, but that if the thought
that a thing is so is called faith it is historical faith, which is nothing but
knowledge from which the natural man thinks.
(3) [5] That the spiritual mind
may be opened and formed it must have a storehouse from which it may draw its
supplies; since unless man has such a storehouse he is empty, and in emptiness
there can be no Divine operation. This storehouse is in the natural man and it
is its memory, in which everything knowable can be stored up and can be drawn
forth from it. In this storehouse for the formation of the spiritual man there
must be truths that are to be believed and goods that are to be done, both of
them from the Word and from doctrine and preaching from the Word. These man must
learn even from infancy. But all these things, however abundant they may be,
although they are from the Word, are natural until the spiritual mind is opened;
for they are mere knowledge. Thought from this storehouse is what is called
faith by those who separate faith from good works in doctrine and in
life.
(4) [6] The spiritual mind is primarily opened by man's abstaining from
doing evils because they are contrary to the Divine commandments in the Word. If
man abstains from evils from any other fear than this the spiritual mind is not
opened. The following are the reasons why this is what opens the spiritual mind:
First, that the evils with man must be removed before communication and
conjunction with heaven can be granted him; since evils, which are all in the
natural man, keep heaven closed, and yet heaven must be opened, for otherwise
man remains natural. The second reason is that the Word is from the Lord, and
consequently the Lord is in the Word, even so that He is the Word; for the Word
is Divine truth all of which is from the Lord. From this it follows that he who
abstains from doing evils because they are contrary to the Divine commandments
in the Word abstains from them from the Lord. The third reason is, that as far
as evils are removed so far goods enter. That this is so can be seen by man from
natural lumen alone, for when lasciviousness is removed chastity enters; when
intemperance is removed temperance enters; when deceit is removed sincerity
enters; when hatred and the delight of revenge are removed love and the delight
of love and friendship enter; and so in other cases; and this for the reason
that the Lord enters, and heaven with Him, so far as man from the Word abstains
from doing evils, since he then abstains from them from the Lord.
(5) [7] But
this shall be illustrated by examples. Take for illustration the four
commandments of the Decalogue, "thou shalt not commit adultery," "thou shalt not
steal," "thou shalt not kill," "thou shalt not bear false witness." These
commandments are Divine, since they are in the Word. When anyone shuns and
averts himself from adultery because of the fear that it is against the Lord,
against heaven, and against the spiritual life, to be in accord with which is
eternal felicity, he loves chastity and loves his consort, because true
conjugial love is chastity itself. When anyone shuns and averts himself from
theft because of a like fear as from adultery, he loves sincerity, and loves the
good of the neighbor as his own good. When anyone shuns and averts himself from
murders or from deadly hatred from a like fear he loves the neighbor and is in
charity. When anyone shuns and averts himself from false testimony because of a
like fear he loves justice and loves truthfulness, and this from the Lord,
because from the Word; consequently when after death he becomes a spirit he is
like an angel of heaven, and therefore becomes an angel of heaven. But when one
does not shun adultery from such a holy fear, but from a fear for his
reputation, and thus of the loss of honor and gain, or from a fear of the law,
or of disease, or because of weakness, he is still unchaste, since he merely
fears the world and the loss of his prosperity in the world, and does not fear
the Lord, and thus does not fear the loss of heaven and of eternal life. In like
manner when anyone abstains from thefts, from murders or deadly hatreds, and
from false testimonies, from natural fear only and not from spiritual fear, he
abstains from these from self and not from the Lord; and he who does this from
self still remains in them; and no one can be withdrawn from these except by the
Lord. From this it can be seen that the spiritual mind with man is opened by
this, that from the Word he abstains from doing evils; and that it is opened in
the same degree in which he abstains from them by shunning and turning away from
them.
(6) [8] So much respecting the opening of the spiritual mind. Something
shall now be said about its formation. The spiritual mind is formed from those
things that are in man's memory from the Word; for the memory is the storehouse
spoken of above, but these things are elevated therefrom in this manner: First,
there is given to man the affection of truth, which is called the spiritual
affection of truth, which is that man loves truth because it is truth. This
affection of truth is then given because when evils are removed man is in goods
from the Lord, and good loves truth and truth good, and the two will to be
conjoined. This affection is given by the Lord alone, because the Lord in heaven
is Divine truth; and it is given by the Word, because the Lord in the church is
the Word. Secondly, those things that are from the Word in man's storehouse
mentioned above, are drawn forth and purified by the Lord, and genuine truths
are there discriminated and separated from falsities; for man's spiritual mind
can be formed only out of genuine truths, since heaven is in no other. Thirdly,
those truths are elevated by the Lord in a wonderful manner, and become
spiritual; this is effected by the influx of heaven, and thus of spiritual
things corresponding to natural; and these truths are there disposed into a
heavenly form (what this is may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, n.
200-212). Fourthly, the truths that are elevated into the spiritual mind are not
in a natural but in a spiritual form. Truths in a spiritual form are such as are
in the spiritual sense of the Word, but truths in a natural form are such as are
in the natural sense of the Word; that these are distinct, and yet make one by
correspondences, has been made clear in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 87-115).
For this reason, when man after death becomes a spirit and his spiritual mind is
opened, he no longer thinks and speaks naturally, but spiritually. Fifthly, so
long as man is living in the world he is wholly ignorant of what he thinks in
the spiritual mind; he knows only what he thinks from that mind in the natural;
but after death the state is changed, and he then thinks from the spiritual
mind, and not from the natural. Thus much respecting the opening of the
spiritual mind and its formation.
(7) [9] When a man's spiritual mind has
been opened and formed then the Lord forms the natural mind; for man's natural
mind is formed by the Lord by means of the spiritual mind; and for the reason
that man's spiritual mind is in heaven, and his natural mind is in the world;
for it is only from heaven, and when communication and conjunction with heaven
have been effected, that the natural can be formed to the idea of such things as
are in heaven. This formation is effected by the Lord by an influx out of the
spiritual mind into the natural, by means of which the things that are in the
natural mind are so arranged as to correspond to those that are in the spiritual
mind. (This correspondence is treated of in many places in the Arcana Coelestia,
and also in the work on Heaven and Hell.) These things that are in the natural
mind out of the spiritual are called rational truths, moral truths, natural
truths, and in general, truths of knowledge [vera scientifica]; while the goods
that are in the natural mind out of the spiritual are called affections and
desires for those truths, and for thinking about, speaking about, and doing
those truths from such affections, and these are in general called uses. All
those things that are in the natural mind out of the spiritual mind come under
man's intuition and into his perception.
(8) [10] It is to be known that this
formation of the two minds with man goes on from his infancy to his old age, and
afterwards to eternity; and sometimes from the middle age of man to his last
age, and afterwards to eternity; but still in another way after the life in the
world than during the life in the world. And as man is formed, so is he
perfected in intelligence and wisdom, and becomes a man. For no man is a man
from his natural mind; from that he is rather a beast; but he becomes a man
through intelligence and wisdom from the Lord, and so far as he is intelligent
and wise he is a beautiful man and an angel of heaven. But so far as he rejects,
suffocates, and perverts the truths and goods of the Word, thus of heaven and
the church, and therefore rejects intelligence and wisdom, so far he is a
monster and not a man, because he is so far a devil. From this it can be seen
that man is not a man from his parents, but from the Lord, of whom he is born
and created anew. This, therefore, is regeneration and a new creation.
(9)
[11] This being premised, something shall now be said about the will and
understanding of the man who has been created anew or regenerated by the Lord;
and afterwards about charity and faith. His will in the natural man is formed by
the influx of the heat of heaven through his spiritual mind from the Lord. The
heat of heaven in its essence is the Divine good proceeding from the Lord's
Divine love. But the understanding in the natural man is formed by the influx of
the light of heaven through his spiritual man from the Lord. The light of heaven
in its essence is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord's Divine love. From
this it follows that the will is formed out of goods, and from these man has
love and affection; and that the understanding is formed out of truths therefrom, and from these man has intelligence and wisdom. And as truths are
nothing but forms of good it follows that the understanding is nothing but a
form of its will. The only difference is that the understanding sees and the
will feels. From this it is clear that such as man's will of good is, such is
his understanding of truth, or what is the same, such as man's love is such is
his intelligence. From this it is evident that although the will and the
understanding are two faculties of life, still they act as one, and for this
reason these two faculties of life are called one mind. This relates to the
natural man. In the spiritual man also there are a will and an understanding,
but much more perfect; and these are also called one mind. This therefore is the
spiritual mind, and the other is the natural mind. But these are such with the
man whose spiritual mind has been opened and formed; but it is altogether
different with the man whose spiritual mind is closed, and only the natural mind
opened.
(10) [12] The same can be said of charity and faith as has been said
of the will and understanding; for the will is the subject and receptacle of
charity as it is the subject and receptacle of good, and the understanding is
the subject and receptacle of faith because it is the subject and receptacle of
truth; for charity derives all that it is from good, and faith derives all that
it is from truth; and this is why it is said the good of charity, and the truth
of faith. From this it follows that charity and faith act as one, like will and
understanding; and that such as the charity is such is the faith. But these are
in the natural mind; but in the spiritual mind there is the love of good in
place of charity, and the perception of truth in place of faith.
(11) [13]
That spiritual love, which is charity, produces faith, can be seen merely from
this, that man after death, who is then called a spirit, is nothing but an
affection which is of love, and his thought is from that; consequently the whole
angelic heaven is arranged into societies according to the varieties of
affections; and everyone in heaven, in whatever society he may be, thinks from
his affection; and therefore it is affection, which is love, that produces
faith, and such faith as the affection is; for faith is nothing but thinking
that a thing is so in truth, while affection means love in its continuation. But
at the present day man in the world does not know that his thought is from
affection and according to it, for the reason that he sees his thought but does
not see his affection, and as his thought is his affection in a visible form
therefore he knows no otherwise than that thought is the whole mind of man. It
was otherwise of old with the ancients where the churches were. Because these
knew that love produces all things of thought, therefore charity (which is the
affection of knowing truths, of understanding them, and of willing them, and
thus of becoming wise) was made by them the chief means of salvation. And as
that affection makes one with faith they did not know what faith is.
[14]
From this it is evident not only how faith is formed with man but also that
faith never can produce charity; but charity, which is spiritual love, forms
faith as an effigy of itself, and in it presents an image of itself; and for
this reason the nature of faith is known from charity and its goods, which are
good works, as the nature of a tree is known from its fruit. By a "tree,"
however, faith is not meant, but man in respect to his life; while its leaves
signify the truths through which there is faith, and its fruits signify goods of
life, which are the goods of charity. Besides these arcana respecting the
formation of faith by the Lord by means of charity there are innumerable others;
but still it is the Lord who works all these arcana, while man knows nothing
about it; all that man needs to do is to learn truths from the Word and to live
according to them.
(Apocalypse Explained 790)
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