THE IMPUTATION OF THE
TWO LOVES:
SCORTATORY AND CONJUGIAL
Selection from Conjugial Love #523 - 535 ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
I. THAT AFTER DEATH THE EVIL IN WHICH
ONE IS, IS IMPUTED TO HIM; LIKEWISE THE GOOD.
That this may be seen in some
clearness, it shall be illustrated under distinct heads, thus:
1. That every one
has a life proper to himself.
2. That this his life remains with every one after
death.
3. That to the evil man is then imputed the evil of his life, and to the
good, the good of his life.
FIRST: That every one has a life proper to
himself, thus a life distinct from that of another, is well known; for there is
perpetual variety, and no one thing is the same as another. Therefore, each
individual has what is peculiar to himself. This is very manifest from men's
faces, in that there is not, nor can ever be, a single face absolutely like
another. The reason is because there is no animus the same as another, and the
face is from the animus; for, as the saying is, the face is the type of the mind
[animus], and the animus draws its origin and form from the life.
Unless a
man had a life properly his own, as he has an animus and face properly his own,
then, after death he would not have any life separate from that of another.
Indeed, there would be no heaven, for heaven consists of perpetually distinct
individuals. Its form is solely from the varieties of souls and minds disposed
into such order that they make a one; and they make a one from the one whose
life is in each and every one there, as the soul is in man. Were this not the
case, heaven would be dispersed because its form would be dissolved. The one
from whom each and all have life and by reason of whom the form coheres, is the
Lord. In general, every form consists of various things, and the quality of the
form is according to the harmonious co-ordination and arrangement of those
things into a one. Such is the human form. Hence it is that man, consisting of
so many members, viscera, and organs, does not sensate anything, whether in
himself or from himself, save as a one.
SECOND: That this his life
remains with every one after death is known in the Church from the word and from
the following passages there:
The Son of man shall come, and then he shall
render to every man according to his works. Matt. 16:27.
I saw the books
opened, and all were judged according to their works. Rev. 20:12, 13.
In the
day of judgment God shall render to every man according to his works. Rom. 2:5,
6; 11 Cor. 5:10.
The works according to which it will be rendered to every
one are the life, for it is the man's life that does them, and they are in
accord with his life. Because it has been granted me for many years to be
with angels and to talk with new-comers from the world, I can testify for a
certainty that in the spiritual world every one is explored as to the kind of
life he has led; and that the life which he has contracted in the world remains
with him to eternity. I have spoken with those who lived ages ago whose life was
known to me from history, and I recognized that it was like the description. I
have also heard from angels that no man's life can be changed after death
because it has been organized according to his love and the works therefrom;
that if it were changed, the organization would be torn apart, and this can
never be; also that a change in organization is possible only in the material
body, being entirely impossible in the spiritual body after the former is cast
off. THIRD: That to the evil man is then imputed the evil of his life,
and to the good, the good of his life. The imputation of evil is not an
accusation, incrimination, charge, and judgement as in the world, but the evil
itself does this; for the evil separate themselves from the good of their own
free will, inasmuch as the two cannot be together. The delights of the love of
evil have an aversion to the delights of the love of good, and [in the spiritual
world] his delights exhale from every one like odors from every plant on earth;
for they are no longer absorbed and concealed by a material body but flow freely
from their loves into the spiritual aura. And because evil as manifested in its
odor is there sensated, it is this that accuses, incriminates, charges, and
judges, not before any judge but before every one who is in good. This is what
is meant by imputation. Moreover, an evil man chooses companions with whom he
may live in his delight; and being averse to the delight of good, he
spontaneously betakes himself to his own in hell.
The imputation of good
is made in the same way, being made with those who in the world have
acknowledged that all the good in them is from the Lord and none from
themselves. These, after being prepared, are let into the interior delights of
good, and then a way is opened for them into heaven, to the society whose
delights are homogeneous. This is done by the Lord.
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