IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD THE EAST IS WHERE THE LORD APPEARS AS A SUN, AND FROM THAT THE OTHER QUARTERS ARE DETERMINED

DLW 119. The sun of the spiritual world and its essence, also its heat and light, and the presence of the Lord thereby, have been treated of; a description is now to be given of the quarters in the spiritual world. That sun and that world are treated of, because God and love and wisdom are treated of; and to treat of those subjects except from their very origin would be to proceed from effects, not from causes. Yet from effects nothing but effects can be learned; when effects alone are considered no cause is brought to light; but causes reveal effects. To know effects from causes is to be wise; but to search for causes from effects is not to be wise, because fallacies then present themselves, which the investigator calls causes, and this is to turn wisdom into foolishness. Causes are things prior, and effects are things posterior; and things prior cannot be seen from things posterior, but things posterior can be seen from things prior. This is order. For this reason the spiritual world is here first treated of, for all causes are there; and afterwards the natural world, where all things that appear are effects.

DLW 120. The quarters in the spiritual world shall now be spoken of. There are quarters there in like manner as in the natural world, but like that world itself, they are spiritual; while the quarters in the natural world, like that world itself, are natural; the difference between them therefore is so great that they have nothing in common. In each world there are four quarters, which are called east, west, south, and north. In the natural world, these four quarters are constant, determined by the sun on the meridian; opposite this is north, on one side is east, on the other, west. These quarters are determined by the meridian of each place; for the sun's station on the meridian at each point is always the same, and is therefore fixed. In the spiritual world it is different. The quarters there are determined by the sun of that world, which appears constantly in its own place, and where it appears is the east; consequently the determination of the quarters in that world is not from the south, as in the natural world, but from the east, opposite to this is west, on one side is south, and on the other, north. But that these quarters are not determined by the sun, but by the inhabitants of that world, who are angels and spirits, will be seen in what follows.

DLW 121. As these quarters, by virtue of their origin, which is the Lord as a sun, are spiritual, so the dwelling-places of angels and spirits, all of which are according to these quarters, are also spiritual. They are spiritual, because angels and spirits have their places of abode according to their reception of love and wisdom from the Lord. Those in a higher degree of love dwell in the east; those in a lower degree of love in the west; those in a higher degree of wisdom, in the south; and those in a lower degree of wisdom, in the north. From this it is that, in the Word, by "the east," in the highest sense, is meant the Lord, and in a relative sense love to Him; by the "west," a diminishing love to Him; by the "south" wisdom in light; and by the "north" wisdom in shade; or similar things relatively to the state of those who are treated of.

DLW 122. Since the east is the point from which all quarters in the spiritual world are determined, and by the east, in the highest sense, is meant the Lord, and also Divine Love, it is evident that the source from which all things are, is the Lord and love to Him, and that one is remote from the Lord in the measure in which he is not in that love, and dwells either in the west, or in the south, or in the north, at distances corresponding to the reception of love.

DLW 123. Since the Lord as a sun is constantly in the east; the ancients, with whom all things of worship were representative of spiritual things, turned their faces to the east in their devotions; and that they might do the like in all worship, they turned their temples also in that direction. From this it is that, at the present day, churches are built in like manner.

Divine Love and Wisdom

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Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

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