SPIRITUAL HEAT AND LIGHT IN PROCEEDING FROM THE LORD AS A SUN, MAKE ONE, JUST AS HIS DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM MAKE ONE

DLW 99. How Divine Love and Divine Wisdom in the Lord make one has been explained in Part I.; in like manner heat and light make one, because they proceed from these, and the things which proceed make one by virtue of their correspondence, heat, corresponding to love, and light to wisdom. From this it follows that as Divine Love is Divine Esse (being) and Divine Wisdom is Divine Existere (taking form) (n. 14-16), so spiritual heat is the Divine proceeding from Divine Esse, and spiritual light is the Divine proceeding from Divine Existere. And as by that union Divine Love is of Divine Wisdom, and Divine Wisdom is of Divine Love (n. 34-39), so spiritual heat is of spiritual light, and spiritual light is of spiritual heat And because there is such a union it follows that heat and light, in proceeding from the Lord as a sun, are one. It will be seen, however, in what follows, that they are not received as one by angels and men.

DLW 100. The heat and light that proceed from the Lord as a sun are what in an eminent sense are called the spiritual, and they are called the spiritual in the singular number, because they are one; when, therefore, the spiritual is mentioned in the following pages, it is meant both these together. From that spiritual it is that the whole of that world is called spiritual. Through that spiritual, all things of that world derive their origin, and also their name. That heat and that light are called the spiritual, because God is called Spirit, and God as Spirit is the spiritual going forth. God, by virtue of His own very Essence, is called Jehovah; but by means of that going forth He vivifies and enlightens angels of heaven and men of the church. Consequently, vivification and enlightenment are said to be effected by the Spirit of Jehovah.

DLW 101. That heat and light, that is, the spiritual going forth from the Lord as a Sun, make one, may be illustrated by the heat and light that go forth from the sun of the natural world. These two also make one in their going out from that sun. That they do not make one on earth is owing not to the sun, but to the earth. For the earth revolves daily round its axis, and has a yearly motion following the ecliptic, which gives the appearance that heat and light do not make one. Form the middle of summer there is more of heat than of light, and in the middle of winter more of light than of heat. In the spiritual world it is the same, except that there is in that world no daily or yearly motion of the earth; but the angels turn themselves, some more, some less, to the Lord; those who turn themselves more, receive more from heat and less from light, and those who turn themselves less to the Lord receive more from light and less from heat. From this it is that the heavens, which consist of angels, are divided into two kingdoms, one called celestial, the other spiritual. The celestial angels receive more from heat, and the spiritual angels more from light. Moreover, the lands they inhabit vary in appearance according to their reception of heat and light. If this change of state of the angels is substituted for the motion of the earth, the correspondence is complete.

DLW 102. In what follows it will be seen, also, that all spiritual things that originate through the heat and light of their sun, make one in like manner when regarded in themselves, but when regarded as proceeding from the affections of the angels do not make one. When heat and light make one in the heavens, it is with the angels as if it were spring; but when they do not make one, it is either like summer or like winter--not like the winter in the frigid zones, but like the winter in the warmer zone. Thus reception of love and wisdom in equal measure is the very angelic state, and therefore an angel is an angel of heaven according to the union in him of love and wisdom. It is the same with the man of the Church, when love and wisdom, that is, charity and faith, make one in him.

Divine Love and Wisdom

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Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

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