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Memorable Occurrences in Swedenborg's Writings

This list of Memorable Occurrences in Swedenborg's Writings was originally compiled by W. C. Henderson in 1960 but has since been updated.

Des oeuvres de Swedenborg

 

Survey of Teachings of the New Church #113

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113. To these things I will add the following: There is a saying in the church that no one can fulfill the law, especially since someone who breaks one of the Ten Commandments breaks them all [James 2:10– 11; Matthew 5:19]. But this formulaic saying does not mean what it seems to. The proper way to understand it is that people who purposely or deliberately behave in a way that is contrary to one commandment in effect behave contrary to the rest, because doing something [against one commandment] purposely and deliberately is the same as completely denying that that behavior is sinful. And people who deny and reject the very idea of sin see nothing wrong with breaking the other commandments.

As everyone is surely aware, just because someone is a fornicator does not mean that he or she is, or wants to be, a murderer, thief, or false witness. People who commit adultery purposely and deliberately, though, see no value in any religious practice, and therefore see nothing wrong even with murders or acts of theft or false witness; they abstain from doing such things not because doing so would be sinful but because they are afraid of the law and any negative effect on their reputation.

Similarly, if people break another of the Ten Commandments purposely or deliberately, they break the rest as well, because they do not consider anything to be sinful.

[2] Much the same is true for people who are devoted to doing good things that come from the Lord. If such people abstain from one evil on the grounds that that evil is sinful, they abstain from all evils (provided that both their will and their intellect are engaged in the process, that is, they abstain from that evil purposely and deliberately). The effect is even greater if they intentionally abstain from more than one evil. As soon as we abstain purposely or deliberately from any sinful evil, we are held by the Lord in a resolution to abstain from the rest as well. Therefore if it happens that because we did not realize what was going on or because we were overwhelmed with physical desire, we do something evil, it is not held against us. It was not something we planned to do, and we do not support what we did.

We develop this resolve if we examine ourselves once or twice a year and recover from an evil we find in ourselves. If we never examine ourselves, we do not develop this resolve.

[3] I may reinforce this point as follows. In the spiritual world I have come across many people who had shared a similar lifestyle when they were in the physical world. They all dressed in fashionable clothing, enjoyed fine dining, took profit from their business, went to the theater, told jokes about lovers as if they themselves were lustful, and many other things of the kind. Yet for some of these people the angels labeled their behaviors as evil and sinful, whereas for others the angels did not. The angels declared the former guilty and the latter innocent. Upon being asked why this was, since the people had done the same things, the angels replied that they had evaluated all the people on the basis of their plans, intentions, and purposes and distinguished them accordingly. Those whose purpose excused them, the angels excused, and those whose purpose condemned them, the angels condemned, since the goal of all who are in heaven is to do good, and the goal of all who are in hell is to do evil. From this it becomes clear who is assigned blame for sin and who is not.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.

Des oeuvres de Swedenborg

 

Conjugial Love #330

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330. The second account:

I once heard a friendly discussion among some men regarding the feminine sex, as to whether any woman can love her husband if she is constantly in love with her own beauty, that is, if she loves herself on account of her appearance. The men agreed among themselves, first that women have a twofold beauty, one a natural beauty having to do with their face and figure, and the other a spiritual beauty having to do with their love and demeanor. They agreed also that these two kinds of beauty are very often separated in the natural world, but that they are always united in the spiritual world; for outward beauty in the spiritual world is an expression of a person's love and demeanor. It frequently happens after death therefore that homely women become beautiful, and beautiful women homely.

[2] As the men were discussing this, some wives came to them saying, "Permit us to join you; for what you are discussing you know from observation, but we know it from experience. Besides, as regards the love possessed by wives you know so little as to know scarcely anything. Are you aware that it is a matter of prudence inherent in the wisdom of wives to hide their love for their husbands and conceal it in the recesses of their bosom or at the center of their heart?"

The discussion recommenced, and the first conclusion drawn by the men was that every woman wishes to seem beautiful in appearance and beautiful in demeanor, because she is from birth the form of an affection of love and this affection is expressed in beauty. Therefore a woman who does not wish to be beautiful is not a woman who wishes to love and be loved, and so is not truly a woman.

To this the wives said, "A woman's beauty lies in her gentle tenderness and in her consequent keen sensitivity of feeling. That is what occasions a woman's love for a man and a man's love for a woman. This is perhaps something you do not understand."

[3] The men's second conclusion was that before marriage a woman wishes to be beautiful for men in general, but after marriage, if she is chaste, for her husband only and not for other men.

To this the wives said, "After a husband has tasted the natural beauty of his wife he no longer sees it, but sees instead her spiritual beauty and returns her love because of that. If he calls to mind her natural beauty, he does so with a different view of it."

[4] The third conclusion reached by the men in their discussion was that if a woman after marriage wishes to seem beautiful in the same way as before, she loves men in general and not her husband. "For a woman who loves herself on account of her beauty," they explained, "continually wishes to have her beauty tasted; and because it is no longer seen by her husband — as you women have said — she wishes to have it tasted by men who do see it. It is patent that such a woman has a love for the opposite sex in general and not a love for just one."

At this the wives were silent, though they murmured to themselves, "What woman is so without vanity that she does not wish to seem beautiful to men in general also at the same time as to her one and only?"

Listening to this were some wives from heaven, who were themselves beautiful, being forms of heavenly affection, and they confirmed the three conclusions reached by the men. But they added, "Let women love their beauty and its ornamentation, provided it is for the sake of their husbands and inspired by them."

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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