Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 1.djvu/111

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

thought flows into the exterior, and thus into the speech and actions. This is the order into which man was created; for when men are in this order their interiors are in heaven and in the light of heaven; and because the light of heaven is divine truth proceeding from the Lord, consequently is the Lord in heaven, therefore they are led by the Lord.

These things are said that it may be known that every man has interior thought and exterior thought, and that these are distinct from each other. When thought is mentioned, the will is also meant, since thought is from the will, for without the will no one can think. From these things it is evident what is the state of man's exteriors, and the state of his interiors.

When mention is made of the will and the thought, then by the will is also meant affection and love, together with all the delight and pleasure which belong to affection and love, because these have reference to the will as to their subject; for what a man wills, this he loves, and feels as pleasurable and delightful; and conversely, what a man loves and feels as pleasurable and delightful, this he wills. But by the thought is then meant all that also whereby a man confirms his affection or love; for thought is nothing else but the form of the will, or the medium whereby that which a man wills may appear in the light. This form is presented by various rational analyses, which derive their origin from the spiritual world, and belong properly to man's spirit.