There is a great deal of talk about “truth” in Swedenborg, but in
some ways it is one of the more elusive terms. That’s because we tend to think of it in basic terms – meaning something that is an accurate statement of reality – and because we tend to think of it in terms of ideas that can be verbalized or written.
“Truth” as used in Swedenborg, however, is something deeper, broader, richer, more meaningful, more powerful and more beautiful. In a sense, it is a delivery system for love, and sharing love is the very purpose of reality, which makes truth vitally important. And while it can come in the form of dry, cold rules and facts, it is at its most pure a thing of indescribable beauty, something that moves us internally.
The nature of truth originates in the idea that the Lord in his essence is love itself, perfect and infinite, and that he loves us beyond our capacity to imagine. And just as we want people we love to love us back, so also the Lord has the deepest desire for us to love him back; his love wants to reach out to us and inspire love in turn.
Love, however, cannot operate on its own; it needs a medium to work in. Think of it this way: To express love for someone, you need a face to smile with, a voice to speak with, arms to embrace with, or various tools you can use to do good, loving things for the people you love. Without those things it’s just a feeling, stuck inside and rather useless. In a sense, if it can’t be expressed, its existence is not really quite complete.
“Truth,” then, could be defined as “the expression of love” or maybe as “love expressed.” This can be pretty profound and beautiful: The expression on a new mother’s face, seeing her baby for the first time – that is truth, on a level beyond words. The feeling in her is expressed, and we take it in and feel a surge of emotion ourselves. At a higher level yet, we might try to image the expression on the Lord’s face when he looks at us, the love pouring from him; that is truth at its deepest.
But truth comes at lower levels too. Think of the ways we love our children – at times that means laying down some stark, black-and-white rules. “Keep your hands to yourself” and “you need to obey me” don’t sound very loving, and making a child take out the trash does not exactly inspire warm feelings and poetic thoughts. But we are in fact loving them when we teach them lessons that will help them be good people, even if that love doesn’t glow from the surface of what we’re saying. The Lord has to handle us the same way at times, especially in the early stages of our spiritual growth. “Thou shalt not kill” doesn’t sound all that loving, and the order to not covet can seem unrealistic and borderline unfair. If we look at them closely, though, we can see that they are loving, and are leading us to be loving people.
So truth comes at many levels and in many forms, shaped and adapted to various ways we can be led to be good and loving. This is why so many different things in the Bible – stones, water, wine, plants, swords and many others – all represent truth; they all have shades of meaning reflecting the many types of truth the Lord uses to lead us.
At heart, though, all truth is a way of sharing love. If we look to that, we will treasure it properly.
Passages from Swedenborg
New Jerusalem and Heavenly Doctrine (Whitehead) n. 24
- [4]. Of those who are in truths from good, consequently of truths from good.
Of the difference between truth that leads to good, and truth which proceeds from good (n. 2063). Truth is not essentially truth, any further than as it proceeds from good (n. 4736, 10619); because truth has its esse from good (n. 3049, 3180, 4574, 5002, 9144); and its life (n. 2434, 3111, 6077); and because truth is the form or quality of good (n. 3049, 4574, 5951, 9154). Truth is altogether as good with man, in the same ratio and degree (n. 2429). In order that truth may be truth, it must derive its essence from the good of charity and innocence (n. 3111, 6013). The truths which are from good are spiritual truths (n. 5951).
Truth makes one with good when it proceeds from good, even so that both together are one good (n. 4301, 4337, 7835, 10252, 10266). The understanding and will make one mind and one life, when the understanding proceeds from the will, because the understanding is the recipient of truth, and the will, of good, but not when man thinks and speaks otherwise than he wills (n. 3623). Truth from good is truth in will and act (n. 4337, 4353, 4385, 4390). When truth proceeds from good, good has its image in truth (n. 3180).
In the whole heaven and world, and in the single things thereof, there is an image of marriage (n. 54, 718, 747, 917, 1432, 2173, 2516, 5194). Particularly betweentruth and good (n. 1904, 2173, 2508). Because all things in the universe have relation to truth and good, in order that they may be anything, and to their conjunction, in order that anything may be produced (n. 2452, 3166, 4390, 4409, 5232, 7256, 10122, 10555). The ancients also instituted a marriage between truthand good (n. 1904). The law of marriage is, that two be one, according to the words of the Lord (n. 10130, 10168, 10169). Love truly conjugial descends and exists from heaven, from the marriage of truth and good (n. 2728, 2729).
Man is so far wise, as he is in good and thence in truths, but not so far as he knows truths and is not in good (n. 3182, 3190, 4884). The man who is in truthsfrom good, is actually elevated from the light of the world into the light of heaven, consequently from what is obscure into what is clear; but on the other hand, he is in the light of the world, and what is obscure, so long as he knowstruths and is not in good (n. 3190, 3192). Man does not know what good is, before he is in it, and knows from it (n. 3325, 3330, 3336). Truths increase immensely when they proceed from good (n. 2846, 2847, 5345). Of which increase (n. 5355). This increase is as fructification from a tree, and multiplication from seeds from which whole gardens are produced (n. 1873, 2846, 2847). Wisdom increases in a like degree, and this to eternity (n. 3200, 3314, 4220, 4221, 5527, 5859, 10303). The man also who is in truths from good is in a like degree enlightened, and he is so far in enlightenment when he reads the Word (n. 9382, 10548-10550, 10691, 10694). The good of love is as fire, andtruth thence as light from that fire (n. 3195, 3222, 5400, 8644, 9399, 9548, 9684). In heaven truths from good shine (n. 5219). Truths from good, by which is wisdom, increase according to the quality and quantity of the love of good; and on the other hand, falsities from evil, according to the quality and quantity of the love of evil (n. 4099). The man who is in truths from good comes into angelic intelligence and wisdom, and they lie hid in his interiors so long as he lives in the world, but they are opened in the other life (n. 2494). The man, who is in truthsfrom good, becomes an angel after death (n. 8747).
Truths from good are like generations (n. 9079). They are disposed in series (n. 5339, 5343, 5530, 7408, 10303, 10308). The arrangement of truths from good compared with the fibers and blood-vessels in the body; and thence with their textures and forms, according to the uses of life (n. 3470, 3570, 3579, 9154).Truths from good form as it were a city, and this from the influx of heaven (n. 3584). The truths which are of the principal love are in the midst; and the rest are more or less remote from thence according to their degrees of disagreement (n. 3993, 4551, 4552, 5530, 6028). Conversely with the evil (n. 4551, 4552).
Truths when they proceed from good are arranged in the form of heaven (n. 4302, 4904, 5339, 5343, 5704, 6028, 10303). And this according to the order in which are the angelic societies (n. 10303). All truths when they proceed from good are conjoined to one another by a certain affinity, and they are as derivations of families from one father (n. 2863). All truth has a sphere of extension into heaven, according to the quality and quantity of the good from which it is (n. 8063).
The marriage of good and truth is the church and heaven with man (n. 2731, 7752, 7753, 9224, 9995, 10122). Of the delight and happiness of those with whom good is in truths (n. 1470). Truths from good, in conjunction, present an image of man (n. 8370). Man is nothing but his own good, and truth thence derived; or evil, and falsity thence derived (n. 10298).
A summary: Faith is by truths (n. 4353, 4997, 7178, 10367). Charity towards the neighbor is by truths (n. 4368, 7623, 7624, 8034). Love to the Lord is by truths(n. 10143, 10153, 10310, 10578, 10645). Conscience is by truths (n. 1077, 2053, 9113). Innocence is by truths (n. 3183, 3494, 6013). Purification from evils is bytruths (n. 2799, 5954, 7044, 7918, 9088, 10229, 10237). Regeneration is by truths(n. 1555, 1904, 2046, 2189, 9088, 9959, 10028). Intelligence and wisdom are bytruths (n. 3182, 3190, 3387, 10064). The beauty of angels, and also of men, as to the interiors which are their spirits, is by truths (n. 553, 3080, 4985, 5199). Power against evils and falsities is by truths (n. 3091, 4015, 10488). Order, such as it is in heaven, is by truths (n. 3316, 3417, 3570, 4104, 5339, 5343, 6028, 10303). The church is by truths (n. 1798, 1799, 3963, 4468, 4672). Heaven is with man bytruths (n. 3690, 9832, 9931, 10303). Man becomes man by truths (n. 3175, 3387, 8370, 10298). Nevertheless all these things are by truths from good, and not bytruths without good; and good is from the Lord (n. 2434, 4070, 4736, 5147). All good is from the Lord (n. 1614, 2016, 2904, 4151, 9981).
Divine Providence (Ager) n. 10
(5) Good of love is good only so far as it has become joined with truth of wisdom; and truth of wisdom is truth only so far as it has become joined with good of love. Good and truth derive this from their origin. Good has its origin in the Lord, and likewise truth, for the Lord is good itself and truth itself; and in Him these two are one. For this reason in angels of heaven and in men on earth good is good in itself only so far as it has become joined with truth; and truth is truth in itself only so far as it has become joined with good. It is acknowledged that every good and every truth is from the Lord; since, therefore, good makes one with truth, and truth with good, it follows that for good to be good in itself, and for truth to betruth in itself, they must make one in the recipient, that is, in an angel of heaven or a man on the earth.
Divine Providence (Rogers) n. 36
The wisdom which comes to a person's perception is a perception of truth from an affection for it, especially a perception of spiritual truth. For there is civil truth, moral truth, and spiritual truth. People who have a perception of spiritual truth from an affection for it also have a perception of moral and civiltruth, for an affection for spiritual truth is the soul of these perceptions.
I have sometimes spoken with angels about wisdom, and the angels have said that wisdom is conjunction with the Lord, because the Lord is wisdom itself, and that one who casts out hell from himself comes into that conjunction, and comes into it to the extent that he casts hell out.
True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 398
398
- Goodness and truth.
(a) Everything in the universe that is in the divine design relates to goodness and truth. Nothing that exists in heaven or on earth does not relate to these two. The reason is that both goodness and truth emanate from God, the source of all things.
[2] (b) Clearly then it is necessary for people to know what goodness is, what truth is, how they relate to each other, and how the one is united to the other. This is especially necessary for the people of the church. As everything in heaven relates to goodness and truth, so does everything in the church, since the goodness and truth of heaven are also the goodness and truth of the church.
[3] (c) The divine design is that goodness and truth are to be united, not separated. They are to be one thing, not two. They are united when they emanate from God, and they are united in heaven. Therefore they should be united in the church. In heaven the union of goodness and truth is called "the heavenly marriage." All who are in heaven have this marriage. This is why heaven is compared to a marriage in the Word, and the Lord is called Bridegroom and Husband while heaven is called Bride and Wife, as is the church. Heaven and the church are called this because the people in heaven and in the church receive divine goodness in their truths.
[4] (d) All the intelligence and wisdom that angels have comes from this marriage. None of it comes from goodness that is separate from truth or truth that is separate from goodness. The same is true for people of the church as well.
[5] (e) Since the union of goodness and truth is like a marriage, goodness clearly loves truth and truth loves goodness in return. Each one desires to be united to the other. People of the church who do not have this love or desire do not have the heavenly marriage. The church is not yet in them, since a union of goodness and truth constitutes the church.
[6] (f) There are many kinds of goodness. In general there is goodness that is spiritual and goodness that is earthly. Both types come together in goodness that is genuinely moral. Just as there are different types of goodness, there are different types of truth, since truth belongs to goodness and is the form of goodness.
[7] (g) The situation with goodness and truth has an opposite in evil and falsity. As everything in the universe that is in the divine design relates to goodness and truth, so everything that is against the divine design relates to evil and falsity. As goodness loves to be united to truth, so evil loves to be united to falsity and the reverse. As the union of goodness and truth gives birth to all intelligence and wisdom, the union of evil and falsity gives birth to all insanity and foolishness. If you look deeply at the union of evil and falsity, you will see that it is not a marriage but an act of adultery.
[8] (h) The fact that evil and falsity are the opposite of goodness and truth makes it clear that truth cannot be joined to evil and that goodness cannot be joined to the falsity that comes from evil. If truth is joined to evil it becomes false and no longer true because it has been falsified. If goodness is joined to the falsity that comes from evil the goodness becomes evil and no longer good because it has been contaminated. Falsity that does not come from evil, however, can be joined to goodness.
[9] (i) No people who are focused on evil and falsity as a result of their convictions and their lives are able to know what goodness and truth are, because they believe that their evil is good and their falsity is true. On the other hand, all who are focused on goodness and truth as a result of their convictions and their lives are able to know what evil and falsity are, because all goodness and truth are essentially heavenly, but all evil and falsity are essentially hellish; and everything heavenly is in the light but everything hellish is in the dark.
AC 3509
[2] The rational mind is distinguished into two separate mental powers, one called the will, the other the understanding. That which goes forth from the will when someone is being regenerated is called good, and that which goes forth from the understanding is called truth. Until a person has been regenerated the will does not act in unison with the understanding. Instead the will desires good whereas the understanding desires truth; and so different is each desire from the other that the effort of the will is perceived to be quite distinct and separate from that of the understanding.
AC 1904
[3] Intellectual truth is distinct and separate from rational truth, and rationaltruth from factual truth, just as what is internal, what is intermediate, and what is external are. Intellectual truth is internal, rational truth is intermediate, while factual truth is external. These are quite distinct and separate because one is interior to another. With everyone intellectual truth, which is internal, or that present within the inmost part of him, is not his own but is the Lord's with him. From this the Lord flows into the rational, where truth first appears as if it were the person's own, and through the rational into his faculty of knowing. From these considerations it is clear that nobody can possibly think as of himself from intellectual truth, but from rational truth and factual truth because these do appear as if they were his.
AC 3207
Appearances of truth are not truths in themselves but are such as have the appearance of being truths, regarding which something is said below. The affection for truth cannot approach the affection for good except by means of appearances of truth, and these it does not discard until it is joined to it. Once joined it becomes truth wedded to good and becomes genuine truth to the extent the good is genuine.
[2] Good itself is holy because it is the Divine proceeding from the Lord, and flows in by a higher path or entrance within man. But truth, so far as its origin is concerned, is not holy because it flows in by a lower path or entrance, and at first belongs to the natural man. But when it is raised up from the natural man towards the rational man it is gradually purified, and at first sight of the affection for good is separated from facts, takes to itself the appearances of truth, and in this guise approaches good. This is a sign of the nature of its origins and that it could not endure the first sight of Divine good until it had entered the bridegroom's chamber, which was the sanctuary of good, and the two had become joined together. At that point truth no longer beholds good from or through appearances, but is beheld by good without any appearances.
[3] But it should be recognized that no truths with man, nor even with an angel, are ever pure, that is, free of appearances. Every single one is an appearance of the truth, but appearances are nevertheless accepted by the Lord as truths if they hold good within them. To the Lord alone do pure truths, being Divine truths, belong - for as the Lord is Good itself, so is He Truth itself.
AC 8456
no truth contained in doctrine or in the Word becomes a truth residing with a person until it has received life from the Divine. It receives that life through the introduction oftruth that goes forth from the Lord, called the truth of peace. This truth is not thetruth of faith; rather it is the life or soul of the truth of faith. It organizes into a heavenly form everything within the truth which is called the truth of faith, and also after that the truths themselves in relation to each other. All this goes to show what happens when the introduction of truth by means of the truth of peace takes place in a person. It should in addition be recognized that the lower or more external levels of a person who is being regenerated receive life from higher or more internal levels in order, so that the truth of faith receives life from the truth of peace, and this from the Lord Himself.
AC 3077
Truth however is not truth unless it has life within it, and that life is affection, which is an attribute of love.
AE 627
[5] Ultimate truth, or truth in the ultimate of order, means sensual truth, such astruth is in the sense of the letter of the Word to those who are merely sensual. Divine Truth in its descent proceeds according to degrees, from the highest or inmost to the lowest or ultimate. Divine Truth in the highest degree is such as the Divine is that goes forth immediately from the Lord, thus the Divine Truth above the heavens, and this, being infinite, cannot come to the perception of any angel. But the Divine Truth of the first degree is that which comes to the perception of the angels of the inmost or third heaven, and is called the celestial Divine Truth; from this comes the wisdom of those angels. The Divine Truth of the second degree is that which comes to the perception of the angels of the middle or second heaven, and is the cause of their wisdom and intelligence; it is called spiritual Divine Truth. The Divine Truth of the third degree is that which comes to the perception of the angels of the ultimate or first heaven, and is the source of their intelligence and knowledge (scientia); it is called celestial-natural and spiritual natural Divine Truth. But the Divine Truth of the fourth degree is that which comes to the perception of the men of the church living in the world; it is the source of their intelligence and knowledge; this is called natural DivineTruth, and the ultimate of this is called sensual Divine Truth.
[6] These Divine truths, according to their degrees in order, are in the Word, and the Divine Truth in the ultimate degree, or in the ultimate of order, is such as the Divine Truth is in the sense of the letter of the Word, which is for children and the very simple, and these are sensual.
AC 5044
With all who are undergoing temptations truth from the Lord is flowing in, and this truth rules and governs their thoughts, uplifting them every time they are given to doubt and also to feelings of despair. This truth is what that governing truth is, and it is the kind oftruth which they have learned from the Word and from doctrine and which they themselves have confirmed. Other kinds of truth may also be called on at such times, but these do not govern those persons interiorly. Sometimes the truthgoverning them does not make itself clearly visible in their understanding but lies obscured, yet continues to govern. For the Lord's Divine flows into that governing truth and in so doing keeps the interior parts of the mind within its domain, so that when it comes out into the light the person undergoing temptation receives comfort from it and is uplifted by it.
Doctrine of Life (Dick) n. 36
Good relates to the will, truth to the understanding. From the love of good in the will proceeds the love of truth in the understanding; from the love of truthproceeds the perception of truth from the perception of truth, the thought of truthand from these comes the acknowledgment of truth, which is faith in its genuine sense.
True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 379
379
(a) There is only one true faith; it is faith in the Lord God our Savior Jesus Christ. It exists in people who believe that he is the Son of God, that he is the God of heaven and earth, and that he is one with the Father. There is only one true faith, because faith is truth. Truth cannot be split or cut in half in such a way that part of it heads left and part of it heads right, and maintain its trueness.
In a general sense, faith consists of countless truths. Faith is a combination of truths. Yet in a way the countless truths make one body. In the body of faith, there are truths that constitute its limbs: some make the limbs that are attached to the chest as its arms and hands; others are attached to the pelvis as its legs and feet. Inner truths constitute the head. The first truths derived from those inner truths constitute the sense organs that are in the face.
Inner truths constitute the head because saying "inner" also means "higher." In the spiritual world, all things that are deeper within are also higher. This is true of the three heavens that are there.
The soul and life of this body and all its limbs is the Lord God our Savior. This is why Paul calls the church "the body of Christ" and says that people in the church constitute his limbs, depending on the state of their goodwill and faith [Romans 12:45; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31].
True Christian Religion 209
[2] Each and every truth in the Word shines. This has been made clear to me by the fact that when anyone writes a verse from the Word on a piece of paper and throws it up in the air, the piece of paper generates a glowing form that takes the shape of the cut paper. As a result, spirits are able to use theWord to produce various light-emitting shapes such as birds and fish.
Something that is even more amazing is that when people rub the open Word - the writing itself - on their face or hands or the clothing they have on, their face, hands, or clothing shines as if they themselves were standing in a star and were surrounded by its light. I have very often seen this and I have been amazed. This made clear to me why Moses' face was shining when he carried the tablets of the covenant down from Mount Sinai [Exodus 34:29-30].
[3] In addition, there are many other amazing things that happen in the spiritual world because of the Word. For example, if people who have false beliefs look at the Word as it lies in its holy place, thick darkness overwhelms their eyesight, making the Word look black to them, sometimes as if it were coated with soot. If those same people touch the Word, there is an explosion with a loud bang, and they are thrown to the corner of the room and lie there as if dead for quite a while.
If people who have false beliefs write something from the Word on a piece of paper and toss it up toward heaven, when it is in the air between their eye and heaven a similar explosion takes place. The piece of paper is blown to bits and disappears. The same thing happens if the piece of paper is thrown toward an angel who is standing nearby. I have often seen this.
[4] This has made it clear to me that people who have a body of false teaching have no communication with heaven by means of the Word. On the way to heaven, their reading of it blows apart and comes to an end like a firecracker lit and thrown in the air. The opposite happens to people who have a true perspective from the Lord through the Word. Their reading of theWord penetrates all the way into heaven and forms a connection with angels who are there.
When angels come down from heaven to carry out some task below, they look as if they are covered in little stars, especially around their heads. This is an indication that there are divine truths from the Word inside these angels.
Arcana Coelestia 7270 [3]
Since truth which comes forth directly from the Lord is from the Infinite and Divine Being Himself, it cannot be received at all by any living, finite substance, thus not by any angel. This being so, the Lord created degrees consecutively descending to serve as the means by which Divine Truth coming forth directly from Him could be communicated. But the first degree away from Him is still too full of the Divine to enable that Truth to be received by any living, finite substance, and so by any angel. On account of this the Lord created a further degree down, by which Divine Truth coming forth directly from Him was to some extent able to be received. This degree is God's truth which exists in heaven. These first two degrees are above the heavens; they are like belts, made radiant by a fiery source, which surround the Sun, which is the Lord. This is the nature of the consecutive degrees of order down to the heaven nearest to the Lord, which is the third heaven where the innocent and wise live. From there consecutive degrees continue down to the lowest heaven, and from the lowest heaven down to the degree of the senses and the body in man, the last in the series to receive influx.
[3] From all this it is clear that degrees one after another continue from Him who is the First, that is, the Lord, right down to the last and lowest present with man, indeed right down to the last and lowest present in the natural order. The last and lowest degrees present with man, like those in the natural order, are relatively unresponsive and consequently frigid; they are also relatively general and consequently obscure. From this it is also evident that through those consecutive degrees all things exist in a continuous chain linked to the First Being (Esse). And it is in accordance with those degrees that influx takes place; for Divine Truth coming forth directly from Divine Good flows into one degree after another. On the way down or with each new degree it becomes more general, and so grosser and more obscure, and becomes more sluggish, and so more responsive and frigid. All this clarifies the nature of Divine Order consisting of consecutive degrees and consequently of the nature of influx.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9407
'There was so to speak a work of sapphire [stone]' means that it is translucent with inner truths on that level, and that all things in it are translucent from the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'a work of sapphire' as the character of the literal sense of the Word when the internal sense is discerned within it, that is, when Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, as it is in heaven, shines through it. For the Word is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord. In origin it is Divine, but as it passes through the heavens it is celestial in the inmost heaven, spiritual in the second or middle heaven, spiritual-natural in the first or lowest heaven, and natural and worldly in the world; this last is its character in the sense of the letter intended for people there. From this it is evident that the sense of the letter, which is the lowest in order, contains a spiritual and a celestial level of meaning, and inmostly the Divine Himself.
HH 347
Heaven and Hell (Dole) n. 347
Heavenly intelligence is a deeper intelligence arising from a love of what is true-not for the sake of any praise in the world or any praise in heaven, but simply for the sake of the truth itself, because it is profoundly moving and delightful. People who are moved and delighted by the truth itself are moved and delighted by heaven's light; and if so, then they are also moved and delighted by divine truth and actually by the Lord himself, since heaven's light is divine truth, and divine truth is the Lord in heaven (see above, 126-140).
This light enters the deeper levels of the mind only, since the deeper levels of the mind are formed to accept it; and to the extent that it enters, it moves and delights because anything that flows in from heaven and is accepted has delight and pleasure within it. This is the source of a genuine affection for what is true-an affection for what is true for its own sake. People who are caught up in this affection (or in this love, which amounts to the same thing), enjoy heavenly intelligence and shine in heaven like the radiance of the firmament. The reason they shine is that wherever divine truth occurs in heaven, it shines (see above, 132); and by reason of correspondence, the firmament of heaven means the deeper intelligence, both in angels and in us, that is in heaven's light.
Divine Wisdom (Mongredien) 9
every one, by employing his own reason, can see that love does, and that wisdom teaches, and that anything love does is a good, and that anything wisdom teaches is a truth, and further that a good done by love is a use, and that a truth taught by wisdom is also a use. Think over in your own mind, what love is, apart from good in an effect, and what good in an effect is, apart from its use. Is the love anything? Is the good anything? In a use, however, they are some thing, and consequently it is in use that love has its existence; similarly wisdom has its existence by means of truth; for wisdomteaches, and love does. It is on this account that the heat coming from the Sun that is the Lord, is called Divine Good, and the light from that Sun is called Divine Truth.
True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 224
224
The Word has indescribable power. Nowadays scarcely anyone knows that there is any power in truths. People think that the truth is just something spoken by someone in authority, so it needs to be done; they think the truth is only like a breath from someone's mouth and a sound in someone's ear. Actually, truth and goodness are the origin of all things in both worlds, the spiritual and the physical. Truth and goodness are the means by which the universe was created and by which it is preserved. They are the means by which people were created. The two of them are everything to all things.
The Gospel of John openly states that the universe was created by divine truth: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. All created things were made by it. The world was made by it" (John 1:1, 3, 10). David says, "The heavens were made by the Word of Jehovah" (Psalms 33:6). In each of these passages "the Word" means divine truth. Since the universe was created by divine truth, the universe is also preserved by divine truth, since preservation is an ongoing creation, just as continuing to exist is the same as perpetually coming into being.
[2] We human beings were made by divine truth, because all aspects of us relate to intellect and to will. Our intellect is a vessel for divine truth just as our will is a vessel for divine goodness. Therefore the human mind, consisting as it does of these two primary faculties, is nothing less than a form of divine truth and divine goodness organized both spiritually and physically. The human cerebrum is that form. Since everything in human beings depends on their minds, all the things that constitute their bodies are just appendages that are activated and brought to life by these two primary faculties.
Arcana Coelestia 9503
The reason why Divine Truthis the Lord in heaven is that the Lord is Goodness itself and Truth itself, for both emanate from Him and He Himself composes what emanates from Him. So it is that the Lord is heaven, for Divine Truth which emanates from Him and is received by the angels makes heaven. Consequently the more perfect the manner in which angels receive Divine Truth that comes from the Lord and accordingly receive the Lord, the more perfect the human forms they possess. Eventually they become so perfect that their beauty surpasses belief; anyone who sees them, as I have done, will be dumbfounded. For in their outward form angels are manifestations of heavenly love and charity, and that is the truly human form. The reason why angels possess human forms is that the Divine in heaven is the Lord, and those who receive Divine Truth within good from Him are images of Him.
Apocalypse Explained 434
good forms itself in truths, and by means of truths renders itself visible, therefore truth is good in form.
Arcana Coelestia 6880
the Divine itself cannot make contact except through the Divine Human, and the Divine Human cannot do so except through Divine Truth, which is the holy emanation of the spirit.
Arcana Coelestia 10026
truth teaches a person what good is and how he ought to live; and when the person knows this an affection for or love of good can start to be implanted, and he can thereby be regenerated.
Arcana Coelestia 9407 [13]
[13] But anyone unacquainted with the arcana of heaven may suppose that the nature of Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord is no different from that of spoken words emanating from a human being. It is not spoken words however; rather It is the Divine filling the heavens, like light and heat from the sun filling the world.
Arcana Coelestia 8301
[2] The fact that truths springing from good emanate from the Lord may be recognized from the consideration that the Lord is Good itself because He is Love itself. Truth emanates from that Love just as light does from the flames of the sun.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4247
(G)ood flows constantly into truth, and truth receives good, since truths are the vessels for good.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5912
when good occupies the first place and has dominion, it is constantly bringing forth truths. It then multiplies these around itself and also around each truth, making each truth like a star, the middle of which is shining brightly. But that good does not merely multiply the truths around itself; it also brings forth from those truths further truths by means of successive derivations
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3068
All factual knowledge is a vessel for truth, and all truth is a vessel for good. Factual knowledge without truth is an empty vessel, and so is truth without good; but factual knowledge in which truth is held is a vessel that is filled, as is truth in which good is held.
Arcana Coelestia 3295.
To have any concept of this good it should be recognized that until he has been regenerated a person does good from truth, but after he has been regenerated he does it from good. Or to make the point clearer still, before he has been regenerated the good he does is a product of the understanding, but after he has been regenerated it is a product of the will. Good therefore which is a product of the understanding is not in itself good but truth, whereas good that is a product of the will is good.
Arcana Coelestia 9806
Everything throughout creation, both in heaven and in the world, has connection with good and with truth, to the end that it may be something. For good is the inner being (Esse) of truth, and truth is the outward manifestation (Existere) of good. Good without truth therefore cannot manifest itself, and truth without good has no real being. From this it is evident that they must be joined together.
Who (or What) is Swedenborg?
The ideas on this site are based on the works of Emanuel Swedenborg, an 18th-century Swedish scientist and theologian. Swedenborg claimed that his religious writings, the sole focus of the last three decades of his life, were done at the behest of the Lord himself, and constituted a revelation for a successor to the Christian Church.
In keeping with Swedenborg’s own statements, modern believers downplay his role as author, attributing the ideas to the Lord instead. For this reason they generally refer to Swedenborg’s theological works as “the Writings,” and some resist the label “Swedenborgian” as placing emphasis on the man rather than the message.
Since “the Writings” would be an unfamiliar term to new readers, we have elected to use the name “Swedenborg” as a label for those theological works, much as we might use “Isaiah” or “Matthew” to refer to books of the Bible. The intent, however, is not to attribute the ideas to Swedenborg, any more than we would attribute the divinity of the Bible to Isaiah the man or Matthew the man.
So when you read “according to Swedenborg” on this site, it’s really shorthand for “according to the theological works from the Lord through Swedenborg.” When you read “Swedenborg says,” it’s really shorthand for “the theological works of Swedenborg say.”