Читать книгу Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom - Emanuel Swedenborg - Страница 13

That Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are substance and form has been proved just above; and that Divine Esse [Being] and Existere [Taking Form] are Esse and Existere in itself, has also been said above. It cannot be said to be Esse and Existere from itself, because this involves a beginning, and a beginning from something within in which would be Esse and Existere in itself. But Very Esse and Existere in itself is from eternity. Very Esse and Existere in itself is also uncreated, and everything created must needs be from an Uncreate. What is created is also finite, and the finite can exist only from the Infinite.

45. He who by exercise of thought is able to grasp the idea of and to comprehend, Esse and Existere in itself, can certainly perceive and comprehend that it is the Very and the Only. That is called the Very which alone is; and that is called the Only from which every thing else proceeds. Now because the Very and the Only is substance and form, it follows that it is the very and only substance and form. Because this very substance and form is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, it follows that it is the very and only Love, and the very and only Wisdom; consequently, that it is the very and only Essence, as well as the very and only Life: for Life is Love and Wisdom.

46. From all this it can be seen how sensually (that is, how much from the bodily senses and their blindness in spiritual matters) do those think who maintain that nature is from herself. They think from the eye, and are not able to think from the understanding. Thought from the eye closes the understanding, but thought from the understanding opens the eye. Such persons cannot think at all of Esse and Existere in itself, and that it is Eternal, Uncreate, and Infinite; neither can they think at all of life, except as a something fleeting and vanishing into nothingness; nor can they think otherwise of Love and Wisdom, nor at all that from these are all things of nature. Neither can it be seen that from these are all things of nature, unless nature is regarded, not from some of its forms, which are merely objects of sight, but from uses in their succession and order. For uses are from life alone, and their succession and order are from wisdom and love alone; while forms are only containants of uses. Consequently, if forms alone are regarded, nothing of life, still less anything of love and wisdom, thus nothing of God, can be seen in nature.

47. DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM MUST NECESSARILY HAVE BEING [Esse] AND HAVE FORM [Existere] IN OTHERS CREATED BY ITSELF.

It is the essential of love not to love self, but to love others, and to be conjoined with others by love. It is the essential of love, moreover, to be loved by others, for thus conjunction is effected. The essence of all love consists in conjunction; this, in fact, is its life, which is called enjoyment, pleasantness, delight, sweetness, bliss, happiness, and felicity. Love consists in this, that its own should be another's; to feel the joy of another as joy in oneself, that is loving. But to feel one's own joy in another and not the other's joy in oneself is not loving; for this is loving self, while the former is loving the neighbor. These two kinds of love are diametrically opposed to each other. Either, it is true, conjoins; and to love one's own, that is, oneself, in another does not seem to divide; but it does so effectually divide that so far as any one has loved another in this manner, so far he afterwards hates him. For such conjunction is by its own action gradually loosened, and then, in like measure, love is turned to hate.

48. Who that is capable of discerning the essential character of love cannot see this? For what is it to love self alone, instead of loving some one outside of self by whom one may be loved in return? Is not this separation rather than conjunction? Conjunction of love is by reciprocation; and there can be no reciprocation in self alone. If there is thought to be, it is from an imagined reciprocation in others. From this it is clear that Divine Love must necessarily have being (esse) and have form (existere) in others whom it may love, and by whom it may be loved. For as there is such a need in all love, it must be to the fullest extent, that is, infinitely in Love Itself.

49. With respect to God: it is impossible for Him to love others and to be loved reciprocally by others in whom there is anything of infinity, that is, anything of the essence and life of love in itself, or anything of the Divine. For if there were beings having in them anything of infinity, that is, of the essence and life of love in itself, that is, of the Divine, it would not be God loved by others, but God loving Himself; since the Infinite, that is, the Divine, is one only, and if this were in others, Itself would be in them, and would be the love of self Itself; and of that love not the least trace can possibly be in God, since it is wholly opposed to the Divine Essence. Consequently, for this relation to be possible there must be others in whom there is nothing of the Divine in itself. That it is possible in beings created from the Divine will be seen below. But that it may be possible, there must be Infinite Wisdom making one with Infinite Love; that is, there must be the Divine Love of Divine Wisdom, and the Divine Wisdom of Divine Love (concerning which see above, n. 35–39)

50. Upon a perception and knowledge of this mystery depend a perception and knowledge of all things of existence, that is, creation; also of all things of continued existence, that is, preservation by God; in other words, of all the works of God in the created universe; of which the following pages treat.

51. But do not, I entreat you, confuse your ideas with time and with space, for so far as time and space enter into your ideas when you read what follows, you will not understand it; for the Divine is not in time and space. This will be seen clearly in the progress of this work, and in particular from what is said of eternity, infinity, and omnipresence.