new church life: november/december 2015
Everyone wanders in
the woods at times.
It is difficult to know
what to believe. In this
Christmas season,
though, it isn’t so hard
to see that the path is
lit with friendship and
love, and that if we look
with a full heart we will
find Him in Bethlehem.
Tartarus, which is the region surrounding
this at the sides. The forest is like this to
guard the approach. (Conjugial Love 75)
Swedenborg was led by the angel,
or by the Lord, through this forest and
into the heaven of the Golden Age.
It might seem strange that
approaches to heaven would need to
be guarded like this. Similarly it might
seem strange that religious concepts
can seem so contradictory and
confusing instead of being clear and
obvious to everyone.
The reason that things are not
straightforward, and the reason that
heaven is guarded in this way, is to
allow people to think and do as they
genuinely wish. This freedom means
that no ideas or spiritual states can be
imposed on us unless we freely choose
them. Our choices and loves sort these things out.
Every person travels spiritually through a forest on their way to heaven.
The only way to find the true path is if your eyes are opened to see the signs
that the Lord provides, pictured by the olive trees wreathed in grape vines in
Swedenborg’s story. The olive trees stand for love and charity. (Arcana Coelestia
886) The grape vines wreathed around them stand for the general ideas of
doctrine that show the way to what is true. (Ibid. 1071)
If your intentions are good, and the general ideas are true, then you will
find your way through that forest. It will not be a dark forest at all, but a forest
of wonder and beauty, full of knowledge, a woods where you can find the Lord.
We read:
My friend, as you approach the Word, go to the God of the Word and enter the
sheepfold of the church through the Door. Then you will be enlightened. Then, as
if you were on a mountain top, you will see the earlier tracks and mistaken turns in
the dark forest at the foot of the mountain – not only those of many other people,
but also your own. (True Christianity 177)
Everyone wanders in the woods at times. It is difficult to know wh at to
believe. In this Christmas season, though, it isn’t so hard to see that the path
is lit with friendship and love, and that if we look with a full heart we will find
Him in Bethlehem. We will see it in the Christmas trees and lights. We will
hear it in the carols, and feel it among friends and family.
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