128、世俗和肉体的人心里说，若不通过感官事物接受关于信和属于信的一切事物的教导，好叫我亲自看见，或通过记忆的东西叫我自己明白，我就不信。他确认这种态度，是因为他认为属世事物不可能与属灵事物相矛盾。因此，他想通过感官事物而在属天堂和神性的事物上获得教导，但这就像骆驼穿过针眼那样不可能。因为他越想通过这种手段变得智慧，就越蒙蔽自己，直到最终什么也不信，甚至不相信任何属灵事物或永生的存在。这是由于他所作的基本假设。这就是吃善恶知识树。他吃得越多，死得越彻底。但人若从主，而不是从世界变得智慧，心里会说，他必须信主，也就是相信主在圣言中所说的话，因为它们是真理。他照着这一基本假设来调控自己的思维，并通过理性、知识、感官和自然的证据来确认。未经确认的东西，他会搁置一边。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]128. When we are under the sway of the world and our bodies, we say in our hearts, "As for faith and its ramifications, if my senses do not teach me to see, or if facts do not teach me to understand, I refuse to believe." In confirmation, we remind ourselves that what holds true on the earthly plane cannot conflict with spiritual realities. So we want our senses to teach us about heavenly and divine affairs. This is as impossible as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.{*1} The more we rely on sensory evidence in order to gain wisdom, the more we blind ourselves, to the point that we stop believing in anything, even the existence of a spiritual dimension or of eternal life. That is the consequence of our original assumption.
This is what eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil means; and the more we eat from it, the more deadened we become.
If we do not rely on the world for our wisdom, on the other hand, but on the Lord, we tell ourselves at heart to believe in the Lord, that is, in all that the Lord has said in the Word, because those are reliable truths. This is the principle on which we base our thinking. We use rational argument, factual knowledge, sensory evidence, and physical phenomena in confirmation, but whatever fails to confirm the Word we put aside.
Footnotes:
{*1} See Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:25; and Luke 18:25. Swedenborg's Latin reproduces the Greek original. Although Swedenborg does explain the inner meaning of the word "camel" here (see Heaven and Hell 365:3), this word in the Greek may be a misunderstanding of the Aramaic, the language in which Jesus spoke. In that tongue, gamla, "camel," is a homonym of gamla, "rope." What Jesus might have originally said was "It is easier for a rope to go through the eye of a needle ..." (Lamsa 1933, xiv). There are other explanations of the phrase as well. [RS, LHC]
Potts(1905-1910) 128
128. The worldly and corporeal man says in his heart, If I am not instructed concerning the faith, and everything relating to it, by means of the things of sense, so that I may see, or by means of those of the memory [scientifica], so that I may understand, I will not believe; and he confirms himself in this by the consideration that natural things cannot be contrary to spiritual. Thus he is desirous of being instructed from things of sense in what is celestial and Divine, which is as impossible as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle; for the more he desires to grow wise by such means, the more he blinds himself, till at length he believes nothing, not even that there is anything spiritual, or that there is eternal life. This comes from the principle which he assumes. And this is to "eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" of which the more anyone eats, the more dead he becomes. But he who would be wise from the Lord, and not from the world, says in his heart that the Lord must be believed, that is, the things which the Lord has spoken in the Word, because they are truths; and according to this principle he regulates his thoughts. He confirms himself by things of reason, of knowledge, of the senses, and of nature [per rationalia, scientifica, sensualia et naturalia], and those which are not confirmatory he casts aside.
Elliott(1983-1999) 128
128. The worldly and bodily-minded man says at heart, Unless I am taught about faith and about things that belong to faith by means of sensory evidence so that I see for myself, that is, by facts so that I understand for myself, I am not going to believe. And he confirms himself in this attitude from the consideration that natural phenomena cannot be at variance with spiritual. Consequently it is from sensory evidence that he wishes to learn about heavenly and Divine matters. But this is no more possible than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. The more he wants by this method to become wise, the more he blinds himself, until in the end he believes nothing, not even in the existence of anything spiritual or in eternal life. This arises out of the basic assumption he makes. This is eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the more he eats of it, the more dead does he become. But the person who wishes to be made wise not from the world but from the Lord says at heart that he must believe the Lord, that is, those things the Lord has spoken in the Word, because they are truths. This is the basic assumption of his thinking. He confirms himself by means of rational, factual, sensory, and natural evidence. And things that are not confirmatory he sets aside.
Latin(1748-1756) 128
128. Homo mundanus et corporeus corde suo dicit 'Si non instruar de fide, et de illis quae sunt fidei, per sensualia ut videam, seu per scientifica ut intelligam, quod non credam'; confirmatque se ex eo quod naturalia non possint esse contraria spiritualibus; quare ex sensualibus instrui vult de caelestibus et Divinis; quod tamen ita impossibile est ac est camelo intrare per foramen acus; quo magis ex iis sapere vult, eo magis se occaecat; usque adeo ut nihil credat, ne quidem quod spirituale sit et quod vita aeterna; ex principio quod capit, id fluit; hoc est 'edere ex arbore scientiae boni et mali,' ex qua quo magis edit, eo magis mortuus fit. At qui non ex mundo sapere vult sed ex Domino, is dicit corde suo quod credendum Domino, hoc est, illis quae Dominus in Verbo locutus est, quia illa sunt veritates, et ex hoc principio cogitat; ille se confirmat per rationalia, scientifica, sensualia, et naturalia, et quae non confirmantia sunt, separat.