244、世上也有类似情形。尚未愚蠢透顶，没有出于自我聪明的骄傲确认虚假的人，在听见别人谈论某个高尚话题，或读到这类东西时，若有某种了解它们的情感，就会明白这些事，也会保留它们，以后或许能肯定它们。坏人和好人一样能做到这一点。坏人即便从心里否认属于教会的神性事物，仍能明白它们，还能谈论、传讲它们，甚至以书面形式深入证明它们。然而，当任由他自己思考时，他出于地狱之爱便思想反对并否认它们。
由此明显可知，即使意愿没有处于属灵之热，理解力也能处于属灵之光；由此也可推知，理解力并不引导意愿，或智慧并不产生爱；理解力仅仅告知并指出道路，即告知一个人当如何生活，指出他当走的路。还可推知，意愿引导理解力，并使它与自己行如一体；居于意愿的爱将理解力中凡与它一致的东西都称为智慧。下文我们将看到，离开理解力，意愿凭自己什么也做不了；相反，意愿所行的一切，都是在与理解力结合的情况下行出的；此外，正是意愿通过流注使理解力与自己结成伙伴关系，而不是反过来。
244. It is the same in this world. Anyone who has any sense at all and has not become inwardly convinced of false principles on the grounds of intellectual pride, on hearing people talk about higher things or on reading about them understands, retains them, and eventually affirms them if there is any desire for learning. This holds true for evil and good people alike. Even evil people who at heart deny the divine gifts of the church can understand, discuss, and preach higher things, and can defend them in scholarly writing. However, when they are left on their own to think about them, their thinking is based on their hellish self-centeredness, and they deny them. We can see from this that our discernment can be in spiritual light even though our volition may not be in spiritual warmth.
It also follows from this that our discernment does not lead our volition, or that wisdom does not give rise to love. It merely teaches and shows the way. It teaches how we should live and shows us the way we should follow. It also follows from this that our volition leads our discernment and gets it to work in unison with itself. The love that is the substance of our volition gives the name of "wisdom" to whatever in our discernment it finds harmonious.
I will be showing below that on its own, apart from discernment, our volition accomplishes nothing. Everything it does, it does in conjunction with our discernment. However, our volition gains the cooperation of our discernment by flowing into it, and not the other way around.
244. A similar circumstance occurs in the world. A person not altogether lacking in intellect, and who has not been led by a conceit in his own intelligence to confirm in himself falsities - the same, upon hearing others speaking on some lofty subject, or upon reading such things, if he has some affection to learn about them, then understands them, and also retains them, and can afterward affirm them. An evil person as well as a good person can do this. Even if an evil person at heart denies Divine concepts which are tenets of the church, still he can understand them, and also speak about and preach them, and learnedly affirm them in writing. But yet when thinking left to himself, he thinks in accord with his infernal love in opposition to those concepts and denies them.
It is apparent from this that the intellect can be in spiritual light, even if the will is not in spiritual warmth.
[2] It also follows from this that the intellect does not lead the will, or that wisdom does not produce love, but that the intellect only informs and points the way - informing the person how he should live, and pointing the way he should go.
It follows, too, that the will leads the intellect and causes it to operate in harmony with it, and that the love which resides in the will calls wisdom anything in the intellect which accords with it.
We will see in following discussions that the will does nothing by itself apart from the intellect, but that everything it does, it does in conjunction with the intellect. Still, it is the will that, by flowing into it, takes the intellect into partnership with itself, and not the reverse.
244. The same thing happens in the world. A man who is not altogether stupid, and who has not confirmed himself in falsities from the pride of self-intelligence, hearing others speak on some exalted subject, or reading some such matter, understands and also retains these things if he is in any affection of knowing, and may afterwards confirm them. Either a good or a bad man may do this. Even a bad man, although at heart he denies the Divine things belonging to the Church, can still understand them, and also speak of and preach them, and learnedly confirm them in writing. But when left to his own thoughts he thinks against them from his infernal love, and denies them. From which it is clear that the understanding can be in spiritual light, although the will is not in spiritual heat. And it also follows from this that the understanding does not lead the will, nor does wisdom produce love, but simply teaches and shows the way, teaching how man ought to live and showing the way he ought to go. It further follows that the will leads the understanding, and causes it to act as one with itself, and that the love, which is of the will, calls that which in the understanding agrees with it, wisdom. In following sections it will be seen that the will does nothing by itself, apart from the understanding, but does everything which it does in conjunction with the understanding; also that the will, by influx, takes the understanding into partnership with itself, not the reverse.
244. The same thing happens in the world. A man not altogether stupid, and who has not confirmed himself in falsities from the pride of self-intelligence, hearing others speak on some exalted matter, or reading something of the kind, if he is in any affection of knowing, understands these things and also retains them, and may afterwards confirm them. A bad man as well as a good man may do this. Even a bad man, though in heart he denies the Divine things pertaining to the church, can still understand them, and also speak of and preach them, and in writing learnedly prove them; but when left to his own thought, from his own infernal love he thinks against them and denies them. From which it is obvious that the understanding can be in spiritual light even when the will is not in spiritual heat; and from this it also follows that the understanding does not lead the will, or that wisdom does not beget love, but only teaches and shows the way, - teaching how a man ought to live, and showing the way in which he ought to go. It further follows that the will leads the understanding, and causes it to act as one with itself; also that whatever in the understanding agrees with the love which is in the will, the love calls wisdom. In what follows it will be seen that the will does nothing by itself apart from the understanding, but does all that it does in conjunction with the understanding; moreover, that it is the will that by influx takes the understanding into partnership with itself, and not the reverse.
244. 1 Simile fit in Mundo; homo qui non plane stupidus est, et qui non ex fastu propriae intelligentiae confirmaverat falsa apud se, ille dum audit loquentes de re altiore, aut dum legit talia, si in aliqua affectione sciendi est, tunc intelligit illa, et quoque retinet, et postea potest confirmare illa; simile potest tam malus quam bonus; etiam malus, tametsi corde negat Divina quae Ecclesiae sunt, usque potest intelligere illa, et quoque loqui et praedicare illa, tum scripto docte confirmare illa; at vero cum sibi relictus cogitat, ex amore suo infernali contra illa cogitat, et negat illa: ex quo patet, quod Intellectus possit in luce spirituali esse, tametsi non voluntas in calore spirituali.
[2] Ex quo etiam sequitur, quod Intellectus non ducat voluntatem, seu quod sapientia non producat amorem, sed quod solum doceat et monstret viam[;] docet quomodo homo victurus est, et monstrat quam viam iturus. Et quoque sequitur, quod voluntas ducat intellectum, ac efficiat ut secum unum agat; et quod amor qui est voluntatis id vocet sapientiam in intellectu, quod concordat. In sequentibus videbitur, quod voluntas per se absque intellectu nihil agat, sed omne quod agit, in conjunctione cum Intellectu agat; at quod voluntas adsciscat intellectum in consortium secum, per influxum, non autem vicissim.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: 144.