316、人自己的谨慎会使人确信并证实，一切良善和真理都来自人，就在人里面，因为人自己的谨慎就是他那从作为其情绪自我的自我之爱流出的认知自我；自我只会把一切都变成它自己的，因为它无法被提升越过这一点。凡被主的圣治引领的人都被提升在自我之上，然后看见一切良善和真理都来自主。他们甚至看见，凡在人里面来自主之物都是主的，从来不是人的。人若相信别的，就像一个人占有主人托他保管的财物，声称是自己的，或说据为己有；他不是一个管家，而是一个小偷。由于人的自我无非是邪恶，所以他也把这些良善沉浸于他的邪恶；它们由此被毁，就像珍珠被扔进粪堆，或酸性溶液一样
316. 1One's own prudence persuades and affirms that all the goodness and truth in a person arises from the person, because one's own prudence is the intellectual endowment of a person flowing in from his self-love, which is the person's inherent volitional self, and a person's inherent self cannot help but make all things its own. For it cannot be raised above that.
People who are led by the Lord's Divine providence are raised above their inherent character, and they see then that all goodness and truth originate from the Lord. Indeed, they see also that whatever is in a person from the Lord is perpetually the Lord's and never the person's.
Anyone who believes otherwise is like someone who has his master's goods placed in his care and claims them for himself or appropriates them as his own. Such a one is not a steward but a thief. And because a person's inherent character is nothing but evil, therefore he also immerses those goods in his evil, by which they are consumed, like pearls cast into dung or vinegar.
Footnotes:
1. The number 315 in the sequence was accidentally omitted.
316. The reason our own prudence convinces and assures us that everything good and true comes from us and is within us is that our own prudence is simply our cognitive sense of identity, flowing from our self-love, which is our emotional sense of identity. Our sense of autonomy inevitably lays claim to everything. It cannot rise above this. Whenever we are being led by the Lord's divine providence, though, we are lifted out of our sense of autonomy and see that everything good and true comes from the Lord. We even see as well that whatever is in us from the Lord always belongs to the Lord and is never ours.
If we believe anything else, we are like people who have been given responsibility for an owner's assets and insist that they belong to us or claim them as our own. This makes us thieves rather than stewards. Further, since our sense of self is nothing but evil, we plunge the owner's assets into our own evil, where they are devoured the way pearls are when they are thrown into a manure pile or into acid.
316. 1One's own prudence persuades and confirms the idea that all good and truth originate from and are in man, because man's own prudence is his intellectual proprium flowing in from the love of self, which is his voluntary proprium; and the proprium cannot do otherwise than make all things its own, for it cannot be elevated above that idea. All who are led by the Divine Providence of the Lord are elevated above their proprium and then they see that all good and truth are from the Lord; indeed, they even see that what is in man originating from the Lord is always the Lord's and never man's. He who believes otherwise is like one who, having his master's goods deposited with him, claims them for himself or appropriates them as his own. Such a man is not a steward but a thief; and as man's proprium is only evil he immerses those goods in his evil, whereby they are destroyed like pearls cast upon a dung heap or into an acid solution.
Footnotes:
1. This numbering follows the Original Edition.
316. One's own prudence persuades and corroborates that every good and truth is from man and in man, because man's own prudence is his intellectual self (proprium) flowing in from the love of self which is his voluntary self (proprium); and self cannot do otherwise than make all things its own, for it cannot be raised above that. All who are led by the Lord's Divine providence are raised above the self, and they then see that all good and truth are from the Lord; they even see that what is in man from the Lord is ever the Lord's and never man's. He who believes otherwise is like one who has his master's goods under his care, and claims them for himself or appropriates them as his-he is not a steward, but a thief. And as man's self (proprium) is nothing but evil, he also immerses them in his evil, whereby they are destroyed like pearls cast into dung or into acid.
316. 1Quod propria prudentia persuadeat et confirmet, quod omne bonum et verum ab homine in homine sit, est quia propria prudentia est proprium intellectuale hominis influens ex amore sui, qui est proprium voluntarium hominis, et proprium non potest aliter quam sua facere omnia; non enim potest ab illo elevari: omnes qui a Divina Domini Providentia ducuntur, elevantur a proprio, et tunc vident quod omne bonum et verum a Domino sit; imo etiam vident, quod id quod a Domino in homine est, sit perpetuo Domini, et nusquam hominis. Qui aliter credit, est sicut qui domini sui bona apud se deposita habet, ac illa sibi vindicat aut appropriat ut sua, qui non est dispensator sed est fur; et quia proprium hominis non est nisi quam malum, quare ille etiam immergit illa suo malo, ex quo consumerentur, sicut uniones stercori aut liquori acetoso injectae.
Footnotes:
1 Numerus 315 in ordine per errorem praeteritus est.