2628. It is pure necessities by which mankind is led
Throughout much of the night, then quite long in the morning, for hours, I was absorbed in a spiritual mental image showing how mankind is led by the Lord, and I was seeing then by that uninterrupted spiritual mental image, which is unutterable, that it is pure necessities by which mankind is led by the Lord.
Both because of the kind of societies people join with and because of the thoughts they find agreeable, there are therefore nothing but pure necessities, and to be sure, necessities by which people are bent toward the best that can possibly come of the life [they lead]. For if they were led any differently than they are, it would tend to their destruction, since every aspect of their life, both of thought and of action, brings with it a series of consequences for their life. Each element [of thought and action] is as a seed from which a tree is born, whence come new seeds, and so on.
2628. THAT THERE ARE MERE NECESSITIES WHEREBY MAN IS LED.
During much of the night, also quite a long time in the morning, I was for hours in a spiritual idea how man is led by the Lord; and I then perceived by a continuous spiritual idea, which cannot be expressed, that there are mere necessities, whereby man is led by the Lord, to wit, because man is of such a character, both as regards the societies to which he adjoins himself, and as to the thoughts which agree [accord] with him; therefore there is nothing but mere necessities, and indeed necessities whereby man is bent to the best that can be educed [derived] from such a life; for if he were led, otherwise than in this way, it would be to his ruin, for everything whatever [pertaining] to his life, as well thought as action, carries with itself the successive scenes of its life, for everything whatever is like a seed from which grows a tree,
2628. Quod merae necessitates sint, per quas homo ducitur
Per multum noctis, tum mane satis diu, per horas, in idea spirituali eram, quomodo homo a Domino ducitur, et percipiebam tunc continua idea spirituali, quae non enuntiabilis est, quod sint merae necessitates, per quas homo a Domino ducitur, nempe quia homo talis est, tam quoad societates quibus se adjungit, et quoad cogitationes, quae conveniunt ei, ideo non sunt nisi merae necessitates, et quidem necessitates, per quas flectitur homo ad optimum, quod ex tali vita, deduci possit; si enim aliter ac sic duceretur, quod foret in perniciem ejus, nam unaquaevis res vitae ejus, tam cogitationis quam actionis, secum fert seriem successivam vitae ejus, unumquodvis enim est sicut semen, ex
(2629.) quo nascitur arbor, et inde semina nova, et sic porro, cum itaque unaquaevis ejus idea, et minimum cogitationis, et actionis, talem seriem consequentiarum habet, sicut semen quoddam, estque sicut parens consequentium, et talia unoquovis momento vitae ejus existunt, manifestum inde esse potest, quod sint merae necessitates, per quas ducitur, hoc est, quod optima ejus sint, respective ad statum ejus et conditionem, in 1
quibus homo est.
Footnotes:
1. The Manuscript has conditionem in