3939. What it is to be nothing
It was seen that to be nothing means not to be anything but evil, for evil in itself is death, thus nothing in comparison to life. That goodness and truth are everything, is obvious, so evil and falsity is nothing. Thus it is a humbling even to the point of being nothing, together with the inner confession that there is nothing of goodness and truth in oneself, but that everything good and true with oneself is the Lord's.
[2] It also means that compared with the grand human being, one is only the tiniest particle, so as to be almost nothing. For through the grand human being, all and the very least we have flow in, so that we are like a particle of air compared to the whole atmosphere, or a particle of water compared to the ocean. Thus because man is almost nothing in comparison to the grand human being, we are in the truth of faith when we consider ourselves as nothing
3939. WHAT IT IS TO BE NOTHING.
It was perceived that to be nothing signifies to be nothing but evil, for evil is in itself death; wherefore compared to life it is nothing. That the good and the true is everything, is plain, wherefore the evil and the false is nothing. Hence humiliation goes, as it were, to the point of self-annihilation, [coupled] with an internal acknowledgment of the total want of the good and the true in one's self, and that all goodness and truth possessed is of the Lord. It signifies also that in respect to the Grand Man [everyone] is merely a most diminutive particle, - nothing, as it were - for his all and singular things flow in through the Grand Man, so that he is but as a particle of air in comparison with the whole atmosphere, or as a particle of water in respect to the ocean. Since then he is, in comparison to the Grand Man, almost nothing, he is in the truth of faith when be accounts himself as nothing in respect to the [grand] common or general [commune], whatever it be, which is good and true.
3939. Quid nihil esse
Perceptum, quod nihil esse, significet, non esse nisi malum, nam malum in se est mors, quare nihil respective ad vitam: quod bonum et verum sit omne, constat, quare malum et falsum est nihil. Inde humiliatio usque adeo, ut nihil sit, cum confessione interna quod nihil boni et veri in se, sed omne bonum et verum apud se esse Domini. Significat etiam quod respective ad maximum hominem, sit modo exiguissima particula, ut sit quasi nihil, nam per maximum hominem influunt omnia et singula ejus, ita quod sit sicut particula aeris respective ad totam atmosphaeram, seu ut particula aquae ad oceanum: ita quia respective ad maximum hominem nihil fere est, in veritate fidei est, cum se pro