37.⑴神是爱本身和智慧本身，这二者构成祂的本质。远古的祖先已经意识到，爱和智慧是与神里面或从祂发出的一切无限事物相关的两个基本要素。但后世却逐渐丧失了这种洞察力，因为他们任由自己的心智从天上滑落，并沉浸于世俗和肉体之物，逐渐不再知道何为本质上的爱，何为本质上的智慧。他们不知道爱不可能离了形式而抽象存在，而是在一个形式中并通过一个形式运作。既然神是独一无二的最初实质和形式，而它们的本质是爱和智慧，既然被作成的万物皆出自祂，那么可知，祂出于爱藉着智慧创造了整个宇宙及其中万物，因此圣爱与圣智一起存在于每一个受造物中。而且，爱不仅是形成万物的本质，还联合和结合万物，从而使它们保持联结。
世上有无数事物可用来说明这一点。如太阳的热和光，它们是使世上每一个事物生成并持续存在的两个要素和共性。热和光的存在是因为它们对应于圣爱和圣智。灵界太阳所放射的热本质上是爱，所放射的光本质上是智慧。还有一个例子也能说明这一点，就是使人的心智生成并持续存在的两个要素和共性，即意愿和理解力。每个人的心智都由这两种官能构成，这二者就存在于心智的每一个事物中，并在其中发挥功能。原因在于，意愿是爱的接受器和居所，而理解力则是智慧的接受器和居所。故这两种官能对应于圣爱和圣智，并源于圣爱和圣智。另外一个例子就是使人体生成并持续存在的两个要素和共性，即心与肺，或心脏的收缩舒张运动和肺呼吸。众所周知，这二者在身体每个部位发挥功能。原因在于，心对应于爱，肺对应于智慧。这种对应关系在出版于阿姆斯特丹的《圣爱与圣智》一书有充分的证明。
灵界和尘世这两个世界有无数例子可以证明，如同新郎或丈夫的爱只通过如同新娘或妻子的智慧产生或生出一切形式。只要牢记，整个天使天堂出于圣爱通过圣智照自己的形式排列，并被保持在自己的形式中。那些从其它渠道推论创世之人没有意识到，圣爱与圣智构成神性本质。他们从理性视见堕入眼见，并信奉自然界为宇宙的创造者，从而孕育幻想，生出幽灵。他们设想谬论，并由此推理，他们的结论就是含有夜鸟的蛋。这类心智不配称为心智，只不过是没有理解力的眼睛和耳朵，或没有灵魂的思维。他们谈论色彩，仿佛色彩离了光也能存在；谈论树木，仿佛树木没有种子也能生长；谈论世上万物，仿佛它们离了太阳也能生存。他们所做的一切将衍生物与神圣的原理混在一起，将所造成的事物与起因混在一起。他们就这样颠倒一切事物，催眠自己原本清醒的理智，直到他们所看到的事物成为梦境。
37. (1)上帝是仁(愛)之本,智(慧)之本, 二者組成祂的本質。
遠古的祖先曾認識到, 上帝之中,以及由上帝而發出的所有無限之事物, 都與兩個要素有關:仁與智。不過在隨後的時代中逐漸失去這樣的洞察力, 他們從屬天的思想自甘墮落到屬世和肉體的事務中去。他們逐漸不明白什麼是仁的本質,什麼是智的本質。因為他們再也不知道:仁愛不能在沒有形式的情況下而抽象地存在, 而是在形式中,並通過形式來作用。由於上帝是真正的,唯一的,最初的實質和形式。祂的本質是仁和智, 又因為所有被造之物從祂而來。由此可知:祂出於仁愛,通過智慧創造了宇宙的點點滴滴, 因而聖仁與聖智存在於每一個體的被造物之中。還有, 仁愛不僅是形成萬物的本質, 還將它們聯合與連接。
[2]世上無數事物可用來形容這點。例如世間太陽的熱和光, 是世間萬物存在及持續生存的兩個要素。它們的存在是因為它們與聖仁與聖智相對應。心靈世界的太陽散發的熱,其本質是仁愛; 而發出的光,其本質是智慧。另外一個能形容這點的, 是人的思想存在及持續生存的兩個要素:意志和認知。每個人的思想都由這兩個功能構成, 二者存在並作用於每個人的思想及其行為。其原因是, 意志是仁愛的接受器或座席; 同理, 認知是智慧的接受器或座席。因此這兩個功能對應於聖仁和聖智, 並且源自聖仁和聖智。另外一個例子來形容, 是人的身體存在及持續生存的兩個要素:心與肺, 或者心臟的收縮舒張運動和肺部的呼吸。眾所周知, 這二者作用於身體各部分。其原因是心對應於仁,肺對應于智。這樣的對應關係在『聖仁與聖智』一書中有充分的證明。
[3]心靈世界與物質世界可以舉出無數的例證來證明。例如, 仁愛如同新郎或丈夫, 通過智慧(如同新娘或妻子)產生或生出所有的形式。在此值得一提的是, 整個天人的天國都由聖仁(通過聖智)按其形式排列,並維持這樣的形式。那些猜想世界由其它途徑被造的,以及未覺察到聖仁與聖智組成神性本質的, 會由理性之見墮入眼見。他們欣然接受自然為宇宙被造的力量, 有眼耳卻無認知, 能思考卻無靈魂。就像他們討論色彩, 如同色彩在無光的情形下亦能產生。討論樹木, 如同樹木在沒有種子的情形下亦能長成。討論地上萬物,如同萬物在沒有陽光的情形下亦能產生。
37. 1. God is love itself and wisdom itself. These two constitute his essence. All the infinite things in God and all the infinite things radiating from him relate to two essentials: love and wisdom. Our earliest ancestors saw this relationship. In the sequence of ages that then followed, however, people removed their minds from heaven, so to speak, and plunged them into worldly and bodily preoccupations, with the result that people became unable to see this relationship. They began not to know what love is in its essence, and therefore what wisdom is in its essence. They forgot that without a form there is no love, because love operates in forms and through them.
God is substance itself and form itself, and is therefore the first and only substance and form, whose essence is love and wisdom. All things that were made, were made by God [John 1:3]. It follows, therefore, that it was from love by means of wisdom that God created the universe and each and every thing in it. As a result, divine love together with divine wisdom is present in every single entity that has been created. Furthermore, love is the essence that not only forms all things but also bonds and unites them to each other; therefore love is the force that holds all things in connection.
[2] Countless things in the world could be used to illustrate this. For example, there are two essential and universal things through which each and every thing on earth comes into existence and continues to exist: the heat and the light of the sun. They are present in the world because they correspond to divine love and wisdom. The heat that radiates from the sun in the spiritual world is in fact essentially love, and its light is essentially wisdom.
As further illustration, take the two essential and universal things through which human minds come into existence and continue to exist: the will and the intellect. The mind of each of us consists of these two things. They are present and operative in each and every detail of the mind. This is because the will is a vessel and a dwelling place for love, and the intellect is a vessel and a dwelling place for wisdom. Will and intellect therefore correspond to the divine love and the divine wisdom from which they originate.
For another illustration I could use the two essential and universal things through which human bodies come into existence and continue to exist: the heart and the lungs, or the systolic and diastolic motions of the heart and the respiration of the lungs. It is a known fact that these two pairs of motions are at work in each and every detail of our bodies. This happens because the heart corresponds to love and the lungs to wisdom, a correspondence that is fully demonstrated in Angelic Wisdom about , published in Amsterdam.
[3] Countless examples in both worlds, spiritual and physical, can convince us that love produces or begets all forms like a bridegroom and husband, by means of wisdom as a bride and wife. For now I will mention this example alone: the whole angelic heaven is arranged into the form it takes, and is kept in it, by divine love acting through divine wisdom.
People who attribute the creation of the world to any other force than divine love acting through divine wisdom, and who do not realize that these two qualities constitute the essence of God, descend from the sight of reason to the mere sight of the eye. They embrace nature as the creator of the universe; as a result they conceive monsters and give birth to phantoms. The thoughts they have are false, they use them as the basis of their reasoning, and the conclusions they reach are eggs with night birds inside. People like this cannot be called minds; they are eyes and ears without an intellect, or thoughts without a soul. They speak of colors as if they could exist without light; of trees as if they could exist without having been seeds; of all things on earth as if they could exist without the sun. Such people designate things begun as beginnings, and things caused as causes. They turn everything upside down, put their reason to sleep, and see dreams.
37. (i) GOD IS LOVE ITSELF AND WISDOM ITSELF, THESE TWO MAKING UP HIS ESSENCE.
Our earliest ancestors realised that love and wisdom are the two essentials to which are to be ascribed all the infinite qualities which are in God or emanate from Him. But succeeding ages gradually lost this vision, as they allowed their minds to sink down from heaven and plunge into worldly and bodily affairs. They began to be unaware of what love is in its essence, and so what wisdom is in its essence, for they did not know that love cannot exist in the abstract without form, but works in and through a form. Now since God is the very, sole and prime substance and form, the essence of which is love and wisdom, and since it was from Him that all things came that were made, it follows that He created the universe in all its parts out of love by means of wisdom, and thus the Divine Love together with the Divine Wisdom is present in every single created object. Love too is not only the Essence which forms everything, but it also unites and joins them, so keeping together what has been formed.
[2] Countless things in the world can serve to illustrate this. For instance, the sun's heat and light, which are the two essentials and universals which enable every single thing on earth to come into and continue in existence. They are there because they correspond to the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom; for the heat radiated by the sun of the spiritual world is in its essence love, and the light from this source is in its essence wisdom. Another illustration might be the two essentials and universals which enable human minds to come into and continue in existence, namely, will and understanding. Every mind is composed of these two faculties, and the same two are present and function in every one of its acts. The reason is that the will is a receiver and seat of love, and the understanding likewise of wisdom. Therefore these two faculties correspond to the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, from which they originally came. Yet another illustration is the two essentials and universals which enable human bodies to come into and continue in existence, namely, the heart and the lungs, or the systolic and diastolic motion of the heart and the breathing of the lungs. It is well known that these two function in every part of the body; the reason is that the heart corresponds to love and the lungs to wisdom. This correspondence was fully proved in my book ANGELIC WISDOM ABOUT THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE DIVINE WISDOM published in Amsterdam.
[3] Countless examples in both the spiritual and the natural worlds can be adduced to prove that love like a bridegroom or husband produces or begets all forms, but by means of wisdom as bride or wife. Only one can be mentioned here: the whole heaven of the angels is arranged into its form and preserved in it by the Divine Love acting by means of the Divine Wisdom. Those who infer that the world was created from any other source, and are unaware that the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom make up the Divine Essence, sink from the vision of reason to the vision of the eye. They embrace nature as the creative force of the universe, thus conceiving chimeras and giving birth to ghosts. Their thoughts are fallacies, from which they reason and draw conclusions like 1 eggs containing night birds. Such minds do not deserve that name; they are mere eyes and ears devoid of understanding, or thoughts devoid of soul. They talk of colours as if they could come into existence without light, about trees as if they could grow without seed, about everything on earth as if it could come into existence without sunlight. What they are doing is to confuse derived things with the principles from which they are derived, and caused things with causes. This stands everything on its head, and they lull their wakeful reason to sleep, until they are dreaming.
Footnotes:
1. The Latin of this sentence is peculiar, and 'like' has been supplied; but perhaps there is a more serious omission here.
37. (1) God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, and these two constitute His Essence. In the earliest ages it was seen that love and wisdom are the two essentials to which all the infinite things that are in God and proceed from God have reference; but succeeding ages, as they withdrew their minds from heaven and immersed them in things worldly and corporeal, gradually became unable to see this, for they gradually ceased to know what love is in its essence, and thus what wisdom is in its essence, not knowing that love abstracted from a form is impossible, and that love operates in a form and through a form. Since, then, God is the Itself and the Only, and thus the first substance and form, the essence of which is love and wisdom, and since from Him were made all things that were made, it follows that He created the universe with each thing and all things of it from love by means of wisdom; consequently the Divine love, together with the Divine wisdom, is in each and all created subjects. Love, moreover, is not merely the essence that forms all things, it is also that which unites and conjoins them, and thus, when they are formed, holds them in connection.
[2] All this may be illustrated by innumerable things in the world; as by the heat and light from the sun, which are the two essentials and universals by means of which each thing and all things on the earth have their existence and subsistence. Heat and light are there because they correspond to the Divine love and Divine wisdom; for the heat that goes forth from the sun of the spiritual world is in its essence love, and the light from it is in its essence wisdom. This, again, may be illustrated by the two essentials and universals, namely, the will and the understanding, by means of which human minds have their existence and subsistence; for of these two everyone's mind consists, and they are in, and operate in, each thing and all things of the mind. This is because the will is the receptacle and habitation of love, as the understanding is of wisdom; and for this reason these two correspond to the Divine love and the Divine wisdom in which they originated. The same truth may be illustrated further by the two essentials and universals by means of which the human body has its existence and subsistence, namely, the heart and lungs, or the contraction and dilatation of the heart and the respiration of the lungs. It is known that these two are operative in each and all things in the body; and for the reason that the heart corresponds to love, and the lungs to wisdom; which correspondence is fully demonstrated in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, published at Amsterdam.
[3] That love as a bridegroom and husband produces or begets all forms, yet only by wisdom as a bride and wife, can be proved by things innumerable in both the spiritual world and in the natural world, provided only it is kept in mind that the entire angelic heaven is arranged in its form, and kept in it, from the Divine love through the Divine wisdom. Those who deduce the creation of the world from any other source than the Divine love through the Divine wisdom, not knowing that these two constitute the Divine Essence, descend from reason's sight to eyesight, and bestow kisses on nature as the creator of the universe; and thereby conceive chimeras and bring forth specters. They devise fallacies, and reason from them; and their conclusions are eggs that contain birds of night. Such should not be called minds, but eyes and ears without understanding, or thoughts without soul. They talk of colors as if these existed without light; of trees as if they existed without seed; and of all things in the world as existing without the sun; for they make derivatives to be first principles and things caused to be causes; thus they turn all things upside down, lull their reason to sleep, and the things they see are dreams.
37. (1) GOD IS LOVE ITSELF AND WISDOM ITSELF, AND THESE TWO CONSTITUTE HIS ESSENCE.
Our first ancestors perceived that love and wisdom are the two essentials to which are related all the infinite things which are in God and which proceed from Him. In succeeding ages, however, as men withdrew their minds from heaven and immersed them in worldly and corporeal things, they lost this power of perception. They gradually lost the knowledge of what love is in its essence, and hence what wisdom is in its essence, and ceased to be aware that love cannot exist apart from form, and that it functions only in and through form. Now since God is Substance itself and Form itself, the only and thus the first, whose Essence is Love and Wisdom, and since from Him all things were made which are made, it follows that He created the universe with everything in it, from Love by means of Wisdom; and consequently that the Divine Love, together with the Divine Wisdom, is in every created subject. Love, moreover, is not only the essence which forms all things; but it also unites and conjoins them, and thus keeps them in connection when formed. These truths may be illustrated by innumerable things in the world, as for instance, by the heat and light from the sun, the two essentials and universals by means of which all things on the earth exist and subsist. Heat and light are in the world because they correspond to the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, for the heat, which proceeds from the Sun of the spiritual world, in its essence is love, and the light, which is derived from it, in its essence is wisdom.
[2] Illustration may also be found in the two essentials and universals by means of which human minds exist and subsist, namely, the will and the understanding, for of these two the mind of every man is constituted. The reason why these two are in everything of the mind and function there is that the will is the receptacle and habitation of love, and the understanding of wisdom. These two faculties therefore correspond to the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, from which they derive their origin. Further illustration may be found in the two essentials and universals by means of which human bodies exist and subsist, namely, the heart and the lungs, or the systole and diastole of the heart and the respiration of the lungs. These, as is well known, operate in every part of the body, because the heart corresponds to love and the lungs to wisdom. This correspondence is fully demonstrated in the ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE DIVINE WISDOM, published at Amsterdam.
[3] That love, as bridegroom and husband, produces or begets all forms, but by means of wisdom, as bride and wife, may be proved by innumerable things both in the spiritual and in the natural world. However, this only need be observed here, that the whole angelic heaven is arranged into its own form and maintained in it from the Divine Love by means of the Divine Wisdom. Those who deduce the creation of the world from any other source than the Divine Love by means of the Divine Wisdom, and who do not know that these two constitute the Divine Essence, descend from rational to ocular vision, and greet nature as the creator of the universe; and consequently they conceive chimaeras and bring forth phantoms. The thoughts from which they reason are fallacies, and their conclusions are eggs in which are birds of night. These cannot be called minds, but eyes and ears without understanding, or thoughts without a soul. They talk of colours as if they existed without light, of the existence of trees without seed, and of all things in this world as if they existed without the sun, regarding derivatives as primitives, and effects as causes. Thus they turn everything upside down, lull to sleep the watchful powers of reason and see nothing but dreams.
37. I. QUOD DEUS SIT IPSE AMOR ET IPSA SAPIENTIA, ET QUOD ILLA DUO FACIANT ESSENTIAM IPSIUS. Quod Amor et Sapientia sint duo Essentialia, ad quae se referunt omnia Infinita, quae in Deo sunt, et quae a Deo procedunt, prima Antiquitas 1 vidit; sed Aetates sequentes successive, sicut mentes detraxerunt e Coelo, et illas mundanis et corporeis immerserunt, non potuerunt videre; inceperunt enim non scire quid Amor in sua essentia, et inde quid Sapientia in sua, nescientes quod Amor abstractus a forma non dabilis sit, et quod in forma et per formam operetur. Nunc quia Deus est ipsa, et unica, et sic prima Substantia et Forma, quarum Essentia est Amor et Sapientia, et quia ex Ipso facta sunt omnia quae facta sunt, sequitur, quod Universum cum omnibus et singulis ejus ex Amore per Sapientiam creaverit, et quod inde Divinus Amor una cum Divina Sapientia in omnibus et singulis subjectis creatis sit: est quoque Amor, non modo Essentia formans omnia, sed etiam uniens et conjungens illa, et sic continens formata in nexu.
[2] Haec illustrari possunt per innumerabilia in Mundo; sicut per CALOREM ET LUCEM e Sole, quae sunt duo Essentialia et Universalia, per quae super Tellure omnia et singula existunt et subsistunt; haec ibi sunt, quia Divino Amori et Divinae Sapientiae correspondent, Calor enim, qui e Sole Mundi spiritualis procedit, in sua essentia est Amor, et Lux inde in sua essentia est Sapientia. Illustrari etiam haec possunt per duo essentialia et universalia, per quae Mentes humanae existunt et subsistunt, quae sunt VOLUNTAS ET INTELLECTUS; ex his duobus enim cujusvis Mens consistit, et illa duo in omnibus et singulis ejus sunt et operantur; causa est, quia Voluntas est receptaculum et habitaculum amoris, ac Intellectus sapientiae similiter; quapropter duo illa correspondent Divino Amori et Divinae Sapientiae, ex quibus originitus sunt. Porro eadem illa illustrari possunt per duo Essentialia et Universalia, per quae Corpora humana existunt et subsistunt, quae sunt COR ET PULMO, seu systole et diastole cordis, ac respiratio pulmonis; quod haec duo operentur in omnibus et singulis ibi, notum est; causa est, quia Cor correspondet amori, et Pulmo sapientiae, quae Correspondentia in SAPIENTIA ANGELICA DE DIVINO 2 AMORE ET DIVINA SAPIENTIA, Amstelodami evulgata, plene demonstrata est.
[3] Quod Amor sicut sponsus et maritus producat seu generet omnes formas, sed per sapientiam ut sponsam et uxorem, ex innumerabilibus in utroque Mundo, Spirituali et Naturali, convinci potest: hoc solum memorandum est, quod Universum Coelum Angelicum disponatur in suam formam, et contineatur in illa, ex Divino Amore per Divinam Sapientiam: illi, qui aliunde quam ex Divino Amore per Divinam Sapientiam, deducunt creationem Mundi, et non sciunt quod duo illa faciant Divinam Essentiam, illi descendunt a visu rationis ad visum oculi, et Naturam ut creatricem Universi osculantur, et inde concipiunt chimeras, et parturiunt larvas; cogitant fallacias, ex illis ratiocinantur, et concludunt ova, in quibus sunt aves noctis; tales non vocari possunt Mentes, sed Oculi et Aures absque intellectu, seu Cogitationes absque anima; loquuntur de coloribus sicut existerent absque luce, de existentia arborum sicut absque semine, et de omnibus Mundi sicut absque Sole, quoniam principiata faciunt principia, et causata causas, et sic resupinant omnia, et vigilias rationis sopiunt, et sic somnia vident.
Footnotes: