The practise of speaking into a neutral space – observing the state vs being the state (4 mins)

Arcana Coelestia 4850…I keep mentioning states and changes in state, but few know what either is, so I need to define them. Neither time and the passage of time nor space and extension in space can be used to describe our inner depths, or our feelings and the thoughts they produce. They do not exist in time or in a place, even though they seem to do so, as far as our worldly senses can tell. Rather they exist in inner dimensions corresponding to time and place. These corresponding dimensions can only be called states; there is no other word for them. It is called a change of state in our inner depths when we have a change of mind or heart, or a change in our feelings and the thoughts they produce, from sad to happy, from happy back to sad, from godless to godly or devout, and so on. These changes are called changes in state. They have to do with our feelings, and to the extent that our feelings control our thoughts, with our thoughts as well. Changes in the state of our thoughts lie within our feelings, as specific parts lie within a general whole, and are variations on our feelings, more or less. AC 4882… Admittedly, the idea that “going” in an inner sense means living seems rather far-fetched, or distant from our usual way of thinking. This is because we inhabit space and time, from which we have formed the ideas composing our thoughts, such as our idea of going, advancing, traveling, journeying, moving. These cover space and take time, so space and time permeate our idea of them, with the result that we have difficulty grasping that they mean states of life. However, when we put aside or shed our image of them, the spiritual phenomenon being symbolized springs forth. In the spiritual world, or heaven, no hint of space or time goes into the inhabitants’ thinking, but something having to do with a state of life instead (§§1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837, 3356, 3404, 3827, 4814). Spirits and angels do feel as though they are advancing and moving from place to place, exactly as people on earth feel it, but changes in their state of life are what produce the impression. It is like the appearance that we live on our own — an appearance that is just as strong for them as it is for us — when in reality life is not inherent in us but comes from the Lord’s divinity, the source of all life. These appearances as they exist with angels are called real appearances, because they appear as they really are. [2] Sometimes I have talked with spirits about these appearances. The ones who lack goodness and therefore truth do not want to hear that they only appear to live on their own; they like the idea that they truly do live on their own. They have been shown by personal experience that life is not inherent in them and that progress from place to place is a change and progression in the condition of their life, but I have also said this to them: The fully convincing appearance that the life they have originates in themselves can satisfy them; they could not gain any greater benefit if it actually were the case. But it is even better for them to know what the real situation is, because then they have the truth, and if they have the truth, they also have heaven’s light — heaven’s light being the truth itself that comes from the Lord’s divinity. With the benefit of heaven’s light they would not claim goodness as their own, and evil would not cling to them either. Angels possess this truth not only by knowledge but also by perception. [3] The following experience shows that time and space in the spiritual world are states of life and that all life comes from the Lord: Spirits and angels each see those who are good on their right and those who are evil on their left, no matter what direction they turn. If they face east, that is where the good and the evil appear to them; the same if they face west, and if they face south or north too. This is true for every spirit or angel individually. If there are two of them, say, and one looks east while the other looks west, they both still see the good on their right and the evil on their left. It looks the same way to distant observers too, even if they stand behind the ones they are observing. The plain conclusion is that all life comes from the Lord, or that the Lord is within everyone’s life. The Lord appears in the spiritual world as the sun, on his right being the good, or the sheep, and on his left the evil, or the goats. It is the same for everyone else too, since the Lord is the whole of life, as I said. This notion cannot help baffling people, because as long as they are in the world they take their thinking from worldly cues and consequently from space and time. In the spiritual world, though, as noted above, ideas do not start with space and time but with the state of a person’s feelings and consequent thoughts. It is because of this that extents of space and periods of time in the Word symbolize states. Third Round posts are short audio clips taken from Round 3 comments in online Logopraxis Life Group meetings. The aim is to maintain a focus on understanding the Text’s application to the inner life while reinforcing key LP principles highlighted in the exchanges.