Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1718

Previous Number Next Number Next Translation See Latin 

1718. 'And also Lot his brother and his acquisitions he brought back' means the External Man and all that belonged to it. This is clear from the meaning of 'Lot' as the external man, dealt with frequently. What the external man is, scarcely anyone knows at the present day, for people imagine that solely the things belonging to the body constitute the external man, such as its sensory powers of touch, taste, smell, hearing, and sight, and also its appetites and pleasures. But these constitute the outermost man, which is merely bodily. The external man proper consists of the factual knowledge belonging to the memory and of the affections belonging to the love with which the person has been imbued, as well as consisting of the sensory powers which belong properly to the spirit, together with the pleasures which also reside with the spirit. The fact that these things properly constitute the external or exterior man becomes clear from human beings in the next life, that is, from spirits. These likewise have an external man, an interior man, and consequently an internal man. The body is merely a perishable covering or shell so to speak, which exists so that the person may truly live and so that all that constitutes his being may become more excellent.


This page is part of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church