Lesson 2 – Second Law of Divine Providence
Transcript
In this episode we will discuss the second law of Divine Providence.
The second law, tells us that we should reject any evil tendencies that we notice coming into our mind.
It states: 2. It is a Law of Divine Providence that we shut put aside evils in our outer nature, regarding them as sins and doing so in apparent autonomy, and that this is the only way the Lord can put aside the evils in our inner nature and outer nature alike.
I have previously said that we are not our thoughts, nor our feelings. In other words, while thoughts and feelings may feel like our own, they do not become a part of us until we identify with them, embrace them, own them and lead our lives by them by acting upon them.
This of course, is very reassuring and liberating, but it also places a burden of responsibility on us for our own state of mind. It demands that we take note of our thoughts and consciously either reject or accept the thoughts and feelings coming into our mind.
Swedenborg gives us a clear warning about the necessity for introspection and to be certain about the intentions behind our actions:
I would add only this, that if you do all the good you can, if you build churches and decorate and fill them with your offerings, if you devote your wealth to hospitals and hospices, if you give alms every day, if you help widows and orphans, if you faithfully attend divine worship, even if you think, talk, and preach about these things in all apparent sincerity, and still do not abstain from evils as sins against God, all these good deeds are not really good at all. They are either hypocritical or self-serving, because there is still evil within them. Our life is in absolutely everything that we do, and good deeds become good only by the removal of evil from them. (Divine Providence 326)
The process of noticing the negative or selfish thoughts and feelings that arise in our minds, and then rejecting them, begins here in the material, sense based world. This is the process by which we develop our mind and is also a fundamental aspect of our common humanity. Us being able to reflect on our thoughts and feelings, contemplate and think about the thoughts and feelings we have, is uniquely human. I believe this intent is what decidedly distinguishes us from animals.
When Swedenborg talks about rejecting evils, then, he is talking about our tendency to be selfish—to prioritise what we regard as our own best interest rather than our neighbours’. Otherwise said as to love power and crave domination or control over others; to steal, or kill, or otherwise wishing to do harm to others if we had the chance.
The more we tell ourselves that it’s okay to be selfish, the more we reject God, who is Love itself and so Goodness itself. However, if we make an effort to reject selfish thoughts and feelings, and try to make amends for past actions, we open the door for what is good and true (being what is Divine and from God and so is God) to enter our lives.
This process, which I tried to explain in the diagram provided in the previous episode, is here also described in the Word in Matthew, chapter 15:
Matthew 15:10-20 (NKJV)
When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand:
Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”
Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.”
So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”
This process is also called repentance in Christian terms. When we repent (meaning literally to re-think) and start rejecting selfish thoughts and destructive tendencies, then it is Jehovah God who comes into us, reorders our mind and thereby bettering our inner selves to support the positive step we have freely chosen in our natural mind.
For this purpose we must be conscious that we have in fact an ability to reflect and correct our thinking; that we do not have to accept the thoughts and feelings coming into us. That God has granted us the freedom, rationality and thus ultimate responsibility to be master of our own destiny.
We are not merely passengers being taken idly for a ride to an inevitable fate like some kind of victim.
As we read in Divine Providence:
it is a goal of Divine providence that a person act in freedom in accordance with his reason. To act in freedom in accordance with one’s reason and to act in consequence of one’s freedom and rationality are the same thing, as is also to act in consequence of one’s will and understanding. (DP 97)
a final thought, I will say too that this means that there is no such thing as predestination, but more on that a little later.
This leads us to the third law of Divine Providence, which we will discuss in the next lesson. Don’t forget to comment, like and share if you enjoyed this.