“With those who are regenerated, that is, who the Lord foresees will suffer themselves to be regenerated, those truths are greatly multiplied, for they are in the affection for knowing truths; but when they come nearer to the very act of regeneration, they are deprived as it were of those truths, for they are drawn inward, and then the man appears in desolation; nevertheless those truths are successively let back into the natural, and are there conjoined with good, during man's regeneration. But with those who are not regenerated, that is, who the Lord foresees will not suffer themselves to be regenerated, truths are indeed usually multiplied, for they are in the affection for knowing such things for the sake of reputation, honor, and gain; yet when they advance in years and submit those truths to their own sight, then either they do not believe them, or they deny them, or they turn them into falsities; thus with them truths are not withdrawn inward, but are cast forth, although they still remain in the memory for the sake of ends in the world, though without life. This state also is called in the Word desolation or vastation, but differs from the former state in the desolation of the former being apparent, while the desolation of this state is absolute; for in the former state man is not deprived of truths, while in this state he is entirely deprived of them. The desolation of the former state has been treated of in the internal sense in this chapter, and is still further treated of in the following one, and is what is signified by the famine of seven years.”
— The Divine Revelation of the New Jerusalem: Expanded Edition (Hyperlinked Works of Emanuel Swedenborg Book 1) by Emanuel Swedenborg
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