“I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in your midst; and I will remove the heart of stone out of their flesh and will give them a heart of flesh”. Ezek. 11:19
This verse contains some very in depth psychological and spiritual truths that are very useful. The words ‘flesh’ and ‘heart of stone’ refer to the part of the self that is of our own self and body, that thinks only of ourself. The flesh in this sense is hereditary evil that comes in the body, and in itself is nothing but evil and exposed to evil. This part of the self is just the worldly human part of ourself that has no idea that all good comes from God; it is not connected to the spiritual. The part of humans is called proprium, it thinks that good (and evil) comes from ourself, and this is a lie. (It is good to note that – just as all good comes from God, all evil comes from hell.) To not give God the credit due Him – which essentially is to acknowledge all good comes from Him – is called spiritual thievery in the Bible. By doing this we are denying the truth of our being and exposed to evil.
Only our faith and love of God cn pull us our of this. The spiritual circuitry in our body, mind, and soul works at its finest and as we are meant to when we are in humility toward the Lord. When we are in humility toward the Lord we perceive in heart that all good comes from Him. This the angels see and know continually and it is the source of their strength and wisdom. This inner perception forges the union between our inner innocence and adult intelligence, and this in turn magnifies their soul and perception.
Proprium largely comes from inherited qualities that are passed on from generation to generation and these need to be regenerated. Proprium is mostly hereditary evil in us, and evil uses it to bring us to hell if it can. But Proprium can have good or bad qualities. For instance, a person can have good parents that pass on very congenial qualities, that gives a person an easy manner. But this is still of self and becomes ‘cloying’ in quality if the person does not incorporate it into their core self that is connected and receptive of God. Our own intelligence needs to be incorporated and in union with innocence for our quality to become true intelligence and true innocence; otherwise they remain natural and external. So ‘good proprium’ that remains external does not do us any good, and can be a hindrance to our internal and spiritual state, because it is too easy.
The depth and brightness of our spiritual quality, and thus salvation, has do to with the ‘distance’ we travel in transformation from external to internal. This is why the father of the prodigal son rejoiced so greatly, with such gladness, at the return of the son who was lost, but the son who was at home was upset. In correspondences ‘distance’ means ‘change of state’, so the prodigal son represents great transformation, while the one who was home not so much. The son that stayed home thought that he was good, and had all the reasons for it; but the prodigal son knew he was not good, was humbled to the bottom of his being, and looked to return to the father, claiming nothing, only wishing to serve. The father represents the Lord who is always watching – scanning the horizon – to see us turn to Him of our will. The Lord Jesus is always turned to us, full of all goodness, resources, wisdom and love. He gives us freely of His kingdom if we can receive it.
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