:
When we allow the Lord into our lives, we
sometimes fear that we will lose something,
that we’ll have to give something up. We’ve
gotten used to the lies we tell ourselves.
neighbor?” What if my neighbor is driving me crazy? Thes e truths are dead
to us.
This is also represented by the fact that this man was naked. Clothing
represents the truths that protect us. (Ibid. 240) We are vulnerable without
truths. We can easily be convinced by lies, unless we are clothed and protected
with truth. This is something that changes for this man by the end of the story.
So he was naked, and living in the tombs. He had no truths to protect him. No
truths which felt alive.
He was also supposed to be chained up, but he kept breaking out of his
chains. Chains represent having our actions bound to what is true and good.
(Arcana Coelestia 9852, 9879) But in the state described by this story, we keep
breaking away, failing in our own attempts to govern ourselves, backsliding
into our evils, breaking our own chains and shackles that we’ve used to try to
keep us on the straight and narrow. Our behaviors are out of control. The man
kept breaking his chains and shackles.
It also says that he was cutting himself with stones. In this state, any truths
that we still know and believe seem harsh and painful, like they are cutting
into us. “The love of self is a hellish love.” Ouch! “Why do you look at the
speck in your brother’s eye and not the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3)
Ouch! “Why should I focus on helping other people? Then I won’t be happy!”
Ouch! The evil spirits in our mind try to use these truths to hurt us – cutting
ourselves with stones.
But then the Lord comes into our lives. He comes to us in a boat on the
Sea of Galilee. A boat represents that the Lord comes to us in the doctrines of
faith which rest on the vast sea of spiritual knowledge. (Apocalypse Explained
514.20) In other words, the Lord comes to us in the Word.
But when we are in a bad place, we often don’t want help; we don’t want
to be fixed. “Spiritual work is painful! I don’t want to face that harsh reality. I
don’t want to read the Word. I don’t want to go to Church. I don’t want to pray.”
“What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore
You by God that You do not torment me.” (Mark 5:7) At first we reject the Lord
from our lives. We don’t believe that spiritual life can save us. This, of course, is
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