87. II. THAT THERE IS NO SOLITARY GOOD, AND NO SOLITARY TRUTH, BUT THAT THEY ARE EVERYWHERE CONJOINED. A man wishing to get an idea of good from any sensation will be unable to find it, in the absence of some adjunct which presents it and makes it manifest. Without this, good is a nameless entity. That by which it is presented and manifested refers itself to truth. Say merely good, and not at the same time this thing or that to which it is adjoined; or define it abstractly, that is, apart from any cohering adjunct, and you will see that it is not anything, but that with its adjunct it is something. And if you strain the keen sight of reason, you will perceive that good without any adjunct is a thing of no predication, and hence of no relation, no affection, and no state, in a word, of no quality. It is the same with truth, if that word is heard without an inner adjunct; and cultivated reason can see that this inner adjunct has reference to good. [2] But because goods are innumerable, and each rises to its maximum and descends to its minimum as by the steps of a ladder, and also varies its name according to its progression and its quality, it is difficult for any but the wise to see the relation of good and truth to objects, and their conjunction in those objects. That, nevertheless, there is no good without truth and no truth without good, is evident from common perception, as soon as It is acknowledged that each and everything in the universe has reference to good and truth, as shown in the preceding article, nos. 84, 85. [3] That there is no solitary good and no solitary truth can be illustrated and at the same time confirmed in various ways; as, for instance, that there is no essence without form, nor any form without essence--and good is the essence or esse of a thing, while truth is that by which the essence is formed and the esse comes into existence. Again, in man there is will and understanding, good belonging to the will and truth to the understanding. The will alone does nothing; it acts only through the understanding; nor does the understanding alone do anything but acts from the will. Again, in man there are two fountains of his bodily life, the heart and the lungs. The heart cannot produce any sensitive and motory life without the respiration of the lungs; nor can the lungs without the heart. The heart has relation to good, and the respiration of the lungs to truth; there is also a correspondence. [4] It is the same in each and everything of man's mind as it is in each and everything of his body. But time does not permit the offering of further confirmations, The matter can be seen more fully confirmed in THE ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING DIVINE PROVIDENCE, nos. 3-26, where it is explained in this order. I. That the universe, with each created thing thereof, is from Divine Love by Divine wisdom, or, what is the same thing, from Divine Good by Divine Truth. 2. That Divine Good and Divine Truth proceed from the Lord as a unit. 3. That this unit is present in an image in every created thing. 4. That good is not good save as it is united with truth; and that truth is not truth save as it is united with good. 5. That the Lord does not suffer that anything shall be divided; therefore, a man must either be in good and at the same time in truth, or in evil and at the same time in falsity. Besides much else.
