Charity (Whitehead) n. 189

Previous Number Next Number Next Translation See Latin 

189. XI. THERE ARE DIVERSIONS OF CHARITY; WHICH ARE THE VARIOUS DELIGHTS AND PLEASURES OF THE BODILY SENSES, USEFUL FOR THE RECREATION OF THE MIND. Such diversions are, social interaction, with conversations upon various public, private, and economical affairs; also walks, with the sight of palaces and houses, and trees and flowers, in gardens, woods and fields, delightful for their various beauty and magnificence, also of men, and birds and flocks; and also spectacles of various kinds, representative of the moral virtues, and of events from which something of the Divine Providence shines forth. These and similar things are for the sense of sight. Then there are various musical harmonies and songs, which affect the mind according to their correspondences with affections; and in addition to these, there are decorous jestings, which exhilarate the mind. These are for the sense of hearing. And there are likewise banquets, feasts, and entertainments, and various accompanying pleasantries. And games too, at home, played with dice, balls, and cards; and dances also, at weddings, and at festive gatherings. These and such things are useful diversions for the recreation of the mind. And in addition to these there are various labors of the hands, which give motion to the body, and divert the mind from the works of its calling; and the reading also of books, on historical and dogmatic subjects, which give delight, and of the news in newspapers.


This page is part of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church