Human Prudence: The Useful Illusion
Toward the end of the book, Divine Providence, is a chapter (DP 191-213) with the following heading:
One’s own prudence is not real and only appears to be, and also ought to so appear; but Divine providence, owing to its presence in the least particulars, is universal. (DP 191)
In other words, our prudence—which is in effect the exercising of our own intelligence and wisdom—does not truly exist, while yet it is entirely necessary to our life and salvation that it seem to us that we really can act from our own intelligence and wisdom; in everything, from the big picture down to the last detail, it is the Lord’s providence that truly guides and leads us.
This is explained in several steps. First, it is noted that thoughts (which are the objects of our intelligence) are entirely rooted not in themselves but in affections. (DP 193-196) This is the logical consequence of the teachings that wisdom is the soul of the intellect, (DLW 394; DP 193) and that love is the life of man; (AC 6135, 10714; NJHD 54; LJ 21; DLW 1; DP 13, 108; AR 526, 634; TCR 380) thus our intellect is from our will as wisdom is the form of love.
Next, we are taught that we cannot know our own will’s affections, as they are buried deeper, so to speak, than the thoughts of our intellect. (DP 197-200) This is because thoughts are the forms of affections; (AC 5102; HH 236; DLW 224; DP 196-199; AR 875, 908; TCR 386) all we can "see", then, are thoughts, whereas our affections are only felt through our thoughts, and through the outermost of our delights. (AC 3796, 3938-3939, 6052; DP 198-199) That we can only see our thoughts and our outermost delights supports the illusion in our minds that we think and so act entirely on our own from what is our own; what really drives each one of us is invisible.
If we were able to trace back our own thoughts through their root affections, back into our will and so to our life’s love, we would eventually come to something which is not actually our own at all. This is because our will is a receptacle for the influx of the Lord’s Divine Love. (DP 328; TCR 39) Thus, it is easy to see that, contrary to the illusion we live in, it is really the Lord who leads our lives in all things. (DP 200)
However, it is not just an accident that we are created so as not to see our own affections and so to invariably and eternally sense that our own prudence—and not the Lord’s providence—rules our every thought and action. Without this illusion, the reality (that the Lord leads by His providence) would itself be impossible! (DP 210-213) If we were to clearly perceive the real nonexistence of our own prudence, we would cease to act; (AC 1712, 2496; DP 183, 210, 321) our humanity would collapse in on itself, perhaps like a black hole falling into itself under the influence of its own light-grabbing gravity. If we were to have such a perception, we would cease to respond to the Lord and His Creation, and instead would go limp, waiting for influx to direct us like puppets, and yet without our willful response, such influx would have no way to enter in. (AC 1712, 2946, 10299; LIFE 107; DP 200, 210, 321)
Much theology in the world requires one to accept paradox. Here, we have a beautiful example of just the opposite in the one true theology of the New Church: only by having Divine providence hidden behind human prudence can we avoid paradox. Just as nature abhors a naked singularity, providence cannot operate openly in the human consciousness.
And so, we are given prudence so that we may be lead by Divine providence, and it is our duty to use it, therefore, in the manner intended by our Lord:
..."A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business till I come.' But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.'And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
Then came the first, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned ten minas.'
And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.'
...Then another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief. For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.'
And he said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man.... Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?' And he said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina from him...'" (Luk 19:12-17, 20-24; see also the rest of Luk 19:12-25; also Mat 25:14-30; DP 210; AR 463; TCR 462)