5518. The African race is the one in this earth which is able to be in illustration beyond all other races, because they are such that they think interiorly, and receive truths, and acknowledge that they are truths from that ground, differently from other races, for example, Europeans, who think exteriorly, and only receive those things in the memory; nor do they see that they are truths from any other ground than that they have been so instructed from infancy, and that someone said so about whom they have faith that he knows - thus, from authority. The Africans in our globe are the ones who are of the genius in which are the angels in the Celestial Kingdom; Europeans, those who are of the spiritual [genius] - the difference in the nature of which may be seen in the A[rcana Coelestia].
5518a. In a word, the Africans live according to their religion and its laws, which they love; and, therefore, they are of such a character, namely, interior. They were told that Christians do not thus live according to their religion, but according to the civil laws, and only have the doctrinals of religion in the memory, and rarely think from them on account of life, but only on account of doctrine; for they believe they are saved by the faith of doctrine and not by life, nor do they have doctrinals of life. This they wondered at exceedingly, not being willing to believe that it was so; believing that there is no man who does not live according to his religion, and, if he does not, he cannot do otherwise than become stupid, because, then, he does not receive anything from heaven.
This page is part of 
© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church