The Project Gutenberg EBook of Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love
and the Divine Wisdom, by Emanuel Swedenborg
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom
Author: Emanuel Swedenborg
Translator: John Ager
Release Date: August 31, 2005 [EBook #16627]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANGELIC WISDOM ***
Produced by E-text donated by the Kempton Project, submitted
by William Rotella
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE DIVINE WISDOM
BY
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
Standard Edition
Swedenborg Foundation
Incorporated
New York
--------
Established 1850
First Published in Latin, Amsterdam, 1763
First English translation published in U.S.A., 1794
55th Printing, 1988
ISBN 0-87785-056-9
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 76-46144
Manufactured in the United States of America
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE
The previous translation of this work has been carefully revised. In
this revision the translator has had the valuable assistance of
suggestions by the Rev. L.H. Tafel and others. The new renderings of
_existere_ and _fugere_ are suggestions adopted by the Editorial Committee
and accepted by the translator, but for which he does not wish to be
held solely responsible.
1. PART FIRST.
LOVE IS THE LIFE OF MAN.
Man knows that there is such a thing as love, but he does not know what
love is. He knows that there is such a thing as love from common speech,
as when it is said, he loves me, a king loves his subjects, and subjects
love their king, a husband loves his wife, a mother her children, and
conversely; also, this or that one loves his country, his fellow citizens,
his neighbor; and likewise of things abstracted from person, as when it
is said, one loves this or that thing. But although the word love is so
universally used, hardly anybody knows what love is. And because one is
unable, when he reflects upon it, to form to himself any idea of thought
about it, he says either that it is not anything, or that it is merely
something flowing in from sight, hearing, touch, or interaction with
others, and thus affecting him. He is wholly unaware that love is his
very life; not only the general life of his whole body, and the general
life of all his thoughts, but also the life of all their particulars.
This a man of discernment can perceive when it is said: If you remove
the affection which is from love, can you think anything, or do anything?
Do not thought, speech, and action, grow cold in the measure in which the
affection which is from love grows cold? And do they not grow warm in the
measure in which this affection grows warm? But this a man of discernment
perceives simply by observing that such is the case, and not from any
knowledge that love is the life of man.
2. What the life of man is, no one knows unless he knows that it is love.
If this is not known, one person may believe that man's life is nothing
but perceiving with the senses and acting, and another that it is merely
thinking; and yet thought is the first effect of life, and sensation and
action are the second effect of life. Thought is here said to be the first
effect of life, yet there is thought which is interior and more interior,
also exterior and more exterior. What is actually the first effect of life
is inmost thought, which is the perception of ends. But of all this
hereafter, when the degrees of life are considered.
3. Some idea of love, as being the life of man, may be had from the sun's
heat in the world. This heat is well known to be the common life, as it
were, of all the vegetations of the earth. For by virtue of heat, coming
forth in springtime, plants of every kind rise from the ground, deck
themselves with leaves, then with blossoms, and finally with fruits, and
thus, in a sense, live. But when, in the time of autumn and winter, heat
withdraws, the plants are stripped of these signs of their life, and they
wither. So it is with love in man; for heat and love mutually correspond.
Therefore love also is warm.
4. GOD ALONE, CONSEQUENTLY THE LORD, IS LOVE ITSELF, BECAUSE HE IS LIFE
ITSELF AND ANGELS AND MEN ARE RECIPIENTS OF LIFE.
This will be fully shown in treatises on Divine Providence and on Life;
it is sufficient here to say that the Lord, who is the God of the universe,
is uncreate and infinite, whereas man and angel are created and finite.
And because the Lord is uncreate and infinite, He is Being [Esse] itself,
which is called "Jehovah," and Life itself, or Life in itself. From the
uncreate, the infinite, Being itself and Life itself, no one can be
created immediately, because the Divine is one and indivisible; but their
creation must be out of things created and finited, and so formed that
the Divine can be in them. Because men and angels are such, they are
recipients of life. Consequently, if any man suffers himself to be so
far misled as to think that he is not a recipient of life but is Life,
he cannot be withheld from the thought that he is God. A man's feeling
as if he were life, and therefore believing himself to be so, arises from
fallacy; for the principal cause is not perceived in the instrumental
cause otherwise than as one with it. That the Lord is Life in Himself,
He Himself teaches in John:
As the Father hath life in Himself, so also hath He given to the Son
to have life in Himself (5:26)
He declares also that He is Life itself (John 11:25; 14:6).
Now since life and love are one (as is apparent from what has been said
above, n. 1, 2), it follows that the Lord, because He is Life itself, is
Love itself.
5. But that this may reach the understanding, it must needs be known
positively that the Lord, because He is Love in its very essence, that
is, Divine Love, appears before the angels in heaven as a sun, and that
from that sun heat and light go forth; the heat which goes forth therefrom
being in its essence love, and the light which goes forth therefrom being
in its essence wisdom; and that so far as the angels are recipients of
that spiritual heat and of that spiritual light, they are loves and
wisdoms; not loves and wisdoms from themselves, but from the Lord. That
spiritual heat and that spiritual light not only flow into angels and
affect them, but they also flow into men and affect them just to the
extent that they become recipients; and they become recipients in the
measure of their love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor. That
sun itself, that is, the Divine Love, by its heat and its light, cannot
create any one immediately from itself; for one so created would be Love
in its essence, which Love is the Lord Himself; but it can create from
substances and matters so formed as to be capable of receiving the very
heat and the very light; comparatively as the sun of the world cannot by
its heat and light produce germinations on the earth immediately, but
only out of earthy matters in which it can be present by its heat and
light, and cause vegetation. In the spiritual world the Divine Love of
the Lord appears as a sun, and from it proceed the spiritual heat and
the spiritual light from which the angels derive love and wisdom, as may
be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 116-140).
6. Since, then, man is not life, but is a recipient of life, it follows
that the conception of a man from his father is not a conception of life,
but only a conception of the first and purest form capable of receiving
life; and to this, as to a nucleus or starting-point in the womb, are
successively added substances and matters in forms adapted to the
reception of life, in their order and degree.
7. THE DIVINE IS NOT IN SPACE.
That the Divine, that is, God, is not in space, although omnipresent and
with every man in the world, and with every angel in heaven, and with
every spirit under heaven, cannot be comprehended by a merely natural
idea, but it can by a spiritual idea. It cannot be comprehended by a
natural idea, because in the natural idea there is space; since it is
formed out of such things as are in the world, and in each and all of
these, as seen by the eye, there is space. In the world, everything great
and small is of space; everything long, broad, and high is of space; in
short, every measure, figure and form is of space. This is why it has
been said that it cannot be comprehended by a merely natural idea that
the Divine is not in space, when it is said that the Divine is everywhere.
Still, by natural thought, a man may comprehend this, if only he admit
into it something of spiritual light. For this reason something shall
first be said about spiritual idea, and thought therefrom. Spiritual idea
derives nothing from space, but it derives its all from state. State is
predicated of love, of life, of wisdom, of affections, of joys therefrom;
in general, of good and of truth. An idea of these things which is truly
spiritual has nothing in common with space; it is higher and looks down
upon the ideas of space which are under it as heaven looks down upon the
earth. But since angels and spirits see with eyes, just as men in the
world do, and since objects cannot be seen except in space, therefore in
the spiritual world where angels and spirits are, there appear to be
spaces like the spaces on earth; yet they are not spaces, but appearances;
since they are not fixed and constant, as spaces are on earth; for they
can be lengthened or shortened; they can be changed or varied. Thus because
they cannot be determined in that world by measure, they cannot be
comprehended there by any natural idea, but only by a spiritual idea. The
spiritual idea of distances of space is the same as of distances of good
or distances of truth, which are affinities and likenesses according to
states of goodness and truth.
8. From this it may be seen that man is unable, by a merely natural idea,
to comprehend that the Divine is everywhere, and yet not in space; but
that angels and spirits comprehend this clearly; consequently that a man
also may, provided he admits into his thought something of spiritual light;
and this for the reason that it is not his body that thinks, but his
spirit, thus not his natural, but his spiritual.
9. But many fail to comprehend this because of their love of the natural,
which makes them unwilling to raise the thoughts of their understanding
above the natural into spiritual light; and those who are unwilling to do
this can think only from space, even concerning God; and to think according
to space concerning God is to think concerning the expanse of nature. This
has to be premised, because without a knowledge and some perception that
the Divine is not in space, nothing can be understood about the Divine
Life, which is Love and Wisdom, of which subjects this volume treats; and
hence little, if anything, about Divine Providence, Omnipresence,
Omniscience, Omnipotence, Infinity and Eternity, which will be treated
of in succession.
10. It has been said that in the spiritual world, just as in the natural
world, there appear to be spaces, consequently also distances, but that
these are appearances according to spiritual affinities which are of love
and wisdom, or of good and truth. From this it is that the Lord, although
everywhere in the heavens with angels, nevertheless appears high above
them as a sun. Furthermore, since reception of love and wisdom causes
affinity with the Lord, those heavens in which the angels are, from
reception, in closer affinity with Him, appear nearer to Him than those
in which the affinity is more remote. From this it is also that the
heavens, of which there are three, are distinct from each other,
likewise the societies of each heaven; and further, that the hells under
them are remote according to their rejection of love and wisdom. The same
is true of men, in whom and with whom the Lord is present throughout the
whole earth; and this solely for the reason that the Lord is not in space.
11. GOD IS VERY MAN.
In all the heavens there is no other idea of God than that He is a Man.
This is because heaven as a whole and in part is in form like a man, and
because it is the Divine which is with the angels that constitutes heaven
and inasmuch as thought proceeds according to the form of heaven, it is
impossible for the angels to think of God in any other way. From this it
is that all those in the world who are conjoined with heaven think of God
in the same way when they think interiorly in themselves, that is, in
their spirit. From this fact that God is a Man, all angels and all spirits,
in their complete form, are men. This results from the form of heaven,
which is like itself in its greatest and in its least parts. That heaven
as a whole and in part is in form like a man may be seen in the work on
Heaven and Hell (n. 59-87); and that thoughts proceed according to the
form of heaven (n. 203, 204). It is known from Genesis (1:26, 27), that
men were created after the image and likeness of God. God also appeared
as a man to Abraham and to others. The ancients, from the wise even to
the simple, thought of God no otherwise than as being a Man; and when at
length they began to worship a plurality of gods, as at Athens and Rome,
they worshiped them all as men. What is here said may be illustrated by
the following extract from a small treatise already published:
The Gentiles, especially the Africans, who acknowledge and worship one
God, the Creator of the universe, have concerning God the idea that He
is a Man, and declare that no one can have any other idea of God. When
they learn that there are many who cherish an idea of God as something
cloud-like in the midst of things, they ask where such persons are; and
on being told that they are among Christians, they declare it to be
impossible. They are informed, however, that this idea arises from the
fact that God in the Word is called "a Spirit," and of a spirit they have
no other idea than of a bit of cloud, not knowing that every spirit and
every angel is a man. An examination, nevertheless, was made, whether the
spiritual idea of such persons was like their natural idea, and it was
found not to be so with those who acknowledge the Lord interiorly as God
of heaven and earth. I heard a certain elder from the Christians say that
no one can have an idea of a Human Divine; and I saw him taken about to
various Gentile nations, and successively to such as were more and more
interior, and from them to their heavens, and finally to the Christian
heaven; and everywhere their interior perception concerning God was
communicated to him, and he observed that they had no other idea of God
than that He is a man, which is the same as the idea of a Human Divine
(C.L.J. n. 74).
12. The common people in Christendom have an idea that God is a Man,
because God in the Athanasian doctrine of the Trinity is called a
"Person." But those who are more learned than the common people pronounce
God to be invisible; and this for the reason that they cannot comprehend
how God, as a Man, could have created heaven and earth, and then fill the
universe with His presence, and many things besides, which cannot enter
the understanding so long as the truth that the Divine is not in space
is ignored. Those, however, who go to the Lord alone think of a Human
Divine, thus of God as a Man.
13. How important it is to have a correct idea of God can be known from
the truth that the idea of God constitutes the inmost of thought with
all who have religion, for all things of religion and all things of
worship look to God. And since God, universally and in particular, is
in all things of religion and of worship, without a proper idea of God
no communication with the heavens is possible. From this it is that in
the spiritual world every nation has its place allotted in accordance
with its idea of God as a Man; for in this idea, and in no other, is the
idea of the Lord. That man's state of life after death is according to
the idea of God in which he has become confirmed, is manifest from the
opposite of this, namely, that the denial of God, and, in the Christian
world, the denial of the Divinity of the Lord, constitutes hell.
14. IN GOD-MAN ESSE AND EXISTERE* ARE ONE DISTINCTLY**
Where there is Esse [being] there is Existere [taking form]; one is not
possible apart from the other. For Esse is by means of Existere, and not
apart from it. This the rational mind comprehends when it thinks whether
there can possibly be any Esse [being] which does not Exist [take form],
and whether there can possibly be Existere except from Esse. And since
one is possible with the other, and not apart from the other, it follows
that they are one, but one distinctly. They are one distinctly, like Love
and Wisdom; in fact, love is Esse, and wisdom is Existere; for there can
be no love except in wisdom, nor can there be any wisdom except from
love; consequently when love is in wisdom, then it EXISTS. These two are
one in such a way that they may be distinguished in thought but not in
operation, and because they may be distinguished in thought though not
in operation, it is said that they are one distinctly.*** Esse and
Existere in God-Man are also one distinctly like soul and body. There
can be no soul apart from its body, nor body apart from its soul. The
Divine soul of God-Man is what is meant by Divine Esse, and the Divine
Body is what is meant by Divine Existere. That a soul can exist apart
from a body, and can think and be wise, is an error springing from
fallacies; for every man's soul is in a spiritual body after it has cast
off the material coverings which it carried about in the world.
* To be and to exist. Swedenborg seems to use this word "exist" nearly
in the classical sense of springing or standing forth, becoming manifest,
taking form. The distinction between esse and existere is essentially the
same as between substance and form.
** For the meaning of this phrase. "distincte unum," see below in this
paragraph, also n. 17, 22, 34, 223, and DP 4.
*** It should be noticed that in Latin, distinctly is the adverb of the
verb distinguish. If translated distinguishably, this would appear.
15. Esse is not Esse unless it Exists, because until then it is not in a
form, and if not in a form it has no quality; and what has no quality is
not anything. That which Exists from Esse, for the reason that it is
from Esse, makes one with it. From this there is a uniting of the two
into one; and from this each is the others mutually and interchangeably,
and each is all in all things of the other as in itself.
16. From this it can be seen that God is a Man, and consequently He is
God-Existing; not existing from Himself but in Himself. He who has
existence in Himself is God from whom all things are.
17. IN GOD-MAN INFINITE THINGS ARE ONE DISTINCTLY.
That God is infinite is well known, for He is called the Infinite; and
He is called the Infinite because He is infinite. He is infinite not from
this alone, that He is very Esse and Existere in itself, but because in
Him there are infinite things. An infinite without infinite things in it,
is infinite in name only. The infinite things in Him cannot be called
infinitely many, nor infinitely all, because of the natural idea of many
and of all; for the natural idea of infinitely many is limited, and the
natural idea of infinitely all, though not limited, is derived from
limited things in the universe. Therefore man, because his ideas are
natural, is unable by any refinement or approximation, to come into a
perception of the infinite things in God; and an angel, while he is
able, because he is in spiritual ideas, to rise by refinement and
approximation above the degree of man, is still unable to attain to
that perception.
18. That in God there are infinite things, any one may convince himself
who believes that God is a Man; for, being a Man, He has a body and every
thing pertaining to it, that is, a face, breast, abdomen, loins and feet;
for without these He would not be a Man. And having these, He also has
eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and tongue; also the parts within man, as the
heart and lungs, and their dependencies, all of which, taken together,
make man to be a man. In a created man these parts are many, and regarded
in their details of structure are numberless; but in God-Man they are
infinite, nothing whatever is lacking, and from this He has infinite
perfection. This comparison holds between the uncreated Man who is God
and created man, because God is a Man; and He Himself says that the man
of this world was created after His image and into His likeness
(Gen. 1:26, 27).
19. That in God there are infinite things, is still more evident to the
angels from the heavens in which they dwell. The whole heaven, consisting
of myriads of myriads of angels, in its universal form is like a man. So
is each society of heaven, be it larger or smaller. From this, too, an
angel is a man, for an angel is a heaven in least form. (This is shown
in the work Heaven and Hell, n. 51-86.) Heaven as a whole, in part, and
in the individual, is in that form by virtue of the Divine which angels
receive; for in the measure in which an angel receives from the Divine
is he in complete form a man. From this it is that angels are said to be
in God, and God in them; also, that God is their all. How many things
there are in heaven cannot be told; and because the Divine is what makes
heaven, and consequently these unspeakably many things are from the
Divine, it is clearly evident that there are infinite things in Very Man,
who is God.
20. From the created universe a like conclusion may be drawn when it is
regarded from uses and their correspondences. But before this can be
understood some preliminary illustrations must be given.
21. Because in God-Man there are infinite things which appear in heaven,
in angel, and in man, as in a mirror; and because God-Man is not in space
(as was shown above, n. 7-10), it can, to some extent, be seen and
comprehended how God can be Omnipresent, Omniscient, and All-providing;
and how, as Man, He could create all things, and as Man can hold the
things created by Himself in their order to eternity.
22. That in God-Man infinite things are one distinctly, can also be seen,
as in a mirror, from man. In man there are many and numberless things, as
said above; but still man feels them all as one. From sensation he knows
nothing of his brains, of his heart and lungs, of his liver, spleen, and
pancreas; or of the numberless things in his eyes, ears, tongue, stomach,
generative organs, and the remaining parts; and because from sensation he
has no knowledge of these things, he is to himself as a one. The reason
is that all these are in such a form that not one can be lacking; for it
is a form recipient of life from God-Man (as was shown above, n. 4-6).
From the order and connection of all things in such a form there comes
the feeling, and from that the idea, as if they were not many and
numberless, but were one. From this it may be concluded that the many
and numberless things which make in man a seeming one, a Very Man who
is God, are one distinctly, yea, most distinctly.
23. THERE IS ONE GOD-MAN, FROM WHOM ALL THINGS COME.
All things of human wisdom unite, and as it were center in this, that
there is one God, the Creator of the universe: consequently a man who
has reason, from the general nature of his understanding, does not and
cannot think otherwise. Say to any man of sound reason that there are
two Creators of the universe, and you will be sensible of his repugnance,
and this, perhaps, from the mere sound of the phrase in his ear; from
which it appears that all things of human reason unite and center in
this, that God is one. There are two reasons for this. First, the very
capacity to think rationally, viewed in itself, is not man's, but is
God's in man; upon this capacity human reason in its general nature
depends, and this general nature of reason causes man to see as from
himself that God is one. Secondly, by means of that capacity man either
is in the light of heaven, or he derives the generals of his thought
therefrom; and it is a universal of the light of heaven that God is one.
It is otherwise when man by that capacity has perverted the lower parts
of his understanding; such a man indeed is endowed with that capacity,
but by the twist given to these lower parts, he turns it contrariwise,
and thereby his reason becomes unsound.
24. Every man, even if unconsciously, thinks of a body of men as of one
man; therefore he instantly perceives what is meant when it is said that
a king is the head, and the subjects are the body, also that this or
that person has such a place in the general body, that is, in the kingdom.
As it is with the body politic, so is it with the body spiritual. The
body spiritual is the church; its head is God-Man; and from this it is
plain how the church thus viewed as a man would appear if instead of one
God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, several were thought of.
The church thus viewed would appear as one body with several heads; thus
not as a man, but as a monster. If it be said that these heads have one
essence, and that thus together they make one head, the only conception
possible is either that of one head with several faces or of several
heads with one face; thus making the church, viewed as a whole, appear
deformed. But in truth, the one God is the head, and the church is the
body, which acts under the command of the head, and not from itself; as
is also the case in man; and from this it is that there can be only one
king in a kingdom, for several kings would rend it asunder, but one is
able to preserve its unity.
25. So would it be with the church scattered throughout the whole globe,
which is called a communion, because it is as one body under one head.
It is known that the head rules the body under it at will; for
understanding and will have their seat in the head; and in conformity
to the understanding and will the body is directed, even to the extent
that the body is nothing but obedience. As the body can do nothing except
from the understanding and will in the head, so the man of the church can
do nothing except from God. The body seems to act of itself, as if the
hands and feet in acting are moved of themselves; or the mouth and tongue
in speaking vibrate of themselves, when, in fact, they do not in the
slightest degree act of themselves, but only from an affection of the
will and the consequent thought of the understanding in the head.
Suppose, now, one body to have several heads and each head to be free
to act from its own understanding and its own will, could such a body
continue to exist? For among several heads singleness of purpose, such
as results from one head would be impossible. As in the church, so in
the heavens; heaven consists of myriads of myriads of angels, and unless
these all and each looked to one God, they would fall away from one
another and heaven would be broken up. Consequently, if an angel of
heaven but thinks of a plurality of gods he is at once separated; for
he is cast out into the outmost boundary of the heavens, and sinks
downward.
26. Because the whole heaven and all things of heaven have relation to
one God, angelic speech is such that by a certain unison flowing from
the unison of heaven it closes in a single cadence - a proof that it
is impossible for the angels to think otherwise than of one God; for
speech is from thought.
27. Who that has sound reason can help seeing that the Divine is not
divisible? also that a plurality of Infinites, of Uncreates, of
Omnipotents, and of Gods, is impossible? Suppose one destitute of reason
were to declare that a plurality of Infinites, of Uncreates, of
Omnipotents, and of Gods is possible, if only they have one identical
essence, and this would make of them one Infinite, Uncreate, Omnipotent,
and God, would not the one identical essence be one identity? And one
identity is not possible to several. If it should be said that one is
from the other, the one who is from the other is not God in Himself;
nevertheless, God in Himself is the God from whom all things are (see
above, n. 16).
28. THE DIVINE ESSENCE ITSELF IS LOVE AND WISDOM
Sum up all things you know and submit them to careful inspection, and in
some elevation of spirit search for the universal of all things, and you
cannot conclude otherwise than that it is Love and Wisdom. For these are
the two essentials of all things of man's life; everything of that life,
civil, moral, and spiritual, hinges upon these two, and apart from these
two is nothing. It is the same with all things of the life of the
composite Man, which is, as was said above, a society, larger or smaller,
a kingdom, an empire, a church, and also the angelic heaven. Take away
love and wisdom from these, and consider whether they be anything, and
you will find that apart from love and wisdom as their origin they are
nothing.
29. Love together with wisdom in its very essence is in God. This no one
can deny; for God loves every one from love in Himself, and leads every
one from wisdom in Himself. The created universe, too, viewed in relation
to its order, is so full of wisdom coming forth from love that all things
in the aggregate may be said to be wisdom itself. For things limitless
are in such order, successively and simultaneously, that taken together
they make a one. It is from this, and this alone, that they can be held
together and continually preserved.
30. It is because the Divine Essence itself is Love and Wisdom that man
has two capacities for life; from one of these he has understanding, from
the other will. The capacity from which he has understanding derives
everything it has from the influx of wisdom from God, and the capacity
from which he has will derives everything it has from the influx of love
from God. Man's not being truly wise and not loving rightly does not
take away these capacities, but merely closes them up; and so long as
they are closed up, although the understanding is still called
understanding and the will is called will, they are not such in essence.
If these two capacities, therefore, were to be taken away, all that is
human would perish; for the human is to think and to speak from thought,
and to will and to act from will. From this it is clear that the Divine
has its seat in man in these two capacities, the capacity to be wise and
the capacity to love (that is, that one may be wise and may love). That
in man there is a possibility of loving [and of being wise], even when
he is not wise as he might be and does not love as he might, has been
made known to me from much experience, and will be abundantly shown
elsewhere.
31. It is because the Divine Essence itself is Love and Wisdom, that all
things in the universe have relation to good and truth; for everything
that proceeds from love is called good, and everything that proceeds
from wisdom is called truth. But of this more hereafter.
32. It is because the Divine Essence itself is Love and Wisdom, that the
universe and all things in it, alive and not alive, have unceasing
existence from heat and light; for heat corresponds to love, and light
corresponds to wisdom; and therefore spiritual heat is love and spiritual
light is wisdom. But of this, also, more hereafter.
33. From Divine Love and from Divine Wisdom, which make the very Essence
that is God, all affections and thoughts with man have their
rise-affections from Divine Love, and thoughts from Divine Wisdom; and
each and all things of man are nothing but affection and thought; these
two are like fountains of all things of man's life. All the enjoyments
and pleasantnesses of his life are from these-enjoyments from the
affection of his love, and pleasantnesses from the thought therefrom.
Now since man was created to be a recipient, and is a recipient in the
degree in which he loves God and from love to God is wise, in other
words, in the degree in which he is affected by those things which are
from God and thinks from that affection, it follows that the Divine
Essence, which is the Creator, is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom.
34. DIVINE LOVE IS OF DIVINE WISDOM, AND DIVINE WISDOM IS OF DIVINE LOVE.
In God-Man Divine Esse [Being] and Divine Existere [Taking Form] are one
distinctly (as may be seen above, n. 14-16). And because Divine Esse is
Divine Love, and Divine Existere is Divine Wisdom, these are likewise
one distinctly. They are said to be one distinctly, because love and
wisdom are two distinct things, yet so united that love is of wisdom,
and wisdom is of love, for in wisdom love is, and in love wisdom Exists;
and since wisdom derives its Existere from love (as was said above, n. 15),
therefore Divine Wisdom also is Esse. From this it follows that love and
wisdom taken together are the Divine Esse, but taken distinctly love is
called Divine Esse, and wisdom Divine Existere. Such is the angelic idea
of Divine Love and of Divine Wisdom.
35. Since there is such a union of love and wisdom and of wisdom and love
in God-Man, there is one Divine Essence. For the Divine Essence is Divine
Love because it is of Divine Wisdom and is Divine Wisdom, because it is
of Divine Love. And since there is such a union of these, the Divine
Life also is one. Life is the Divine essence. Divine Love and Divine
Wisdom are a one because the union is reciprocal, and reciprocal union
causes oneness. Of reciprocal union, however, more will be said elsewhere.
36. There is also a union of love and wisdom in every Divine work; from
which it has perpetuity, yea, its everlasting duration. If there were more
of Divine Love than of Divine Wisdom, or more of Divine Wisdom than of
Divine Love, in any created work, it could have continued existence only
in the measure in which the two were equally in it, anything in excess
passing off.
37. The Divine Providence in the reforming, regenerating and saving of
men, partakes equally of Divine Love and of Divine Wisdom. From more of
Divine Love than of Divine Wisdom or from more of Divine Wisdom than of
Divine Love, man cannot be reformed, regenerated and saved. Divine Love
wills to save all, but it cam save only by means of Divine Wisdom; to
Divine Wisdom belong all the laws through which salvation is effected;
and these laws Love cannot transcend, because Divine Love and Divine
Wisdom are one and act in unison.
38. In the Word, Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are meant by "righteousness"
and "judgment," Divine Love by "righteousness," and Divine Wisdom by
"judgment;" for this reason "righteousness" and "judgment" are predicated
in the Word of God; as in David:
Righteousness and judgment are the support of Thy Throne (Ps. 89:14).
Jehovah shall bring forth righteousness as the light, and judgment as
the noonday (Ps. 37:6).
In Hosea:
I will betroth thee unto Me for ever, in righteousness, and in
judgment (2:18).
In Jeremiah:
I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, who shall reign as King
and shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth (23:5).
In Isaiah:
He shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to
establish it in judgment and in righteousness (9:7).
Jehovah shall be exalted, because He hath filled the earth with
judgment and righteousness (33:5).
In David:
When I shall have learned the judgments of Thy righteousness. Seven
times a day do I praise Thee, because of the judgments of Thy
righteousness (Ps. 119:7, 164).
The same is meant by "life" and "light" in John:
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (1:4).
By "life" in this passage is meant the Lord's Divine Love, and by "light"
His Divine Wisdom. The same also is meant by "life" and "spirit" in John:
Jesus said, The words which I speak unto you, they are spirit, and
they are life (6:63).
39. In man love and wisdom appear as two separate things, yet in themselves
they are one distinctly, because with man wisdom is such as the love is,
and love is such as the wisdom is. The wisdom that does not make one with
its love appears to be wisdom, but it is not; and the love that does not
make one with its wisdom appears to be the love of wisdom, but it is not;
for the one must derive its essence and its life reciprocally from the
other. With man love and wisdom appear as two separate things, because
with him the capacity for understanding may be elevated into the light
of heaven, but not the capacity for loving, except so far as he acts
according to his understanding. Any apparent wisdom, therefore, which
does not make one with the love of wisdom, sinks back into the love which
does make one with it; and this may be a love of unwisdom, yea, of
insanity. Thus a man may know from wisdom that he ought to do this or
that, and yet he does not do it, because he does not love it. But so far
as a man does from love what wisdom teaches, he is an image of God.
40. DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM ARE SUBSTANCE AND ARE FORM.
The idea of men in general about love and about wisdom is that they are
like something hovering and floating in thin air or ether or like what
exhales from something of this kind. Scarcely any one believes that they
are really and actually substance and form. Even those who recognize that
they are substance and form still think of the love and the wisdom as
outside the subject and as issuing from it. For they call substance and
form that which they think of as outside the subject and as issuing from
it, even though it be something hovering and floating; not knowing that
love and wisdom are the subject itself, and that what is perceived outside
of it and as hovering and floating is nothing but an appearance of the
state of the subject in itself. There are several reasons why this has
not hitherto been seen, one of which is, that appearances are the first
things out of which the human mind forms its understanding, and these
appearances the mind can shake off only by the exploration of the cause;
and if the cause lies deeply hidden, the mind can explore it only by
keeping the understanding for a long time in spiritual light; and this
it cannot do by reason of the natural light which continually withdraws
it. The truth is, however, that love and wisdom are the real and actual
substance and form that constitute the subject itself.
41. But as this is contrary to appearance, it may seem not to merit belief
unless it be proved; and since it can be proved only by such things as
man can apprehend by his bodily senses, by these it shall be proved. Man
has five external senses, called touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight.
The subject of touch is the skin by which man is enveloped, the very
substance and form of the skin causing it to feel whatever is applied to
it. The sense of touch is not in the things applied, but in the substance
and form of the skin, which are the subject; the sense itself is nothing
but an affecting of the subject by the things applied. It is the same
with taste; this sense is only an affecting of the substance and form of
the tongue; the tongue is the subject. It is the same with smell; it is
well known that odor affects the nostrils, and that it is in the nostrils,
and that the nostrils are affected by the odoriferous particles touching
them. It is the same with hearing, which seems to be in the place where
the sound originates; but the hearing is in the ear, and is an affecting
of its substance and form; that the hearing is at a distance from the ear
is an appearance. It is the same with sight. When a man sees objects at a
distance, the seeing appears to be there; yet the seeing is in the eye,
which is the subject, and is likewise an affecting of the subject.
Distance is solely from the judgment concluding about space from things
intermediate, or from the diminution and consequent indistinctness of
the object, an image of which is produced interiorly in the eye according
to the angle of incidence. From this it is evident that sight does not
go out from the eye to the object, but that the image of the object enters
the eye and affects its substance and form. Thus it is just the same
with sight as with hearing; hearing does not go out from the ear to catch
the sound, but the sound enters the ear and affects it. From all this it
can be seen that the affecting of the substance and form which causes
sense is not a something separate from the subject, but only causes a
change in it, the subject remaining the subject then as before and
afterwards. From this it follows that seeing, hearing, smell, taste,
and touch, are not a something volatile flowing from their organs, but
are the organs themselves, considered in their substance and form, and
that when the organs are affected sense is produced.
42. It is the same with love and wisdom, with this difference only, that
the substances and forms which are love and wisdom are not obvious to the
eyes as the organs of the external senses are. Nevertheless, no one can
deny that those things of wisdom and love, which are called thoughts,
perceptions, and affections, are substances and forms, and not entities
flying and flowing out of nothing, or abstracted from real and actual
substance and form, which are subjects. For in the brain are substances
and forms innumerable, in which every interior sense which pertains to
the understanding and will has its seat. The affections, perceptions,
and thoughts there are not exhalations from these substances, but are
all actually and really subjects emitting nothing from themselves, but
merely undergoing changes according to whatever flows against and affects
them. This may be seen from what has been said above about the external
senses. Of what thus flows against and affects more will be said below.
43. From all this it may now first be seen that Divine Love and Divine
Wisdom in themselves are substance and form; for they are very Esse and
Existere; and unless they were such Esse and Existere as they are substance
and form, they would be a mere thing of reasoning, which in itself is nothing.
44. DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM ARE SUBSTANCE AND FORM IN ITSELF, THUS
THE VERY AND THE ONLY.
That Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are substance and form has been proved
just above; and that Divine Esse [Being] and Existere [Taking Form] are
Esse and Existere in itself, has also been said above. It cannot be said
to be Esse and Existere from itself, because this involves a beginning,
and a beginning from something within in which would be Esse and Existere
in itself. But Very Esse and Existere in itself is from eternity. Very
Esse and Existere in itself is also uncreated, and everything created
must needs be from an Uncreate. What is created is also finite, and the
finite can exist only from the Infinite.
45. He who by exercise of thought is able to grasp the idea of and to
comprehend, Esse and Existere in itself, can certainly perceive and
comprehend that it is the Very and the Only. That is called the Very
which alone is; and that is called the Only from which every thing else
proceeds. Now because the Very and the Only is substance and form, it
follows that it is the very and only substance and form. Because this
very substance and form is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, it follows
that it is the very and only Love, and the very and only Wisdom;
consequently, that it is the very and only Essence, as well as the
very and only Life: for Life is Love and Wisdom.
46. From all this it can be seen how sensually (that is, how much from
the bodily senses and their blindness in spiritual matters) do those
think who maintain that nature is from herself. They think from the
eye, and are not able to think from the understanding. Thought from the
eye closes the understanding, but thought from the understanding opens
the eye. Such persons cannot think at all of Esse and Existere in itself,
and that it is Eternal, Uncreate, and Infinite; neither can they think
at all of life, except as a something fleeting and vanishing into
nothingness; nor can they think otherwise of Love and Wisdom, nor at
all that from these are all things of nature. Neither can it be seen
that from these are all things of nature, unless nature is regarded,
not from some of its forms, which are merely objects of sight, but from
uses in their succession and order. For uses are from life alone, and
their succession and order are from wisdom and love alone; while forms
are only containants of uses. Consequently, if forms alone are regarded,
nothing of life, still less anything of love and wisdom, thus nothing
of God, can be seen in nature.
47. DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM MUST NECESSARILY HAVE BEING [Esse]
AND HAVE FORM [Existere] IN OTHERS CREATED BY ITSELF.
It is the essential of love not to love self, but to love others, and
to be conjoined with others by love. It is the essential of love,
moreover, to be loved by others, for thus conjunction is effected. The
essence of all love consists in conjunction; this, in fact, is its life,
which is called enjoyment, pleasantness, delight, sweetness, bliss,
happiness, and felicity. Love consists in this, that its own should be
another's; to feel the joy of another as joy in oneself, that is loving.
But to feel one's own joy in another and not the other's joy in oneself
is not loving; for this is loving self, while the former is loving the
neighbor. These two kinds of love are diametrically opposed to each
other. Either, it is true, conjoins; and to love one's own, that is,
oneself, in another does not seem to divide; but it does so effectually
divide that so far as any one has loved another in this manner, so far
he afterwards hates him. For such conjunction is by its own action
gradually loosened, and then, in like measure, love is turned to hate.
48. Who that is capable of discerning the essential character of love
cannot see this? For what is it to love self alone, instead of loving
some one outside of self by whom one may be loved in return? Is not this
separation rather than conjunction? Conjunction of love is by
reciprocation; and there can be no reciprocation in self alone. If there
is thought to be, it is from an imagined reciprocation in others. From
this it is clear that Divine Love must necessarily have being (esse) and
have form (existere) in others whom it may love, and by whom it may be
loved. For as there is such a need in all love, it must be to the fullest
extent, that is, infinitely in Love Itself.
49. With respect to God: it is impossible for Him to love others and to
be loved reciprocally by others in whom there is anything of infinity,
that is, anything of the essence and life of love in itself, or anything
of the Divine. For if there were beings having in them anything of
infinity, that is, of the essence and life of love in itself, that is,
of the Divine, it would not be God loved by others, but God loving
Himself; since the Infinite, that is, the Divine, is one only, and if
this were in others, Itself would be in them, and would be the love of
self Itself; and of that love not the least trace can possibly be in
God, since it is wholly opposed to the Divine Essence. Consequently, for
this relation to be possible there must be others in whom there is
nothing of the Divine in itself. That it is possible in beings created
from the Divine will be seen below. But that it may be possible, there
must be Infinite Wisdom making one with Infinite Love; that is, there
must be the Divine Love of Divine Wisdom, and the Divine Wisdom of Divine
Love (concerning which see above, n. 35-39)
50. Upon a perception and knowledge of this mystery depend a perception
and knowledge of all things of existence, that is, creation; also of all
things of continued existence, that is, preservation by God; in other
words, of all the works of God in the created universe; of which the
following pages treat.
51. But do not, I entreat you, confuse your ideas with time and with
space, for so far as time and space enter into your ideas when you read
what follows, you will not understand it; for the Divine is not in time
and space. This will be seen clearly in the progress of this work, and
in particular from what is said of eternity, infinity, and omnipresence.
52. ALL THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE WERE CREATED FROM THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE
DIVINE WISDOM OF GOD-MAN.
So full of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom is the universe in greatest and
least, and in first and last things, that it may be said to be Divine
Love and Divine Wisdom in an image. That this is so is clearly evident
from the correspondence of all things of the universe with all things of
man. There is such correspondence of each and every thing that takes
form in the created universe with each and every thing of man, that man
may be said to be a sort of universe. There is a correspondence of his
affections, and thence of his thoughts, with all things of the animal
kingdom; of his will, and thence of his understanding, with all things
of the vegetable kingdom; and of his outmost life with all things of
the mineral kingdom. That there is such a correspondence is not apparent
to any one in the natural world, but it is apparent to every one who
gives heed to it in the spiritual world. In that world there are all
things that take form in the natural world in its three kingdoms, and
they are correspondences of affections and thoughts, that is, of
affections from the will and of thoughts from the understanding, also
of the outmost things of the life, of those who are in that world, around
whom all these things are Visible, presenting an appearance like that of
the created universe, with the difference that it is in lesser form. From
this it is very evident to angels, that the created universe is an image
representative of God-Man, and that it is His Love and Wisdom which are
presented, in an image, in the universe. Not that the created universe
is God-Man, but that it is from Him; for nothing whatever in the created
universe is substance and form in itself, or life in itself, or love and
wisdom in itself, yea, neither is man a man in himself, but all is from
God, who is Man, Wisdom and Love, also Form and Substance, in itself.
That which has Being-in-itself is uncreate and infinite; but whatever
is from Very Being, since it contains in it nothing of Being-in-itself,
is created and finite, and this exhibits an image of Him from whom it
has being and has form.
53. Of things created and finite Esse [Being] and Existere [Taking Form]
can be predicated, likewise substance and form, also life, and even love
and wisdom; but these are all created and finite. This can be said of
things created and finite, not because they possess anything Divine, but
because they are in the Divine, and the Divine is in them. For everything
that has been created is, in itself, inanimate and dead, but all things
are animated and made alive by this, that the Divine is in them, and that
they are in the Divine.
54. The Divine is not in one subject differently from what it is in
another, but one created subject differs from another; for no two things
can be precisely alike, consequently each thing is a different containant.
On this account, the Divine as imaged forth presents a variety of
appearances. Its presence in opposites will be discussed hereafter.
55. ALL THINGS IN THE CREATED UNIVERSE ARE RECIPIENTS OF THE DIVINE LOVE
AND THE DIVINE WISDOM OF GOD-MAN.
It is well known that each and all things of the universe were created
by God; hence the universe, with each and every thing pertaining to it,
is called in the Word the work of the hands of Jehovah. There are those
who maintain that the world, with everything it includes, was created
out of nothing, and of that nothing an idea of absolute nothingness is
entertained. From absolute nothingness, however, nothing is or can be
made. This is an established truth. The universe, therefore, which is
God's image, and consequently full of God, could be created only in
God from God; for God is Esse itself, and from Esse must be whatever
is. To create what is, from nothing which is not, is an utter
contradiction. But still, that which is created in God from God is not
continuous from Him; for God is Esse in itself, and in created things
there is not any Esse in itself. If there were in created things any
Esse in itself, this would be continuous from God, and that which is
continuous from God is God. The angelic idea of this is, that what is
created in God from God, is like that in man which has been derived from
his life, but from which the life has been withdrawn, which is of such a
nature as to be in accord with his life, and yet it is not his life. The
angels confirm this by many things which have existence in their heaven,
where they say they are in God, and God is in them, and still that they
have, in their esse, nothing of God which is God. Many things whereby
they prove this will be presented hereafter; let this serve for present
information.
56. Every created thing, by virtue of this origin, is such in its nature
as to be a recipient of God, not by continuity, but by contiguity. By
the latter and not the former comes its capacity for conjunction. For
having been created in God from God, it is adapted to conjunction; and
because it has been so created, it is an analogue, and through such
conjunction it is like an image of God in a mirror.
57. From this it is that angels are angels, not from themselves, but by
virtue of this conjunction with God-Man; and this conjunction is according
to the reception of Divine Good and Divine Truth, which are God, and which
seem to proceed from Him, though really they are in Him. This reception
is according to their application to themselves of the laws of order,
which are Divine truths, in the exercise of that freedom of thinking and
willing according to reason, which they possess from the Lord as if it
were their own. By this they have a reception, as if from themselves, of
Divine Good and of Divine Truth, and by this there is a reciprocation of
love; for, as was said above, love is impossible unless it is reciprocal.
The same is true of men on the earth. From what has been said it can now
first be seen that all things of the created universe are recipients of
the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom of God-Man.
58. It cannot yet be intelligibly explained how all other things of the
universe which are unlike angels and men, that is, the things below man
in the animal kingdom, and the things below these in the vegetable
kingdom, and the things still below these in the mineral kingdom, are
also recipients of the Divine Love and of the Divine Wisdom of God-Man;
for many things need to be said first about degrees of life, and degrees
of the recipients of life. Conjunction with these things is according to
their uses; for no good use has any other origin than through a like
conjunction with God, but yet different according to degrees. This
conjunction in its descent becomes successively such that nothing of
freedom is left therein, because nothing of reason, and therefore nothing
of the appearance of life; but still they are recipients. Because they
are recipients, they are also re-agents; and forasmuch as they are
re-agents, they are containants. Conjunction with uses which are not good
will be discussed when the origin of evil has been made known.
59. From the above it can be seen that the Divine is in each and every
thing of the created universe, and consequently that the created universe
is the work of the hands of Jehovah, as is said in the Word; that is, the
work of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, for these are meant by the hands
of Jehovah. But though the Divine is in each and all things of the
created universe there is in their esse nothing of the Divine in itself;
for the created universe is not God, but is from God; and since it is
from God, there is in it an image of Him like the image of a man in a
mirror, wherein indeed the man appears, but still there is nothing of
the man in it.
60. I heard several about me in the spiritual world talking together,
who said that they were quite willing to acknowledge that the Divine is
in each and every thing of the universe, because they behold therein the
wonderful works of God, and these are the more wonderful the more
interiorly they are examined. And yet, when they were told that the Divine
is actually in each and every thing of the universe, they were displeased;
which is a proof that although they assert this they do not believe it.
They were therefore asked whether this cannot be seen simply from the
marvelous power which is in every seed, of producing its own vegetable
form in like order, even to new seeds; also because in every seed an
idea of the infinite and eternal is presented; since there is in seeds
an endeavor to multiply themselves and to fructify infinitely and
eternally? Is not this evident also in every living creature, even the
smallest? In that there are in it organs of sense, also brains, a heart,
lungs, and other parts; with arteries, veins, fibers, muscles, and the
activities proceeding therefrom; besides the surpassing marvels of animal
nature, about which whole volumes have been written. All these wonderful
things are from God; but the forms with which they are clothed are from
earthy matters, out of which come plants, and in their order, men.
Therefore it is said of man,
That he was created out of the ground, and that he is dust of the
earth, and that the breath of lives was breathed into him
(Genesis 2:7).
From which it is plain that the Divine is not man's own, but is adjoined
to him.
61. ALL CREATED THINGS HAVE RELATION IN A KIND OF IMAGE TO MAN.
This can be seen from each and all things of the animal kingdom, from
each and all things of the vegetable kingdom, and from each and all things
of the mineral kingdom.
A relation to man in each and all things of the animal kingdom is evident
from the following. Animals of every kind have limbs by which they move,
organs by which they feel, and viscera by which these are exercised;
these they have in common with man. They have also appetites and
affections similar to man's natural appetites and affections; and they
have inborn knowledges corresponding to their affections, in some of
which there appears a resemblance to what is spiritual, which is more
or less evident in beasts of the earth, and birds of the air, and in
bees, silk-worms, ants, etc. From this it is that merely natural men
consider the living creatures of this kingdom to be like themselves,
except in the matter of speech.
A relation to man arising out of each and all things of the vegetable
kingdom is evident from this: they spring forth from seed, and thereafter
proceed step by step through their periods of growth; they have something
akin to marriage, followed by prolification; their vegetative soul is use,
and they are forms thereof; besides many other particulars which have
relation to man. These also have been described by various authors.
A relation to man deducible from each and every thing of the mineral
kingdom is seen only in an endeavor to produce forms which exhibit such
a relation (which forms, as said above, are each and all things of the
vegetable kingdom), and in an endeavor to perform uses thereby. For when
first a seed falls into the bosom of the earth, she cherishes it, and
out of herself provides it with nourishment from every source, that it
may shoot up and present itself in a form representative of man. That
such an endeavor exists also in its solid parts is evident from corals
at the bottom of the seas and from flowers in mines, where they originate
from minerals, also from metals. This endeavor towards vegetating, and
performing uses thereby, is the outmost derivation from the Divine in
created things.
62. As there is an endeavor of the minerals of the earth towards
vegetation, so there is an endeavor of the plants towards vivification:
this accounts for insects of various kinds corresponding to the odors
emanating from plants. This does not arise from the heat of this world's
sun, but from life operating through that heat according to the state
of its recipients (as will be seen in what follows).
63. That there is a relation of all things of the created universe to
man may be known from the foregoing statements, yet it can be seen only
obscurely; whereas in the spiritual world this is seen clearly. In that
world, also, there are all things of the three kingdoms, and in the midst
of them the angel; he sees them about him, and also knows that they are
representations of himself; yea, when the inmost of his understanding
is opened he recognizes himself in them, and sees his image in them,
hardly otherwise than as in a mirror.
64. From these and from many other concurring facts which there is not
time to adduce now, it may be known with certainty that God is a Man;
and that the created universe is an image of Him; for there is a general
relation of all things to Him, as well as a particular relation of all
things to man.
65. THE USES OF ALL CREATED THINGS ASCEND BY DEGREES FROM LAST THINGS TO
MAN, AND THROUGH MAN TO GOD THE CREATOR, FROM WHOM THEY ARE.
Last things, as was said above, are each and all things of the mineral
kingdom, which are materials of various kinds, of a stony, saline, oily,
mineral, or metallic nature, covered over with soil formed of vegetable
and animal matters reduced to the finest dust. In these lie concealed
both the end and the beginning of all uses which are from life. The end
of all uses is the endeavor to produce uses, and the beginning is the
acting force from that endeavor. These pertain to the mineral kingdom.
Middle things are each and all things of the vegetable kingdom, such as
grasses and herbs of every kind, plants and shrubs of every kind, and
trees of every kind. The uses of these are for the service of each and
all things of the animal kingdom, both imperfect and perfect. These they
nourish, delight, and vivify; nourishing the bellies of animals with
their vegetable substances, delighting the animal senses with taste,
fragrance, and beauty, and vivifying their affections. The endeavor
towards this is in these also from life. First things are each and all
things of the animal kingdom. Those are lowest therein which are called
worms and insects, the middle are birds and beasts, and the highest,
men; for in each kingdom there are lowest, middle and highest things,
the lowest for the use of the middle, and the middle for the use of the
highest. Thus the uses of all created things ascend in order from outmost
things to man, who is first in order.
66. In the natural world there are three degrees of ascent, and in the
spiritual world there are three degrees of ascent. All animals are
recipients of life. The more perfect are recipients of the life and the
three degrees of the natural world, the less perfect of the life of two
degrees of that world, and the imperfect of one of its degrees. But man
alone is a recipient of the life both of the three degrees of the natural
world and of the three degrees of the spiritual world. From this it is
that man can be elevated above nature, while the animal cannot. Man can
think analytically and rationally of the civil and moral things that are
within nature, also of the spiritual and celestial things that are above
nature, yea, he can be so elevated into wisdom as even to see God. But
the six degrees by which the uses of all created things ascend in their
order even to God the Creator, will be treated of in their proper place.
From this summary, however, it can be seen that there is an ascent of
all created things to the first, who alone is Life, and that the uses
of all things are the very recipients of life; and from this are the
forms of uses.
67. It shall also be stated briefly how man ascends, that is, is elevated,
from the lowest degree to the first. He is born into the lowest degree
of the natural world; then, by means of knowledges, he is elevated into
the second degree; and as he perfects his understanding by knowledges
he is elevated into the third degree, and then becomes rational. The
three degrees of ascent in the spiritual world are in man above the three
natural degrees, and do not appear until he has put off the earthly body.
When this takes place the first spiritual degree is open to him,
afterwards the second, and finally the third; but this only with those
who become angels of the third heaven; these are they that see God. Those
become angels of the second heaven and of the last heaven in whom the
second degree and the last degree can be opened. Each spiritual degree
in man is opened according to his reception of Divine Love and Divine
Wisdom from the Lord. Those who receive something thereof come into the
first or lowest spiritual degree those who receive more into the second
or middle spiritual degree, those who receive much into the third or
highest degree. But those who receive nothing thereof remain in the
natural degrees, and derive from the spiritual degrees nothing more than
an ability to think and thence to speak, and to will and thence to act,
but not with intelligence.
68. Of the elevation of the interiors of man, which belong to his mind,
this also should be known. In everything created by God there is reaction.
In Life alone there is action; reaction is caused by the action of Life.
Because reaction takes place when any created thing is acted upon, it
appears as if it belonged to what is created. Thus in man it appears as
if the reaction were his, because he has no other feeling than that life
is his, when yet man is only a recipient of life. From this cause it is
that man, by reason of his hereditary evil, reacts against God. But so
far as man believes that all his life is from God, and that all good of
life is from the action of God, and all evil of life from the reaction
of man, so far his reaction comes to be from [God's] action, and man
acts with God as if from himself. The equilibrium of all things is from
action and simultaneous reaction, and in equilibrium everything must be.
These things have been said lest man should believe that he himself
ascends toward God from himself, and not from the Lord.
69. THE DIVINE, APART FROM SPACE, FILLS ALL SPACES OF THE UNIVERSE.
There are two things proper to nature - space and time. From these man
in the natural world forms the ideas of his thought, and thereby his
understanding. If he remains in these ideas, and does not raise his mind
above them, he is in no wise able to perceive things spiritual and Divine,
for these he involves in ideas drawn from space and time; and so far as
that is done the light [lumen] of his understanding becomes merely
natural. To think from this lumen in reasoning about spiritual and
Divine things, is like thinking from the thick darkness of night about
those things that appear only in the light of day. From this comes
naturalism. But he who knows how to raise his mind above ideas of thought
drawn from space and time, passes from thick darkness into light, and has
discernment in things spiritual and Divine, and finally sees the things
which are in and from what is spiritual and Divine; and then from that
light he dispels the thick darkness of the natural lumen, and banishes
its fallacies from the middle to the sides. Every man who has
understanding is able to transcend in thought these properties of nature,
and actually does so; and he then affirms and sees that the Divine,
because omnipresent, is not in space. He is also able to affirm and to
see the things that have been adduced above. But if he denies the Divine
Omnipresence, and ascribes all things to nature, then he has no wish to
be elevated, though he can be.
70. All who die and become angels put off the two above- mentioned
properties of nature, namely, space and time; for they then enter into
spiritual light, in which objects of thought are truths, and objects of
sight are like those in the natural world, but are correspondent to their
thoughts. The objects of their thought which, as just said, are truths,
derive nothing at all from space and time; and though the objects of
their sight appear as if in space and in time, still the angels do not
think from space and time. The reason is, that spaces and times there
are not fixed, as in the natural world, but are changeable according to
the states of their life. In the ideas of their thought, therefore,
instead of space and time there are states of life, instead of spaces
such things as have reference to states of love, and instead of times
such things as have reference to states of wisdom. From this it is that
spiritual thought, and spiritual speech therefrom, differ so much from
natural thought and natural speech therefrom, as to have nothing in
common except as regards the interiors of things, which are all spiritual.
Of this difference more will be said elsewhere. Now, because the thoughts
of angels derive nothing from space and time, but everything from states
of life, when it is said that the Divine fills spaces angels evidently
cannot comprehend it, for they do not know what spaces are; but when,
apart from any idea of space, it is said that the Divine fills all things,
they clearly comprehend it.
71. To make it clear that the merely natural man thinks of spiritual and
Divine things from space, and the spiritual man apart from space, let the
following serve for illustration. The merely natural man thinks by means
of ideas which he has acquired from objects of sight, in all of which
there is figure partaking of length, breadth, and height, and of shape
determined by these, either angular or circular. These [conceptions] are
manifestly present in the ideas of his thought concerning things visible
on earth; they are also in the ideas of his thought concerning those not
visible, such as civil and moral affairs. This he is unconscious of; but
they are nevertheless there, as continuations. With a spiritual man it
is different, especially with an angel of heaven, whose thought has
nothing in common with figure and form that derives anything from
spiritual length, breadth, and height, but only with figure and form
derived from the state of a thing resulting from the state of its life.
Consequently, instead of length of space he thinks of the good of a thing
from good of life; instead of breadth of space, of the truth of a thing
from truth of life; and instead of height, of the degrees of these. Thus
he thinks from the correspondence there is between things spiritual and
things natural. From this correspondence it is that in the Word "length"
signifies the good of a thing, "breadth" the truth of a thing, and
"height" the degrees of these. From this it is evident that an angel of
heaven, when he thinks of the Divine Omnipresence, can by no means think
otherwise than that the Divine, apart from space, fills all things. And
that which an angel thinks is truth, because the light which enlightens
his understanding is Divine Wisdom.
72. This is the basis of thought concerning God; for without it, what is
to be said of the creation of the universe by God-Man, of His Providence,
Omnipotence, Omnipresence and Omniscience, even if understood, cannot be
kept in mind; since the merely natural man, even while he has these
things in his understanding, sinks back into his life's love, which is
that of his will; and that love dissipates these truths, and immerses
his thought in space, where his lumen, which he calls rational, abides,
not knowing that so far as he denies these things, he is irrational.
That this is so, may be confirmed by the idea entertained of this truth,
that GOD is a MAN. Read with attention, I pray you, what has been said
above (n. 11-13) and what follows after, and your understanding will
accept it. But when you let your thought down into the natural lumen
which derives from space, will not these things be seen as paradoxes? and
if you let it down far, will you not reject them? This is why it is said
that the Divine fills all spaces of the universe, and why it is not said
that God-Man fills them. For if this were said, the merely natural lumen
would not assent. But to the proposition that the Divine fills all space,
it does assent, because this agrees with the mode of speech of the
theologians, that God is omnipresent, and hears and knows all things.
(On this subject, more may be seen above, n. 7-10.).
73. THE DIVINE IS IN ALL TIME, APART FROM TIME.
As the Divine, apart from space, is in all space, so also, apart from
time, is it in all time. For nothing which is proper to nature can be
predicated of the Divine, and space and time are proper to nature. Space
in nature is measurable, and so is time. This is measured by days, weeks,
months, years, and centuries; days are measured by hours; weeks and months
by days; years by the four seasons; and centuries by years. Nature derives
this measurement from the apparent revolution and annual motion of the sun
of the world. But in the spiritual world it is different. The progressions
of life in that world appear in like manner to be in time, for those there
live with one another as men in the world live with one another; and this
is not possible without the appearance of time. But time there is not
divided into periods as in the world, for their sun is constantly in the
east and is never moved away; for it is the Lord's Divine Love that
appears to them as a sun. Wherefore they have no days, weeks, months,
years, centuries, but in place of these there are states of life, by
which a distinction is made which cannot be called, however, a distinction
into periods, but into states. Consequently, the angels do not know what
time is, and when it is mentioned they perceive in place of it state; and
when state determines time, time is only an appearance. For joyfulness of
state makes time seem short, and joylessness of state makes time seem
long; from which it is evident that time in the spiritual world is nothing
but quality of state. It is from this that in the Word, "hours," "days,"
"weeks," "months," and "years," signify states and progressions of state
in series and in the aggregate; and when times are predicated of the
church, by its "morning" is meant its first state, by "mid-day" its
fullness by "evening" its decline, and by "night" its end. The four
seasons of the year "spring," "summer," "autumn," and "winter," have a
like meaning.
74. From the above it can be seen that time makes one with thought from
affection; for from that is the quality of man's state. And with
progressions of time, in the spiritual world, distances in progress
through space coincide; as may be shown from many things. For instance,
in the spiritual world ways are actually shortened or are lengthened in
accordance with the longings that are of thought from affection. From
this, also, comes the expression, "spaces of time." Moreover, in cases
where thought does not join itself to its proper affection in man, as
in sleep, the lapse of time is not noticed.
75. Now as times which are proper to nature in its world are in the
spiritual world pure states, which appear progressive because angels
and spirits are finite, it may be seen that in God they are not
progressive because He is Infinite, and infinite things in Him are one
(as has been shown above, n. 17-22). From this it follows that the
Divine in all time is apart from time.
76. He who has no knowledge of God apart from time and is unable from
any perception to think of Him, is thus utterly unable to conceive of
eternity in any other way than as an eternity of time; in which case,
in thinking of God from eternity he must needs become bewildered; for
he thinks with regard to a beginning, and beginning has exclusive
reference to time. His bewilderment arises from the idea that God had
existence from Himself, from which he rushes headlong into an origin of
nature from herself; and from this idea he can be extricated only by a
spiritual or angelic idea of eternity, which is an idea apart from time;
and when time is separated, the Eternal and the Divine are the same, and
the Divine is the Divine in itself, not from itself. The angels declare
that while they can conceive of God from eternity, they can in no way
conceive of nature from eternity, still less of nature from herself and
not at all of nature as nature in herself. For that which is in itself
is the very Esse, from which all things are; Esse in itself is very life,
which is the Divine Love of Divine Wisdom and the Divine Wisdom of Divine
Love. For the angels this is the Eternal, an Eternal as removed from time
as the uncreated is from the created, or the infinite from the finite,
between which, in fact, there is no ratio.
77. THE DIVINE IN THINGS GREATEST AND LEAST IS THE SAME.
This follows from the two preceding articles, that the Divine apart from
space is in all space, and apart from time is in all time. Moreover, there
are spaces greater and greatest, and lesser and least; and since spaces
and times, as said above, make one, it is the same with times. In these
the Divine is the same, because the Divine is not varying and changeable,
as everything is which belongs to nature, but is unvarying and
unchangeable, consequently the same everywhere and always.
78. It seems as if the Divine were not the same in one person as in
another; as if, for instance, it were different in the wise and in the
simple, or in an old man and in a child. But this is a fallacy arising
from appearance; the man is different, but the Divine in him is not
different. Man is a recipient, and the recipient or receptacle is what
varies. A wise man is a recipient of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom more
adequately, and therefore more fully, than a simple man; and an old man
who is also wise, more than a little child or boy; yet the Divine is the
same in the one as in the other. It is in like manner a fallacy arising
from appearance, that the Divine is different with angels of heaven from
what it is with men on the earth, because the angels of heaven are in
wisdom ineffable, while men are not; but the seeming difference is not
in the Lord but in the subjects, according to the quality of their
reception of the Divine.
79. That the Divine is the same in things greatest and least, may be
shown by means of heaven and by means of an angel there. The Divine in
the whole heaven and the Divine in an angel is the same; therefore even
the whole heaven may appear as one angel. So is it with the church, and
with a man of the church. The greatest form receptive of the Divine is
the whole heaven together with the whole church; the least is an angel
of heaven and a man of the church. Sometimes an entire society of heaven
has appeared to me as one angel-man; and it was told that it may appear
like a man as large as a giant, or like a man as small as an infant; and
this, because the Divine in things greatest and least is the same.
80. The Divine is also the same in the greatest and in the least of all
created things that are not alive; for it is in all the good of their use.
These, moreover, are not alive for the reason that they are not forms of
life but forms of uses; and the form varies according to the excellence
of the use. But how the Divine is in these things will be stated in what
follows, where creation is treated of.
81. Put away space, and deny the possibility of a vacuum, and then think
of Divine Love and of Divine Wisdom as being Essence itself, space having
been put away and a vacuum denied. Then think according to space; and you
will perceive that the Divine, in the greatest and in the least things of
space, is the same; for in essence abstracted from space there is neither
great nor small, but only the same.
82. Something shall now be said about vacuum. I once heard angels talking
with Newton about vacuum, and saying that they could not tolerate the
idea of a vacuum as being nothing, for the reason that in their world
which is spiritual, and which is within or above the spaces and times
of the natural world, they equally feel, think, are affected, love, will,
breathe, yea, speak and act, which would be utterly impossible in a vacuum
which is nothing, since nothing is nothing, and of nothing not anything
can be affirmed. Newton said that he now knew that the Divine, which is
Being itself, fills all things, and that to him the idea of nothing as
applied to vacuum is horrible, because that idea is destructive of all
things; and he exhorts those who talk with him about vacuum to guard
against the idea of nothing, comparing it to a swoon, because in nothing
no real activity of mind is possible.
83. PART SECOND.
DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM APPEAR IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD AS A SUN.
There are two worlds, the spiritual and the natural. The spiritual world
does not draw anything from the natural, nor the natural world from the
spiritual. The two are totally distinct, and communicate only by
correspondences, the nature of which has been abundantly shown elsewhere.
To illustrate this by an example: heat in the natural world corresponds
to the good of charity in the spiritual world, and light in the natural
world corresponds to the truth of faith in the spiritual world; and who
does not see that heat and the good of charity, and that light and the
truth of faith, are wholly distinct? At first sight they appear as
distinct as two entirely different things. They so appear when one
inquires what the good of charity has in common with heat, or the truth
of faith with light; when in fact, spiritual heat is that good, and
spiritual light is that truth. Although these things are in themselves
so distinct, they make one by correspondence. They make one in this way:
when man reads, in the Word, of heat and light, the spirits and angels
who are with the man perceive charity instead of heat, and faith instead
of light. This example is adduced, in order that it may be known that the
two worlds, the spiritual and the natural, are so distinct as to have
nothing in common with each other; yet are so created as to have
communication, yea, conjunction by means of correspondences.
84. Since these two worlds are so distinct, it can be seen very clearly
that the spiritual world is under another sun than the natural world. For
in the spiritual world, must as in the natural, there is heat and light;
but the heat there, as well as the light, is spiritual; and spiritual
heat is the good of charity, and spiritual light is the truth of faith.
Now since heat and light can originate only in a sun, it is evident that
the spiritual world has a different sun from the natural world; and
further, that the sun of the spiritual world in its essence is such that
spiritual heat and light can come forth from it; whereas the sun of the
natural world in its essence is such that natural heat can come forth
from it. Everything spiritual has relation to good and truth, and can
spring from no other source than Divine Love and Divine Wisdom; for all
good is of love and all truth is of wisdom; that they have no other origin
any discerning man can see.
85. That there is any other sun than that of the natural world has
hitherto been unknown. The reason is, that the spiritual of man has so
far passed over into his natural, that he does not know what the
spiritual is, and thus does not know that there is a spiritual world,
the abode of spirits and angels, other than and different from the natural
world. Since the spiritual world has lain so deeply hidden from the
knowledge of those who are in the natural world, it has pleased the Lord
to open the sight of my spirit, that I might see the things which are in
that world, just as I see those in the natural world, and might afterwards
describe that world; which has been done in the work Heaven and Hell, in
one chapter of which the sun of the spiritual world is treated of. For
that sun has been seen by me; and it appeared of the same size as the sun
of the natural world; also fiery like it, but more glowing. It has also
been made known to me that the whole angelic heaven is under that sun;
and that angels of the third heaven see it constantly, angels of the
second heaven very often, and angels of the first or outmost heaven
sometimes. That all their heat and all their light, as well as all things
that are manifest in that world, are from that sun will be seen in what
follows.
86. That sun is not the Lord Himself, but is from the Lord. It is the
Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom proceeding from Him that appear as a
sun in that world. And because Love and Wisdom in the Lord are one (as
shown in Part I.), that sun is said to be Divine Love; for Divine Wisdom
is of Divine Love, consequently is Love.
87. Since love and fire mutually correspond, that sun appears before the
eyes of the angels as fiery; for angels cannot see love with their eyes,
but they see in the place of love what corresponds to it. For angels,
equally with men, have an internal and an external; it is their internal
that thinks and is wise, and that wills and loves; it is their external
that feels, sees, speaks and acts. All their externals are correspondences
of internals; but the correspondences are spiritual, not natural. Moreover,
Divine love is felt as fire by spiritual beings. For this reason "fire,"
when mentioned in the Word, signifies love. In the Israelitish Church,
"holy fire" signified love; and this is why, in prayers to God, it is
customary to ask that "heavenly fire," that is Divine Love, "may kindle
the heart."
88. With such a difference between the spiritual and the natural (as shown
above, n. 83), nothing from the sun of the natural world, that is, nothing
of its heat and light, nor anything pertaining to any earthly object, can
pass over into the spiritual world. To the spiritual world the light of
the natural world is thick darkness, and its heat is death. Nevertheless,
the heat of the world can be vivified by the influx of heavenly heat, and
the light of the world can be illumined by the influx of heavenly light.
Influx is effected by correspondences; and it cannot be effected by
continuity.
89. OUT OF THE SUN THAT TAKES FORM [existit] FROM THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE
DIVINE WISDOM, HEAT AND LIGHT GO FORTH.
In the spiritual world where angels and spirits are there are heat and
light, just as in the natural world where men are; moreover in like
manner as heat, the heat is felt and the light is seen as light. Still
the heat and light of the spiritual world and of the natural world are
(as said above) so entirely different as to have nothing in common. They
differ one from the other as what is alive differs from what is dead.
The heat of the spiritual world in itself is alive; so is the light; but
the heat of the natural world in itself is dead; so is its light. For
the heat and light of the spiritual world go forth from a sun that is
pure love, while the heat and light of the natural world go forth from
a sun that is pure fire; and love is alive, and the Divine Love is Life
itself; while fire is dead, and solar fire is death itself, and may be
so called because it has nothing whatever of life in it.
90. Since angels are spiritual they can live in no other than spiritual
heat and light, while men can live in no other than natural heat and
light; for what is spiritual accords with what is spiritual, and what is
natural with what is natural. If an angel were to derive the least
particle from natural heat and light he would perish; for it is totally
discordant with his life. As to the interiors of the mind every man is
a spirit. When he dies he withdraws entirely from the world of nature,
leaving behind him all its belongings, and enters a world where there
is nothing of nature. In that world he lives so separated from nature
that there is no communication whatever by continuity, that is, as
between what is purer and grosser, but only like that between what is
prior and posterior; and between such no communication is possible except
by correspondences. From this it can be seen that spiritual heat is not
a purer natural heat, or spiritual light a purer natural light, but that
they are altogether of a different essence; for spiritual heat and light
derive their essence from a sun which is pure Love, and this is Life
itself; while natural heat and light derive their essence from a sun
which is pure fire, in which (as said above) there is absolutely nothing
of life.
91. Such being the difference between the heat and light of the two
worlds, it is very evident why those who are in the one world cannot
see those who are in the other world. For the eyes of man, who sees
from natural light, are of the substance of his world, and the eyes
of an angel are of the substance of his world; thus in both cases they
are formed for the proper reception of their own light. From all this
it can be seen from how much ignorance those think who, because they
cannot see angels and spirits with their eyes, are unwilling to believe
them to be men.
92. Hitherto it has not been known that angels and spirits are in a
totally different light and different heat from men. It has not been known
even that another light and another heat are possible. For man in his
thought has not penetrated beyond the interior or purer things of nature.
And for this reason many have placed the abodes of angels and spirits in
the ether, and some in the stars - thus within nature, and not above or
outside of it. But, in truth, angels and spirits are entirely above or
outside of nature, and are in their own world, which is under another sun.
And since in that world spaces are appearances (as was shown above),
angels and spirits cannot be said to be in the ether or in the stars; in
fact, they are present with man, conjoined to the affection and thought of
his spirit; since man is a spirit, and because of that thinks and wills;
consequently the spiritual world is wherever man is, and in no wise away
from him. In a word, every man as regards the interiors of his mind is in
that world, in the midst of spirits and angels there; and he thinks from
its light, and loves from its heat.
93. THE SUN OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD IS NOT GOD, BUT IS A PROCEEDING FROM
THE DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM OF GOD-MAN; SO ALSO ARE THE HEAT AND
LIGHT FROM THAT SUN.
By that sun which is before the eyes of the angels, and from which they
have heat and light, is not meant the Lord Himself, but the first
proceeding from Him, which is the highest [degree] of spiritual heat.
The highest [degree] of spiritual heat is spiritual fire, which is Divine
Love and Divine Wisdom in their first correspondence. On this account that
sun appears fiery, and to the angels is fiery, but not to men. Fire which
is fire to men is not spiritual, but natural; and between the two fires
there is a difference like the difference between what is alive and what
is dead. Therefore the spiritual sun by its heat vivifies spiritual beings
and renews spiritual objects. The natural sun does the same for natural
beings and natural objects; yet not from itself, but by means of an influx
of spiritual heat, to which it renders aid as a kind of substitute.
94. This spiritual fire, in which also there is light in its origin,
becomes spiritual heat and light, which decrease in their going forth.
This decrease is effected by degrees, which will be treated of in what
follows. The ancients represented this by circles glowing with fire and
resplendent with light around the head of God, as is common also at the
present day in paintings representing God as a Man.
95. That love begets heat, and wisdom light, is manifest from actual
experience. When man loves he grows warm, and when he thinks from wisdom
he sees things as it were in light. And from this it is evident that the
first proceeding of love is heat, and that the first proceeding of wisdom
is light. That they are also correspondences is obvious; for heat takes
place [existit] not in love itself, but from love in the will, and thence
in the body; and light takes place not in wisdom, but in the thought of
the understanding, and thence in the speech. Consequently love and wisdom
are the essence and life of heat and light. Heat and light are what
proceed, and because they are what proceed, they are also correspondences.
96. That spiritual light is altogether distinct from natural light, any
one may know if he observes the thoughts of his mind. For when the mind
thinks, it sees its objects in light, and they who think spiritually see
truths, and this at midnight just as well as in the daytime. For this
reason light is predicated of the understanding, and the understanding
is said to see; thus one sometimes declares of something which another
says that he sees (that is, understands) that it is so. The understanding,
because it is spiritual, cannot thus see by natural light, for natural
light does not inhere in man, but withdraws with the sun. From this it
is obvious that the understanding enjoys a light different from that of
the eye, and that this light is from a different origin.
97. Let every one beware of thinking that the sun of the spiritual world
is God Himself. God Himself is a Man. The first proceeding from His Love
and Wisdom is that fiery spiritual [substance] which appears before the
angels as a sun. When, therefore, the Lord manifests Himself to the
angels in person, He manifests Himself as a Man; and this sometimes in
the sun, sometimes outside of it.
98. It is from this correspondence that in the Lord the Lord is called
not only a "sun" but also "fire" and "light." And by the "sun" is meant
Himself as to Divine Love and Divine Wisdom together; by "fire" Himself
in respect to Divine Love, and by "light" Himself in respect to Divine
Wisdom.
99. SPIRITUAL HEAT AND LIGHT IN PROCEEDING FROM THE LORD AS A SUN, MAKE
ONE, JUST AS HIS DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM MAKE ONE.
How Divine Love and Divine Wisdom in the Lord make one has been explained
in Part I.; in like manner heat and light make one, because they proceed
from these, and the things which proceed make one by virtue of their
correspondence, heat, corresponding to love, and light to wisdom. From
this it follows that as Divine Love is Divine Esse [Being] and Divine
Wisdom is Divine Existere [Taking form] (as shown above, n. 14-16), so
spiritual heat is thy Divine proceeding from Divine Esse, and spiritual
light is the Divine proceeding from Divine Existere. And as by that union
Divine Love is of Divine Wisdom, and Divine Wisdom is of Divine Love (as
shown above, n. 35-39), so spiritual heat is of spiritual light, and
spiritual light is of spiritual heat And because there is such a union
it follows that heat and light, in proceeding from the Lord as a sun,
are one. It will be seen, however, in what follows, that they are not
received as one by angels and men.
100. The heat and light that proceed from the Lord as a sun are what in
an eminent sense are called the spiritual, and they are called the
spiritual in the singular number, because they are one; when, therefore,
the spiritual is mentioned in the following pages, it is meant both
these together. From that spiritual it is that the whole of that world
is called spiritual. Through that spiritual, all things of that world
derive their origin, and also their name. That heat and that light are
called the spiritual, because God is called Spirit, and God as Spirit
is the spiritual going forth. God, by virtue of His own very Essence,
is called Jehovah; but by means of that going forth He Vivifies and
enlightens angels of heaven and men of the church. Consequently,
vivification and enlightenment are said to be effected by the Spirit
of Jehovah.
101. That heat and light, that is, the spiritual going forth from the
Lord as a Sun, make one, may be illustrated by the heat and light that
go forth from the sun of the natural world. These two also make one in
their going out from that sun. That they do not make one on earth is
owing not to the sun, but to the earth. For the earth revolves daily
round its axis, and has a yearly motion following the ecliptic, which
gives the appearance that heat and light do not make one. For in the
middle of summer there is more of heat than of light, and in the middle
of winter more of light than of heat. In the spiritual world it is the
same, except that there is in that world no daily or yearly motion of
the earth; but the angels turn themselves, some more, some less, to the
Lord; those who turn themselves more, receive more from heat and less
from light, and those who turn themselves less to the Lord receive more
from light and less from heat. From this it is that the heavens, which
consist of angels, are divided into two kingdoms, one called celestial,
the other spiritual. The celestial angels receive more from heat, and
the spiritual angels more from light. Moreover, the lands they inhabit
vary in appearance according to their reception of heat and light. If
this change of state of the angels is substituted for the motion of the
earth, the correspondence is complete.
102. In what follows it will be seen, also, that all spiritual things
that originate through the heat and light of their sun, make one in
like manner when regarded in themselves, but when regarded as proceeding
from the affections of the angels do not make one. When heat and light
make one in the heavens, it is with the angels as if it were spring; but
when they do not make one, it is either like summer or like winter - not
like the winter in the frigid zones, but like the winter in the warmer
zone. Thus reception of love and wisdom in equal measure is the very
angelic state, and therefore an angel is an angel of heaven according
to the union in him of love and wisdom. It is the same with the man of
the church, when love and wisdom, that is, charity and faith, make one
in him.
103. THE SUN OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD APPEARS AT A MIDDLE ALTITUDE, FAR
OFF FROM THE ANGELS, LIKE THE SUN OF THE NATURAL WORLD FROM MEN.
Most people take with them out of the world an idea of God, as being
above the head, on high, and an idea of the Lord, as living in heaven
among the angels. They take with them this idea of God because, in the
Word, God is called the "Most High," and is said to "dwell on high;"
therefore in prayer and worship men raise their eyes and hands upwards,
not knowing that by "The Most High" is signified the inmost. They take
with them the idea of the Lord as being in heaven among the angels,
because men think of Him as they think of another man, some thinking
of Him as they think of an angel, not knowing that the Lord is the Very
and Only God who rules the universe, who if He were among the angels in
heaven, could not have the universe under His gaze and under His care and
government. And unless He shone as a sun before those who are in the
spiritual world, angels could have no light; for angels are spiritual,
and therefore no other than spiritual light is in accord with their
essence. That there is light in the heavens, immensely exceeding the light
on earth, will be seen below where degrees are discussed.
104. As regards the sun, therefore, from which angels have light and heat,
it appears above the lands on which the angels dwell, at an elevation of
about forty-five degrees, which is the middle altitude; it also appears
far off from the angels like the sun of the world from men. The sun
appears constantly at that altitude and at that distance, and does not
move from its place. Hence it is that angels have no times divided into
days and years, nor any progression of the day from morning, through
midday to evening and into night; nor any progression of the year from
spring, through summer to autumn, into winter; but there is perpetual
light and perpetual spring; consequently, with the angels, as was said
above, in place of times there are states.
105. The sun of the spiritual world appears at a middle altitude chiefly
for the following reasons: First, the heat and light which proceed from
that sun are thus at their medium intensity, consequently are equally
proportioned and thus properly attempered. For if the sun were to appear
above the middle altitude more heat than light would be perceived, if
below it more light than heat; as is the case on earth when the sun is
above or below the middle of the sky; when above, the heat increases
beyond the light, when below, the light increases beyond the heat; for
light remains the same in summer and in winter, but heat increases and
diminishes according to the degree of the sun's altitude. Secondly, the
sun of the spiritual world appears in a middle altitude above the angelic
heaven, because there is thus a perpetual spring in all the angelic
heavens, whereby the angels are in a state of peace; for this state
corresponds to springtime on earth. Thirdly, angels are thus enabled to
turn their faces constantly to the Lord, and behold Him with their eyes.
For at every turn of their bodies, the angels have the east, thus the Lord,
before their faces. This is peculiar to that world, and would not be the
case if the sun of that world were to appear above or below the middle
altitude, and least of all if it were to appear overhead in the zenith.
106. If the sun of the spiritual world did not appear far off from the
angels, like the sun of the natural world from men, the whole angelic
heaven, and hell under it, and our terraqueous globe under these, would
not be under the view, the care, the omnipresence, omniscience,
omnipotence, and providence of the Lord; comparatively as the sun of
our world, if it were not at such a distance from the earth as it
appears, could not be present and powerful in all lands by its heat
and light, and therefore could not render its aid, as a kind of
substitute, to the sun of the spiritual world.
107. It is very necessary to be known that there are two suns, one
spiritual, the other natural; a spiritual sun for those who are in the
spiritual world, and a natural sun for those who are in the natural world.
Unless this is known, nothing can be properly understood about creation
and about man, which are the subjects here to be treated of. Effects may,
it is true, be observed, but unless at the same time the causes of effects
are seen, effects can only appear as it were in the darkness of night.
108. THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE SUN AND THE ANGELS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD
IS AN APPEARANCE ACCORDING TO RECEPTION BY THEM OF DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE
WISDOM.
All fallacies which prevail with the evil and the simple arise from
appearances which have been confirmed. So long as appearances remain
appearances, they are apparent truths, according to which every one
may think and speak; but when they are accepted as real truths, which
is done when they are confirmed, then apparent truths become falsities
and fallacies. For example: It is an appearance that the sun is borne
around the earth daily, and follows yearly the path of the ecliptic. So
long as this appearance is not confirmed it is an apparent truth,
according to which any one may think and speak; for he may say that the
sun rises and sets and thereby causes morning, midday, evening, and
night; also that the sun is now in such or such a degree of the ecliptic
or of its altitude, and thereby causes spring, summer, autumn, and
winter. But when this appearance is confirmed as the real truth, then
the confirmer thinks and utters a falsity springing from a fallacy. It
is the same with innumerable other appearances, not only in natural,
civil, and moral, but also in spiritual affairs.
109. It is the same with the distance of the sun of the spiritual world,
which sun is the first proceeding of the Lord's Divine Love and Divine
Wisdom. The truth is that there is no distance, but that the distance is
an appearance according to the reception of Divine Love and Wisdom by the
angels in their degree. That distances, in the spiritual world, are
appearances may be seen from what has been shown above (as in n. 7-9,
That the Divine is not in space; and in n. 69-72, That the Divine, apart
from space, fills all spaces). If there are no spaces, there are no
distances, or, what is the same, if spaces are appearances, distances
also are appearances, for distances are of space.
110. The sun of the spiritual world appears at a distance from the angels,
because they receive Divine Love and Divine Wisdom in the measure of
heat and light that is adequate to their states. For an angel, because
created and finite, cannot receive the Lord in the first degree of heat
and light, such as is in the sun; if he did he would be entirely consumed.
The Lord, therefore, is received by angels in a degree of heat and light
corresponding to their love and wisdom. The following may serve for
illustration. An angel of the lowest heaven cannot ascend to the angels
of the third heaven; for if he ascends and enters their heaven, he falls
into a kind of swoon, and his life as it were, strives with death; the
reason is that he has a less degree of love and wisdom, and the heat of
his love and the light of his wisdom are in the same degree as his love
and wisdom. What, then, would be the result if an angel were even to
ascend toward the sun, and come into its fire? On account of the
differences of reception of the Lord by the angels, the heavens also
appear separate from one another. The highest heaven, which is called
the third, appears above the second, and the second above the first; not
that the heavens are apart, but they appear to be apart, for the Lord is
present equally with those who are in the lowest heaven and with those
who are in the third heaven. That which causes the appearance of distance
is not in the Lord but in the subjects, that is, the angels.
111. That this is so can hardly be comprehended by a natural idea, because
in such there is space, but by a spiritual idea, such as angels have, it
can be comprehended, because in such there is no space. Yet even by a
natural idea this much can be comprehended, that love and wisdom (or what
is the same, the Lord, who is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom) cannot
advance through spaces, but is present with each one according to
reception. That the Lord is present with all, He teaches in Matthew (28:20),
and that He makes His abode with those who love Him, in John (14:23).
112. As this has been proved by means of the heavens and the angels, it
may seem a matter of too exalted wisdom; but the same is true of men. Men,
as to the interiors of their minds, are warmed and illuminated by that
same sun. They are warmed by its heat and illuminated by its light in the
measure in which they receive love and wisdom from the Lord. The difference
between angels and men is that angels are under the spiritual sun only, but
men are not only under that sun, but also under the sun of this world; for
men's bodies can begin and continue to exist only under both suns; but not
so the bodies of angels, which are spiritual.
113. ANGELS ARE IN THE LORD, AND THE LORD IN THEM; AND BECAUSE ANGELS ARE
RECIPIENTS, THE LORD ALONE IS HEAVEN.
Heaven is called "the dwelling-place of God," also "the throne of God,"
and from this it is believed that God is there as is a king in his kingdom.
But God (that is, the Lord) is in the sun above the heavens, and by His
presence in heat and light, is in the heavens (as is shown in the last
two paragraphs). But although the Lord is present in heaven in that manner,
still He is there as He is in Himself. For (as shown just above, n. 108-112)
the distance between the sun and heaven is not distance, but appearance of
distance; and since that distance is only an appearance it follows that the
Lord Himself is in heaven, for He is in the love and wisdom of the angels
of heaven; and since He is in the love and wisdom of all angels, and the
angel constitute heaven, He is in the whole heaven.
114. The Lord not only is in heaven, but also is heaven itself; for love
and wisdom are what make the angel, and these two are the Lord's in the
angels; from which it follows that the Lord is heaven. For angels are not
angels from what is their own; what is their own is altogether like what
is man's own, which is evil. An angel's own is such because all angels
were once men, and this own clings to the angels from their birth. It is
only put aside, and so far as it is put aside the angels receive love and
wisdom, that is, the Lord, in themselves. Any one, if he will only elevate
his understanding a little, can see that the Lord can dwell in angels,
only in what is His, that is, in what is His very own, which is love and
wisdom, and not at all in the selfhood of angels, which is evil. From this
it is, that so far as evil is put away so far the Lord is in them, and so
far they are angels. The very angelic of heaven is Love Divine and Wisdom
Divine. This Divine is called the angelic when it is in angels. From this,
again, it is evident that angels are angels from the Lord, and not from
themselves; consequently, the same is true of heaven.
115. But how the Lord is in an angel and an angel in the Lord cannot be
comprehended, unless the nature of their conjunction is known. Conjunction
is of the Lord with the angel and of the angel with the Lord; conjunction,
therefore, is reciprocal. On the part of the angel it is as follows. The
angel, in like manner as man, has no other perception than that he is in
love and wisdom from himself, consequently that love and wisdom are, as
it were, his or his own. Unless he so perceived there would be no
conjunction, thus the Lord would not be in him, nor he in the Lord. Nor
can it be possible for the Lord to be in any angel or man, unless the one
in whom the Lord is, with love and wisdom, has a perception and sense as
if they were his. By this means the Lord is not only received, but also,
when received, is retained, and likewise loved in return. And by this,
also, the angel is made wise and continues wise. Who can wish to love
the Lord and his neighbor, and who can wish to be wise, without a sense
and perception that what he loves, learns, and imbibes is, as it were,
his own? Who otherwise can retain it in himself? If this were not so, the
inflowing love and wisdom would have no abiding-place, for it would flow
through and not affect; thus an angel would not be an angel, nor would man
be a man; he would be merely like something inanimate. From all this it
can be seen that there must be an ability to reciprocate that there may
be conjunction.
116. It shall now be explained how it comes that an angel perceives and
feels as his, and thus receives and retains that which yet is not his;
for, as was said above, an angel is not an angel from what is his, but
from those things which he has from the Lord. The essence of the matter
is this:- Every angel has freedom and rationality; these two he has to
the end that he may be capable of receiving love and wisdom from the Lord.
Yet neither of these, freedom nor rationality, is his, they are the Lord's
in him. But since the two are intimately conjoined to his life, so
intimately that they may be said to be joined into it, they appear to
be his own. It is from them that he is able to think and will, and to
speak and act; and what he thinks, wills, speaks, and does from them,
appears as if it were from himself. This gives him the ability to
reciprocate, and by means of this conjunction is possible. Yet so far as
an angel believes that love and wisdom are really in him, and thus lays
claim to them for himself as if they were his, so far the angelic is not
in him, and therefore he has no conjunction with the Lord; for he is not
in truth, and as truth makes one with the light of heaven, so far he cannot
be in heaven; for he thereby denies that he lives from the Lord, and
believes that he lives from himself, and that he therefore possesses
Divine essence. In these two, freedom and rationality, the life which
is called angelic and human consists. From all this it can be seen that
for the sake of conjunction with the Lord, - the angel has the ability
to reciprocate, but that this ability, in itself considered, is not his
but the Lord's. From this it is, that if he abuses his ability to
reciprocate, by which he perceives and feels as his what is the Lord's,
which is done by appropriating it to himself he falls from the angelic
state. That conjunction is reciprocal, the Lord Himself teaches
(John 14:20-24; 154-6); also that the conjunction of the Lord with man
and of man with the Lord, is in those things of the Lord that are called
His words (John 15:7).
117. Some are of the opinion that Adam was in such liberty or freedom of
choice as to be able to love God and be wise from himself, and that this
freedom of choice was lost in his posterity. But this is an error; for
man is not life, but is a recipient of life (see above, n. 4-6, 54-60);
and he who is a recipient of life cannot love and be wise from anything
of his own; consequently, when Adam willed to be wise and to love from
what was his own he fell from wisdom and love, and was cast out of Paradise.
118. What has just been said of an angel is likewise true of heaven, which
consists of angels, since the Divine in greatest and least things is the
same (as was shown above n. 77-82). What is said of an angel and of heaven
is likewise true of man and the church, for the angel of heaven and the
man of the church act as one through conjunction; in fact, a man of the
church is an angel, in respect to the interiors which are of his mind. By
a man of the church is meant a man in whom the church is.
119. IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD THE EAST IS WHERE THE LORD APPEARS AS A SUN,
AND FROM THAT THE OTHER QUARTERS ARE DETERMINED.
The sun of the spiritual world and its essence, also its heat and light,
and the presence of the Lord thereby, have been treated of; a description
is now to be given of the quarters in the spiritual world. That sun and
that world are treated of, because God and love and wisdom are treated of;
and to treat of those subjects except from their very origin would be to
proceed from effects, not from causes. Yet from effects nothing but
effects can be learned; when effects alone are considered no cause is
brought to light; but causes reveal effects. To know effects from causes
is to be wise; but to search for causes from effects is not to be wise,
because fallacies then present themselves, which the investigator calls
causes, and this is to turn wisdom into foolishness. Causes are things
prior, and effects are things posterior; and things prior cannot be seen
from things posterior, but things posterior can be seen from things prior.
This is order. For this reason the spiritual world is here first treated
of, for all causes are there; and afterwards the natural world, where all
things that appear are effects.
120. The quarters in the spiritual world shall now be spoken of. There are
quarters there in like manner as in the natural world, but like that world
itself, they are spiritual; while the quarters in the natural world, like
that world itself, are natural; the difference between them therefore is
so great that they have nothing in common. In each world there are four
quarters, which are called east, west, south, and north. In the natural
world, these four quarters are constant, determined by the sun on the
meridian; opposite this is north, on one side is east, on the other, west.
These quarters are determined by the meridian of each place; for the sun's
station on the meridian at each point is always the same, and is therefore
fixed. In the spiritual world it is different. The quarters there are
determined by the sun of that world, which appears constantly in its own
place, and where it appears is the east; consequently the determination
of the quarters in that world is not from the south, as in the natural
world, but from the east, opposite to this is west, on one side is south,
and on the other, north. But that these quarters are not determined by
the sun, but by the inhabitants of that world, who are angels and spirits,
will be seen in what follows.
121. As these quarters, by virtue of their origin, which is the Lord as
a sun, are spiritual, so the dwelling-places of angels and spirits, all
of which are according to these quarters, are also spiritual. They are
spiritual, because angels and spirits have their places of abode according
to their reception of love and wisdom from the Lord. Those in a higher
degree of love dwell in the east; those in a lower degree of love in the
west; those in a higher degree of wisdom, in the south; and those in a
lower degree of wisdom, in the north. From this it is that, in the Word,
by "the east," in the highest sense, is meant the Lord, and in a relative
sense love to Him; by the "west," a diminishing love to Him; by the "south"
wisdom in light; and by the "north" wisdom in shade; or similar things
relatively to the state of those who are treated of.
122. Since the east is the point from which all quarters in the spiritual
world are determined, and by the east, in the highest sense, is meant the
Lord, and also Divine Love, it is evident that the source from which all
things are, is the Lord and love to Him, and that one is remote from the
Lord in the measure in which he is not in that love, and dwells either in
the west, or in the south, or in the north, at distances corresponding to
the reception of love.
123. Since the Lord as a sun is constantly in the east, the ancients,
with whom all things of worship were representative of spiritual things,
turned their faces to the east in their devotions; and that they might do
the like in all worship, they turned their temples also in that direction.
From this it is that, at the present day, churches are built in like manner.
124. THE QUARTERS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD ARE NOT FROM THE LORD AS A SUN,
BUT FROM THE ANGELS ACCORDING TO RECEPTION.
It has been stated that the angels dwell separate from each other; some
in the eastern quarter, some in the western, some in the southern, and
some in the northern; and that those who dwell in the eastern quarter are
in a higher degree of love; those in the western, in a lower degree of
love; those in the southern, in the light of wisdom; and those in the
northern, in the shade of wisdom. This diversity of dwelling-places
appears as though it were from the Lord as a sun, when, in fact it is
from the angels. The Lord is not in a greater and lesser degree of love
and wisdom, that is, as a sun He is not in a greater or lesser degree of
heat and light with one than with another, for He is everywhere the same.
But He is not received by one in the same degree as by another; and this
makes them appear to themselves to be more or less distant from one
another, and also variously as regards the quarters. From this it follows
that quarters - in the spiritual world are nothing else than various
receptions of love and wisdom, and thence of heat and light from the
Lord as a sun. That this is so is plain from what was shown above
(n. 108-112), that in the spiritual world distances are appearances.
125. As the quarters are various receptions of love and wisdom by angels,
the variety from which that appearance springs shall now be explained.
The Lord is in the angel, and the angel in the Lord (as was shown in a
preceding article). But on account of the appearance that the Lord as a
sun is outside of the angel, there is also the appearance that the Lord
sees him from the sun, and that he sees the Lord in the sun. This is
almost like the appearance of an image in a mirror. Speaking, therefore,
according to that appearance, it may be said that the Lord sees and looks
at each one face to face, but that angels, on their part, do not thus
behold the Lord. Those who are in love to the Lord from the Lord see Him
directly in front; these, therefore, are in the east and the west; but
those who are more in wisdom see the Lord obliquely to the right, and
those who are less in wisdom obliquely to the left; therefore the former
are in the south, and the latter in the north. The view of these is
oblique because love and wisdom (as has been said before), although they
proceed from the Lord as one, are not received as one by angels; and the
wisdom which is in excess of the love, while it appears as wisdom, is
not wisdom, because in the overplus of wisdom there is no life from love.
From all this it is evident whence comes the diversity of reception
according to which angels appear to dwell according to quarters in the
spiritual world.
126. That this variety of reception of love and wisdom is what gives
rise to the quarters in the spiritual world can be seen from the fact
that an angel changes his quarter according to the increase or decrease
of love with him; from which it is evident that the quarter is not from
the Lord as a sun, but from the angel according to reception. It is the
same with man as regards his spirit. In respect to his spirit, he is in
some quarter of the spiritual world, whatever quarter of the natural
world he may be in, for quarters in the spiritual world, as has been
said above, have nothing in common with quarters in the natural world.
Man is in the latter as regards his body, but in the former as regards
his spirit.
127. In order that love and wisdom may make one in an angel or in a man,
there are pairs in all the things of his body. The eyes, ears, and
nostrils are pairs; the hands, loins, and feet are pairs; the brain is
divided into two hemispheres, the heart into two chambers, the lungs
into two lobes, and in like manner the other parts. Thus in angel and
man there is right and left; and all their right parts have relation to
the love from which wisdom comes; and all the left parts, to the wisdom
which is from love; or, what is the same, all the right parts have
relation to the good from which truth comes; and all the left parts, to
the truth that is from good. Angel and man have these pairs in order that
love and wisdom, or good and truth, may act as one, and as one, may have
regard to the Lord. But of this more in what follows.
128. From all this it can be seen in what fallacy and consequent falsity
those are, who suppose that the Lord bestows heaven arbitrarily, or
arbitrarily grants one to become wise and loving more than another, when,
in truth, the Lord is just as desirous that one may become wise and be
saved as another. For He provides means for all; and every one becomes
wise and is saved in the measure in which he accepts these means, and
lives in accordance with them. For the Lord is the same with one as with
another; but the recipients, who are angels and men, are unlike by reason
of unlike reception and life. That this is so can be seen from what has
just been said of spiritual quarters, and of the dwelling-places of the
angels in accordance with them; namely, that this diversity is not from
the Lord but from the recipients.
129. ANGELS TURN THEIR FACES CONSTANTLY TO THE LORD AS A SUN, AND THUS
HAVE THE SOUTH TO THE RIGHT, THE NORTH TO THE LEFT, AND THE WEST BEHIND
THEM.
All that is here said of angels, and of their turning to the Lord as a
sun, is to be understood also of man, as regards his spirit. For man in
respect to his mind is a spirit, and if he be in love and wisdom, is an
angel; consequently, after death, when he has put off his externals,
which he had derived from the natural world, he becomes a spirit or an
angel. And because angels turn their faces constantly toward the sun in
the east, thus toward the Lord, it is said also of any man who is in love
and wisdom from the Lord, that "he sees God," that "he looks to God,"
that "he has God before his eyes," by which is meant that he lives as an
angel does. Such things are spoken of in the world, because they actually
take place [existunt] both in heaven and in the spirit of man. Who does
not look before himself to God when he prays, to whatever quarter his
face may be turned?
130. Angels turn their faces constantly to the Lord as a sun, because
they are in the Lord, and the Lord in them; and the Lord interiorly leads
their affections and thoughts, and turns them constantly to Himself;
consequently they cannot do otherwise than look towards the east where
the Lord appears as a sun; from which it is evident that angels do not
turn themselves to the Lord, but the Lord turns them to Himself. For when
angels think interiorly of the Lord, they do not think of Him otherwise
than as being in themselves. Real interior thought does not cause distance,
but exterior thought, which acts as one with the sight of the eyes; and
for the reason that exterior thought, but not interior, is in space; and
when not in space, as in the spiritual world, it is still in an appearance
of space. But these things can be little understood by the man who thinks
about God from space. For God is everywhere, yet not in space. Thus He is
both within and without an angel; consequently an angel can see God, that
is, the Lord, both within himself and without himself; within himself
when he thinks from love and wisdom, without himself when he thinks about
love and wisdom. But these things will be treated of in detail in
treatises on The Lord's Omnipresence, Omniscience, and Omnipotence. Let
every man guard himself against falling into the detestable false doctrine
that God has infused Himself into men, and that He is in them, and no
longer in Himself; for God is everywhere, as well within man as without,
for apart from space He is in all space (as was shown above, n. 7-10,
69-72); whereas if He were in man, He would be not only divisible, but
also shut up in space; yea, man then might even think himself to be God.
This heresy is so abominable, that in the spiritual world it stinks like
carrion.
131. The turning of angels to the Lord is such that at every turn of their
bodies they look toward the Lord as a sun in front of them. An angel may
turn himself round and round, and thereby see the various things that are
about him, still the Lord as a sun appears constantly before his face.
This may seem wonderful, yet it is the truth. It has also been granted
me to see the Lord thus as a sun. I see Him now before my face; and for
several years I have so seen Him, to whatever quarter of the world I have
turned.
132. Since the Lord as a sun, consequently the east, is before the faces
of all angels of heaven, it follows that to their right is the south; to
their left the north; and behind them the west; and this, too, at every
turn of the body. For, as was said before, all quarters in the spiritual
world are determined from the east; therefore those who have the east
before their eyes are in these very quarters, yea, are themselves what
determine the quarters; for (as was shown above, n. 124-128) the quarters
are not from the Lord as a sun, but from the angels according to reception.
133. Now since heaven is made up of angels, and angels are of such a
nature, it follows that all heaven turns itself to the Lord, and that,
by means of this turning, heaven is ruled by the Lord as one man, as in
His sight it is one man. That heaven is as one man in the sight of the
Lord may be seen in the work Heaven and Hell (n. 59-87). Also from this
are the quarters of heaven.
134. Since the quarters are thus inscribed as it were on the angel, as
well as on the whole heaven, an angel, unlike man in the world, knows
his own home and his own dwelling-place wherever he goes. Man does not
know his home and dwelling-place from the spiritual quarter in himself,
because he thinks from space, thus from the quarters of the natural world,
which have nothing in common with the quarters of the spiritual world.
But birds and beasts have such knowledge, for it is implanted in them to
know of themselves their homes and dwelling-places, as is evident from
abundant observation; a proof that such is the case in the spiritual
world; for all things that have form [existunt] in the natural world are
effects, and all things that have form in the spiritual world are the
causes of these effects. There does not take place [existit] a natural
that does not derive its cause from a spiritual.
135. ALL INTERIOR THINGS OF THE ANGELS, BOTH OF MIND AND BODY, ARE TURNED
TO THE LORD AS A SUN.
Angels have understanding and will, and they have a face and body. They
have also the interior things of the understanding and will, and of the
face and body. The interiors of the understanding and will are such as
pertain to their interior affection and thought; the interiors of the
face are the brains; and the interiors of the body are the viscera, chief
among which are the heart and lungs. In a word, angels have each and all
things that men on earth have; it is from these things that angels are
men. External form, apart from these internal things, does not make them
men, but external form together with, yea, from, internals - for otherwise
they would be only images of man, in which there would be no life, because
inwardly there would be no form of life.
136. It is well known that the will and understanding rule the body at
pleasure, for what the understanding thinks, the mouth speaks, and what
the will wills, the body does. From this it is plain that the body is a
form corresponding to the understanding and will. And because form also
is predicated of understanding and will, it is plain that the form of
the body corresponds to the form of the understanding and will. But this
is not the place to describe the nature of these respective forms. In
each form there are things innumerable; and these, in each of them, act
as one, because they mutually correspond. It is from this that the mind
(that is, the will and understanding) rules the body at its pleasure,
thus as entirely as it rules its own self. From all this it follows that
the interiors of the mind act as a one with the interiors of the body,
and the exteriors of the mind with the exteriors of the body. The
interiors of the mind, likewise the interiors of the body, will be
considered further on, when degrees of life have been treated of.
137. Since the interiors of the mind make one with the interiors of the
body, it follows that when the interiors of the mind turn themselves to
the Lord as a sun, those of the body turn themselves in like manner; and
because the exteriors of both, of mind as well as body, depend upon their
interiors, they also do the same. For what the external does, it does
from internals, the general deriving all it has from the particulars from
which it is. From this it is evident that as an angel turns his face and
body to the Lord as a sun, all the interiors of his mind and body are
turned in the same direction. It is the same with man, if he has the Lord
constantly before his eyes, which is the case if he is in love and wisdom.
He then looks to the Lord not only with eyes and face, but also with all
the mind and all the heart, that is, with all things of the will and
understanding, together with all things of the body.
138. This turning to the Lord is an actual turning, a kind of elevation;
for there is an uplifting into the heat and light of heaven, which takes
place by the opening of the interiors; when these are opened, love and
wisdom flow into the interiors of the mind, and the heat and light of
heaven into the interiors of the body. From this comes the uplifting,
like a rising out of a cloud into clear air, or out of air into ether.
Moreover, love and wisdom, with their heat and light, are the Lord with
man; and He, as was said before, turns man to Himself. It is the reverse
with those who are not in love and wisdom, and still more with those who
are opposed to love and wisdom. Their interiors, both of mind and body,
are closed; and when closed, the exteriors re-act against the Lord, for
such is their inherent nature. Consequently, such persons turn themselves
backward from the Lord; and turning oneself backward is turning to hell.
139. This actual turning to the Lord is from love together with Wisdom;
not from love alone, nor from wisdom alone; for love alone is like esse
[being] without its existere [taking form] since love has its form in
wisdom; and wisdom without love is like existere without its esse, since
wisdom has its form from love. Love is indeed possible without wisdom;
but such love is man's, and not the Lord's. Wisdom alone is possible
without love; but such wisdom, although from the Lord, has not the Lord
in it; for it is like the light of winter, which is from the sun; still
the sun's essence, which is heat, is not in it.
140. EVERY SPIRIT, WHATEVER HIS QUALITY, TURNS IN LIKE MANNER TO HIS
RULING LOVE.
It shall first be explained what a spirit is, and what an angel is. Every
man after death comes, in the first place, into the world of spirits,
which is midway between heaven and hell, and there passes through his own
times, that is, his own states, and becomes prepared, according to his
life, either for heaven or for hell. So long as one stays in that world
he is called a spirit. He who has been raised out of that world into
heaven is called an angel; but he who has been cast down into hell is
called either a satan or a devil. So long as these continue in the world
of spirits, he who is preparing for heaven is called an angelic spirit;
and he who is preparing for hell, an infernal spirit; meanwhile the
angelic spirit is conjoined with heaven, and the infernal spirit with
hell. All spirits in the world of spirits are adjoined to men; because
men, in respect to the interiors of their minds, are in like manner
between heaven and hell, and through these spirits they communicate with
heaven or with hell according to their life. It is to be observed that
the world of spirits is one thing, and the spiritual world another; the
world of spirits is that which has just been spoken of; but the spiritual
world includes that world, and heaven and hell.
141. Since the subject now under consideration is the turning of angels
and spirits to their own loves by reason of these loves, something shall
be said also about loves. The whole heaven is divided into societies
according to all the differences of loves; in like manner hell, and in
like manner the world of spirits. But heaven is divided into societies
according to the differences of heavenly loves; hell into societies
according to the differences of infernal loves; and the world of spirits,
according to the differences of loves both heavenly and infernal. There
are two loves which are the heads of all the rest, that is, to which all
other loves are referable; the love which is the head of all heavenly
loves, or to which they all relate, is love to the Lord; and the love
which is the head of all infernal loves, or to which they all relate, is
the love of rule springing from the love of self. These two loves are
diametrically opposed to each other.
142. Since these two loves, love to the Lord and love of rule springing
from love of self, are wholly opposed to each other, and since all who
are in love to the Lord turn to the Lord as a sun (as was shown in the
preceding article), it can be seen that all who are in the love of rule
springing from love of self, turn their backs to the Lord. They thus face
in opposite directions, because those who are in love to the Lord love
nothing more than to be led by the Lord, and will that the Lord alone
shall rule; while those who are in the love of rule springing from love
of self, love nothing more than to be led by themselves, and will that
themselves alone may rule. This is called a love of rule springing from
love of self, because there is a love of rule springing from a love of
performing uses, which is a spiritual love, because it makes one with
love towards the neighbor. Still this cannot be called a love of rule,
but a love of performing duties.
143. Every spirit, of whatever quality, turns to his own ruling love,
because love is the life of every one (as was shown in Part I., n. 1-3);
and life turns its receptacles, called members, organs, and viscera, thus
the whole man, to that society which is in a love similar to itself, thus
where its own love is.
144. Since the love of rule springing from love of self is wholly opposed
to love to the Lord, the spirits who are in that love of rule turn the
face backwards from the Lord, and therefore look with their eyes to the
western quarters of the spiritual world; and being thus bodily in a
reversed position, they have the east behind them, the north at their
right, and the south at their left. They have the east behind them because
they hate the Lord; they have the north at their right, because they love
fallacies and falsities therefrom; and they have the south at their left,
because they despise the light of wisdom. They may turn themselves round
and round, and yet all things which they see about them appear similar to
their love. All such are sensual-natural; and some are of such a nature
as to imagine that they alone live, looking upon others as images. They
believe themselves to be wise above all others, though in truth they are
insane.
145. In the spiritual world ways are seen, laid out like ways in the
natural world; some leading to heaven, and some to hell; but the ways
leading to hell are not visible to those going to heaven, nor are the
ways leading to heaven visible to those going to hell. There are countless
ways of this kind; for there are ways which lead to every society of
heaven and to every society of hell. Each spirit enters the way which
leads to the society of his own love, nor does he see the ways leading
in other directions. Thus it is that each spirit, as he turns himself to
his ruling love, goes forward in it.
146. DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM PROCEEDING FROM THE LORD AS A SUN AND
PRODUCING HEAT AND LIGHT IN HEAVEN, ARE THE PROCEEDING DIVINE, WHICH IS
THE HOLY SPIRIT.
In The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord it has been shown,
that God is one in person and essence in whom there is a trinity, and that
that God is the Lord; also, that the trinity in Him is called Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit; and that the Divine from which, (Creative Divine) is
called the Father; the Human Divine, the Son; and the proceeding Divine,
the Holy Spirit. This is called the "proceeding Divine," but no one knows
why it is called proceeding. This is not known, because until now it has
been unknown that the Lord appears before the angels as a sun, from which
sun proceeds heat which in its essence is Divine Love, and also light
which in its essence is Divine Wisdom. So long as these things were
unknown, it could not be known that the proceeding Divine is not a Divine
by itself; consequently the Athanasian doctrine of the trinity declares
that there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another
of the Holy Spirit. Now, however, when it is known that the Lord appears
as a sun, a correct idea may be had of the proceeding Divine, which is
called the Holy Spirit, that it is one with the Lord, but proceeds from
Him, as heat and light from a sun. For the same reason angels are in
Divine heat and Divine light just so far as they are in love and wisdom.
Without knowing that the Lord appears as a sun in the spiritual world,
and that His Divine thus proceeds, it can in no way be known what is meant
by "proceeding," whether it means simply communicating those things which
are the Father's and the Son's, or simply enlightening and teaching. But
inasmuch as it has been known that God is one, and that He is omnipresent,
it is not in accord with enlightened reason to recognize the proceeding
Divine as a Divine per se, and to call it God, and thus divide God.
147. It has been shown above that God is not in space, and that He is
thereby omnipresent; also that the Divine is the same everywhere, but
that there is an apparent variety of it in angels and men from variety
of reception. Now since the proceeding Divine from the Lord as a sun is
in light and heat, and light and heat flow first into universal recipients,
which in the world are called atmospheres, and these are the recipients
of clouds, it can be seen that according as the interiors pertaining to
the understanding of man or angel are veiled by such clouds, is he a
receptacle of the proceeding Divine. By clouds are meant spiritual clouds,
which are thoughts. These, if from truths, are in accordance, but if from
falsities, are at variance with Divine Wisdom; consequently, in the
spiritual world thoughts from truths, when presented to the sight, appear
as shining white clouds, but thoughts from falsities as black clouds. From
all this it can be seen that the proceeding Divine is indeed in every man,
but is variously veiled by each.
148. As the Divine Itself is present in angel and man by spiritual heat
and light, those who are in the truths of Divine Wisdom and in the goods
of Divine Love, when affected by these, and when from affection they think
from them and about them, are said to grow warm with God; and this
sometimes becomes so evident as to be perceived and felt, as when a
preacher speaks from zeal. These same are also said to be enlightened by
God, because the Lord, by His proceeding Divine, not only kindles the
will with spiritual heat, but also enlightens the understanding with
spiritual light.
149. From the following passages in the Word it is plain that the Holy
Spirit is the same as the Lord, and is truth itself, from which man has
enlightenment:
Jesus said, When the spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into
all truth; He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall
have heard, that shall He speak (John 16:13).
He shall glorify Me; for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show
it unto you (John 16:14, 15).
That He will be with the disciples and in them (John 14:17; 15:26).
Jesus said, The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and
they are life (John 6:63).
From these passages it is evident that the Truth itself which proceeds
from the Lord, is called the Holy Spirit; and because it is in light,
it enlightens.
150. Enlightenment, which is attributed to the Holy Spirit, is indeed
in man from the Lord, yet it is effected by spirits and angels as media.
But the nature of that mediation cannot yet be described; only it may be
said that angels and spirits can in no way enlighten man from themselves,
because they, in like manner as man, are enlightened by the Lord; and as
they are enlightened in like manner, it follows that all enlightenment is
from the Lord alone. It is effected by angels or spirits as media, because
the man when he is enlightened is placed in the midst of such angels and
spirits as, more than others, receive enlightenment from the Lord alone.
151. THE LORD CREATED THE UNIVERSE AND ALL THINGS OF IT BY MEANS OF THE
SUN WHICH IS THE FIRST PROCEEDING OF DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM.
By "the Lord" is meant God from eternity, that is, Jehovah: who is called
Father and Creator, because He is one with Him, as has been shown in The
Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord; consequently in the
following pages, where also creation is treated of, He is called the
Lord.
152. That all things in the universe were created by Divine Love and
Divine Wisdom was fully shown in Part I., (particularly in n. 52, 53);
here now it is to be shown that this was done by means of the sun, which
is the first proceeding of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. No one who is
capable of seeing effects from causes, and afterwards by causes effects
in their order and sequence, can deny that the sun is the first of
creation, for all the things that are in its world have perpetual
existence from it; and because they have perpetual existence from it,
their existence was derived from it. The one involves and is proof of
the other; for all things are under the sun's view, since it is determined
that they should be, and to hold under its view is to determine
perpetually; therefore it is said that subsistence is perpetual existence.
If, moreover, any thing were to be withdrawn entirely from the sun's
influx through the atmospheres, it would instantly be dissipated; for
the atmospheres, which are purer and purer, and are rendered active in
power by the sun, hold all things in connection. Since, then, the
perpetual existence of the universe, and of every thing pertaining to it,
is from the sun, it is plain that the sun is the first of creation, from
which [is all else]. The sun is spoken of as creating, but this means the
Lord, by means of the sun; for the sun also was created by the Lord.
153. There are two suns through which all things were created by the Lord,
the sun of the spiritual world and the sun of the natural world. All
things were created by the Lord through the sun of the spiritual world,
but not through the sun of the natural world, since the latter is far
below the former; it is in middle distance; above it is the spiritual
world and below it is the natural world. This sun of the natural world
was created to render aid, as a kind of substitute; this aid will be
spoken of in what follows.
154. The universe and all things thereof were created by the Lord, the
sun of the spiritual world serving as a medium, because that sun is the
first proceeding of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and from Divine Love
and Divine Wisdom all things are (as was pointed out above, n. 52-82).
In every thing created, greatest as well as least, there are these three,
end, cause and effect. A created thing in which these three are not, is
impossible. In what is greatest, that is, in the universe, these three
exist in the following order; in the sun, which is the first proceeding
of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, is the end of all things; in the
spiritual world are the causes of all things; in the natural world are
the effects of all things. How these three are in things first and in
things last shall be shown in what follows. Since, then, no created thing
is possible in which these three are not, it follows that the universe
and all things of it were created by the Lord through the sun, wherein
is the end of all things.
155. Creation itself cannot be brought within man's comprehension unless
space and time are removed from thought; but if these are removed, it can
be comprehended. Removing these if you can, or as much as you can, and
keeping the mind in ideas abstracted from space and time, you will
perceive that there is no difference between the maximum of space and
the minimum of space; and then you cannot but have a similar idea of the
creation of the universe as of the creation of the particulars therein;
you will also perceive that diversity in created things springs from
this, that there are infinite things in God-Man, consequently things
without limit in the sun which is the first proceeding from Him; these
countless things take form, as in an image, in the created universe. From
this it is that no one thing can anywhere be precisely the same as
another. From this comes that variety of all things which is presented to
sight, in the natural world, together with space, but in the spiritual
world with appearance of space; and it is a variety both of generals and
of particulars. These are the things that have been pointed out in PartI.,
where it is shown that in God-Man infinite things are one distinctly
(n. 17-22); that all things in the universe were created by Divine Love
and Divine Wisdom, (n. 52, 53); that all things in the created universe
are recipients of the Divine Love and of the Divine Wisdom of God-Man
(n. 54-60); that the Divine is not in space (n. 7-10); that the Divine
apart from space fills all spaces (n. 66 - 72); that the Divine is the
same in things greatest and least (n. 77-82).
156. The creation of the universe, and of all things of it, cannot be
said to have been wrought from space to space, or from time to time,
thus progressively and successively, but from eternity and from infinity;
not from eternity of time, because there is no such thing, but from
eternity not of time, for this is the same with the Divine; nor from
infinity of space, because again there is no such thing, but from infinity
not of space, which also is the same with the Divine. These things, I
know, transcend the ideas of thoughts that are in natural light, but they
do not transcend the ideas of thoughts that are in spiritual light, for
in these there is nothing of space and time. Neither do they wholly
transcend ideas that are in natural light; for when it is said that
infinity of space is not possible, this is affirmed by every one from
reason. It is the same with eternity, for this is infinity of time. If
you say "to eternity," it is comprehensible from time; but "from eternity"
is not comprehensible, unless time is removed.
157. THE SUN OF THE NATURAL WORLD IS PURE FIRE, CONSEQUENTLY DEAD; NATURE
ALSO IS DEAD, BECAUSE IT DERIVES ITS ORIGIN FROM THAT SUN.
Creation itself cannot be ascribed in the least to the sun of the natural
world, but must be wholly ascribed to the sun of the spiritual world;
because the sun of the natural world is altogether dead; but the sun of
the spiritual world is living; for it is the first proceeding of Divine
Love and Divine Wisdom; and what is dead does not act at all from itself,
but is acted upon; consequently to ascribe to it anything of creation
would be like ascribing the work of an artificer to the tool which is
moved by his hands. The sun of the natural world is pure fire from which
everything of life has been withdrawn; but the sun of the spiritual world
is fire in which is Divine Life. The angelic idea of the fire of the sun
of the natural world, and of the fire of the sun of the spiritual world,
is this; that in the fire of the sun of the spiritual world the Divine
Life is within, but in the fire of the sun of the natural world it is
without. From this it can be seen that the actuating power of the natural
sun is not from itself, but from a living force proceeding from the sun
of the spiritual world; consequently if the living force of that sun were
withdrawn or taken away, the natural sun would have no vital power. For
this reason the worship of the sun is the lowest of all the forms of
God-worship, for it is wholly dead, as the sun itself is, and therefore
in the Word it is called "abomination."
158. As the sun of the natural world is pure fire, and therefore dead,
the heat proceeding from it is also dead, likewise the light proceeding
from it is dead; so also are the atmospheres, which are called ether and
air, and which receive in their bosom and carry down the heat and light
of that sun; and as these are dead so are each and all things of the earth
which are beneath the atmospheres, and are called soils, yet these, one
and all, are encompassed by what is spiritual, proceeding and flowing
forth from the sun of the spiritual world. Unless they had been so
encompassed, the soils could not have been stirred into activity, and
have produced forms of uses, which are plants, nor forms of life, which
are animals; nor could have supplied the materials by which man begins
and continues to exist.
159. Now since nature begins from that sun, and all that springs forth
and continues to exist from it is called natural, it follows that nature,
with each and every thing pertaining thereto, is dead. It appears in man
and animal as if alive, because of the life which accompanies and actuates
it.
160. Since these lowest things of nature which form the lands are dead,
and are not changeable and varying according to states of affections and
thoughts, as in the spiritual world, but unchangeable and fixed, therefore
in nature there are spaces and spatial distances. There are such things,
because creation has there terminated, and abides at rest. From this it
is evident that spaces are a property of nature; and because in nature
spaces are not appearances of spaces according to states of life, as they
are in the spiritual world, these also may be called dead.
161. Since times in like manner are settled and constant, they also are
a property of nature; for the length of a day is constantly twenty-four
hours, and the length of a year is constantly three hundred and sixty-five
days and a quarter. The very states of light and shade, and of heat and
cold, which cause these periods to vary, are also regular in their return.
The states which recur daily are morning, noon, evening, and night; those
recurring yearly are spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Moreover, the
annual states modify regularly the daily states. All these states are
likewise dead because they are not states of life, as in the spiritual
world; for in the spiritual world there is continuous light and there
is continuous heat, the light corresponding to the state of wisdom, and
the heat to the state of love with the angels; consequently the states of
these are living.
162. From all this the folly of those who ascribe all things to nature can
be seen. Those who have confirmed themselves in favor of nature have
brought such a state on themselves that they are no longer willing to
raise the mind above nature; consequently their minds are shut above and
opened below. Man thus becomes sensual-natural, that is, spiritually dead;
and because he then thinks only from such things as he has imbibed from
his bodily senses, or through the senses from the world, he at heart even
denies God. Then because conjunction with heaven is broken, conjunction
with hell takes place, the capacity to think and will alone remaining; the
capacity to think, from rationality, and the capacity to will, from
freedom; these two capacities every man has from the Lord, nor are they
taken away. These two capacities devils have equally with angels; but
devils devote them to insane thinking and evil doing, and angels to
becoming wise and doing good.
163. WITHOUT A DOUBLE SUN, ONE LIVING AND THE OTHER DEAD, NO CREATION IS
POSSIBLE.
The universe in general is divided into two worlds, the spiritual and the
natural. In the spiritual world are angels and spirits, in the natural
world men. In external appearance these two worlds are entirely alike, so
alike that they cannot be distinguished; but as to internal appearance
they are entirely unlike. The men themselves in the spiritual world, who
(as was said above) are called angels and spirits, are spiritual, and,
being spiritual, they think spiritually and speak spiritually. But the
men of the natural world are natural, and therefore think naturally and
speak naturally; and spiritual thought and speech have nothing in common
with natural thought and speech. From this it is plain that these two
worlds, the spiritual and the natural, are entirely distinct from each
other, so that they can in no respect be together.
164. Now as these two worlds are so distinct, it is necessary that there
should be two suns, one from which all spiritual things are, and another
from which all natural things are. And as all spiritual things in their
origin are living, and all natural things from their origin are dead, and
these origins are suns, it follows that the one sun is living and the
other dead; also, that the dead sun itself was created by the Lord through
the living sun.
165. A dead sun was created to this end, that in outmosts all things may
be fixed, settled, and constant, and thus there may be forms of existence
which shall be permanent and durable. In this and in no other way is
creation founded. The terraqueous globe, in which, upon which, and about
which, things exist, is a kind of base and support; for it is the outmost
work [ultimum opus], in which all things terminate, and upon which they
rest. It is also a kind of matrix, out of which effects, which are ends
of creation, are produced, as will be shown in what follows.
166. That all things were created by the Lord through the living sun, and
nothing through the dead sun, can be seen from this, that what is living
disposes what is dead in obedience to itself, and forms it for uses, which
are its ends; but not the reverse. Only a person bereft of reason and who
is ignorant of what life is, can think that all things are from nature,
and that life even comes from nature. Nature cannot dispense life to
anything, since nature in itself is wholly inert. For what is dead to
act upon what is living, or for dead force to act upon living force, or,
what is the same, for the natural to act upon the spiritual, is entirely
contrary to order, therefore so to think is contrary to the light of
sound reason. What is dead, that is, the natural, may indeed in many ways
be perverted or changed by external accidents, but it cannot act upon life;
on the contrary life acts into it, according to the induced change of form.
It is the same with physical influx into the spiritual operations of the
soul; this, it is known, does not occur, for it is not possible.
167. THE END OF CREATION HAS FORM [existat] IN OUTMOSTS, WHICH END IS
THAT ALL THINGS MAY RETURN TO THE CREATOR AND THAT THERE MAY BE
CONJUNCTION.
In the first place, something shall be said about ends. There are three
things that follow in order, called first end, middle end, and last end;
they are also called end, cause, and effect. These three must be together
in every thing, that it may be anything. For a first end without a middle
end, and at the same time a last end, is impossible; or, what is the same,
an end alone, without a cause and an effect is impossible. Equally
impossible is a cause alone without an end from which and an effect in
which it is, or an effect alone, that is, an effect without its cause
and end. That this is so may be comprehended if it be observed that an
end without an effect, that is, separated from an effect, is a thing
without existence, and therefore a mere term. For in order that an end
may actually be an end it must be terminated, and it is terminated in its
effect, wherein it is first called an end because it is an end. It
appears as if the agent or the efficient exists by itself; but this so
appears from its being in the effect; but if separated from the effect
it would instantly vanish. From all this it is evident that these three,
end, cause, and effect, must be in every thing to make it anything.
168. It must be known further, that the end is everything in the cause,
and also everything in the effect; from this it is that end, cause, and
effect, are called first end, middle end, and last end. But that the end
may be everything in the cause, there must be something from the end [in
the cause] wherein the end shall be; and that the end may be everything
in the effect, there must be something from the end through the cause
[in the effect] wherein the end shall be. For the end cannot be in itself
alone, but it must be in something having existence from it, in which it
can dwell as to all that is its own, and by acting, come into effect,
until it has permanent existence. That in which it has permanent
existence is the last end, which is called effect.
169. These three, namely, end, cause, and effect, are in the created
universe, both in its greatest and least parts. They are in the greatest
and least parts of the created universe, because they are in God the
Creator, who is the Lord from eternity. But since He is Infinite, and
in the Infinite in finite things are one distinctly (as was shown above,
n. 17-22), therefore also these three in Him, and in His infinites, are
one distinctly. From this it is that the universe which was created from
His Esse, and which, regarded as to uses, is His image, possesses these
three in each and all of its parts.
170. The universal end, that is, the end of all things of creation, is
that there may be an eternal conjunction of the Creator with the created
universe; and this is not possible unless there are subjects wherein His
Divine can be as in Itself, thus in which it can dwell and abide. In
order that these subjects may be dwelling-places and mansions of Him,
they must be recipients of His love and wisdom as of themselves; such,
therefore, as will elevate themselves to the Creator as of themselves,
and conjoin themselves with Him. Without this ability to reciprocate no
conjunction is possible. These subjects are men, who are able as of
themselves to elevate and conjoin themselves. That men are such subjects,
and that they are recipients of the Divine as of themselves, has been
pointed out above many times. By means of this conjunction, the Lord is
present in every work created by Him; for everything has been created
for man as its end; consequently the uses of all created things ascend
by degrees from outmosts to man, and through man to God the Creator from
whom [are all things] (as was shown above, n. 65-68).
171. To this last end creation progresses continually, through these
three, namely, end, cause, and effect, because these three are in the
Lord the Creator (as was said just above); and the Divine apart from
space is in all space (n. 69-72); and is the same in things greatest
and least (77 - 82); from which it is evident that the created universe,
in its general progression to its last end, is relatively the middle end.
For out of the earth forms of uses are continually raised by the Lord the
Creator, in their order up to man, who as to his body is also from the
earth. Thereafter, man is elevated by the reception of love and wisdom
from the Lord; and for this reception of love and wisdom, all means are
provided; and he has been so made as to be able to receive, if he will.
From what has now been said it can be seen, though as yet only in a
general manner, that the end of creation takes form [existat] in outmost
things; which end is, that all things may return to the Creator, and that
there may be conjunction.
172. That these three, end, cause, and effect, are in each and every
thing created, can also be seen from this, that all effects, which are
called last ends, become anew first ends in uninterrupted succession
from the First, who is the Lord the Creator, even to the last end, which
is the conjunction of man with Him. That all last ends become anew first
ends is plain from this, that there can be nothing so inert and dead as
to have no efficient power in it. Even out of sand there is such an
exhalation as gives aid in producing, and therefore in effecting something.
173. PART THIRD.
IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD THERE ARE ATMOSPHERES, WATERS AND LANDS, JUST AS
IN THE NATURAL WORLD; ONLY THE FORMER ARE SPIRITUAL, WHILE THE LATTER ARE
NATURAL.
It has been said in the preceding pages, and shown in the work Heaven
and Hell, that the spiritual world is like the natural world, with the
difference only that each and every thing of the spiritual world is
spiritual, and each and every thing of the natural world is natural. As
these two worlds are alike, there are in both, atmospheres, waters, and
lands, which are the generals through and from which each and all things
take their form [existunt] with infinite variety.
174. As regards the atmospheres, which are called ethers and airs, they
are alike in both worlds, the spiritual and the natural, with the
difference only that they are spiritual in the spiritual world, and
natural in the natural world. The former are spiritual, because they
have their form from the sun which is the first proceeding of the Divine
Love and Divine Wisdom of the Lord, and from Him receive within them the
Divine fire which is love, and the Divine light which is wisdom, and
carry these down to the heavens where the angels dwell, and cause the
presence of that sun there in things greatest and least. The spiritual
atmospheres are divided substances, that is, least forms, originating
from the sun. As these each singly receive the sun, its fire, distributed
among so many substances, that is, so many forms, and as it were enveloped
by them, and tempered by these envelopments, becomes heat, adapted finally
to the love of angels in heaven and of spirits under heaven. The same is
true of the light of that sun. In this the natural atmospheres are like
spiritual atmospheres, that they also are divided substances or least
forms originating from the sun of the natural world; these also each
singly receive the sun and store up its fire in themselves, and temper
it, and carry it down as heat to the earth, where men dwell. The same is
true of natural light.
175. The difference between spiritual and natural atmospheres is that
spiritual atmospheres are receptacles of Divine fire and Divine light,
thus of love and wisdom, for they contain these interiorly within them;
while natural atmospheres are receptacles, not of Divine fire and Divine
light, but of the fire and light of their own sun, which in itself is
dead, as was shown above; consequently there is nothing interiorly in
them from the sun of the spiritual world, although they are environed
by spiritual atmospheres from that sun. That this is the difference
between spiritual and natural atmospheres has been learned from the
wisdom of angels.
176. That there are atmospheres in the spiritual, just as in the natural
world, can be seen from this, that angels and spirits breathe, and also
speak and hear - just as men do in the natural world; and respiration,
speech, and hearing are all effected by means of a lowest atmosphere,
which is called air; it can be seen also from this, that angels and
spirits, like men in the natural world, have sight, and sight is possible
only by means of an atmosphere purer than air; also from this, that
angels and spirits, like men in the natural world, think and are moved
by affection, and thought and affection are not possible except by means
of still purer atmospheres; and finally from this, that all parts of the
bodies of angels and spirits, external as well as internal, are held
together in connection by atmospheres, the external by air and the
internal by ethers. Without the surrounding pressure and action of these
atmospheres the interior and exterior forms of the body would evidently
dissolve away. Since angels are spiritual, and each and all things of
their bodies are held together in connection, form, and order by means
of atmospheres, it follows that these atmospheres are spiritual; they
are spiritual, because they arise from the spiritual sun which is the
first proceeding of the Lord's Divine Love and Divine Wisdom.
177. That there are also waters and lands in the spiritual as well as in
the natural world, with the difference that these waters and lands are
spiritual, has been said above and has been shown in the work Heaven and
Hell; and because these are spiritual, they are moved and modified by
the heat and light of the spiritual sun, the atmospheres therefrom serving
as mediums, just as the waters and lands in the natural world are moved
and modified by the heat and light of the sun of their world, its
atmospheres serving as mediums.
178. Atmospheres, waters, and lands are here specified, because these
three are generals, through and from which each and all things have
their form [existunt] in infinite variety. The atmospheres are the
active forces, the waters are the mediate forces, and the lands are
the passive forces, from which all effects have existence. These three
forces are such in their series solely by virtue of life that proceeds
from the Lord as a sun, and that makes them active.
179. THERE ARE DEGREES OF LOVE AND WISDOM, CONSEQUENTLY DEGREES OF HEAT
AND LIGHT ALSO DEGREES, OF ATMOSPHERES.
The things which follow cannot be comprehended unless it be known that
there are degrees, also what they are, and what their nature is, because
in every created thing, thus in every form, there are degrees. This Part
of Angelic Wisdom will therefore treat of degrees. That there are degrees
of love and wisdom can be clearly seen from the fact that there are angels
of the three heavens. The angels of the third heaven so far excel the
angels of the second heaven in love and wisdom, and these, the angels
of the lowest heaven, that they cannot be together. The degrees of love
and wisdom distinguish and separate them. It is from this that angels of
the lower heavens cannot ascend to angels of higher heavens, or if allowed
to ascend, they do not see the higher angels or anything that is about
them. They do not see them because the love and wisdom of the higher
angels is of a higher degree, transcending the perception of the lower
angels. For each angel is his own love and his own wisdom; and love
together with wisdom in its form is a man, because God, who is Love
itself and Wisdom itself, is a Man. It has sometimes been permitted me
to see angels of the lowest heaven who have ascended to the angels of
the third heaven; and when they had made their way thither, I have heard
them complaining that they did not see any one, and all the while they
were in the midst of the higher angels. Afterwards they were instructed
that those angels were invisible to them because their love and wisdom
were imperceptible to them, and that love and wisdom are what make an
angel appear as a man.
180. That there must be degrees of love and wisdom is still more evident
when the love and wisdom of angels are compared with the love and wisdom
of men. It is well known that the wisdom of angels, when thus compared,
is ineffable; also it will be seen in what follows that to men who are
in natural love, this wisdom is incomprehensible. It appears ineffable
and incomprehensible because it is of a higher degree.
181. Since there are degrees of love and wisdom, there are also degrees
of heat and light. By heat and light are meant spiritual heat and light,
such as angels in the heavens have, and such as men have as to the
interiors of their minds; for men have a heat of love similar to that
of the angels, and a similar light of wisdom. In the heavens, such and
so much love as the angels have, such and so much is their heat; and
the same is true of their light as compared with their wisdom; the reason
is, that with them love is in the heat, and wisdom in the light (as was
shown above). It is the same with men on earth, with the difference,
however, that angels feel that heat and see that light, but men do not,
because they are in natural heat and light; and while they are in the
natural heat and light spiritual heat is not felt except by a certain
enjoyment of love, and spiritual light is not seen except by a perception
of truth. Now since man, so long as he is in natural heat and light,
knows nothing of the spiritual heat and light within him, and since
knowledge of these can be obtained only through experience from the
spiritual world, the heat and light in which the angels and their
heavens are, shall here be especially spoken of. From this and from
no other source can enlightenment on this subject be had.
182. But degrees of spiritual heat cannot be described from experience,
because love, to which spiritual heat corresponds, does not come thus
under ideas of thought; but degrees of spiritual light can be described,
because light pertains to thought, and therefore comes under ideas of
thought. Yet degrees of spiritual heat can be comprehended by their
relation to the degrees of light, for the two are in like degree. With
respect then to spiritual light in which angels are, it has been granted
me to see it with my eyes. With angels of the higher heavens, the light
is so glistening white as to be indescribable, even by comparison with
the shining whiteness of snow, and so glowing as to be indescribable
even by comparison with the beams of this world's sun. In a word, that
light exceeds a thousand times the noonday light upon earth. But the
light with angels of the lower heavens can be described in a measure
by comparisons, although it still exceeds the most intense light of
our world. The light of angels of the higher heavens is indescribable,
because their light makes one with their wisdom; and because their
wisdom, compared to the wisdom of men, is ineffable, thus also is their
light. From these few things it can be seen that there must be degrees
of light; and because wisdom and love are of like degrees, it follows
that there must be like degrees of heat.
183. Since atmospheres are the receptacles and containants of heat and
light, it follows that there are as many degrees of atmospheres as there
are degrees of heat and light; also that there are as many as there are
degrees of love and wisdom. That there are several atmospheres, and that
these are distinct from each other by means of degrees, has been
manifested to me by much experience in the spiritual world; especially
from this, that angels of the lower heavens are not able to breathe in
the region of higher angels, and appear to themselves to gasp for
breath, as living creatures do when they are raised out of air into
ether, or out of water into air. Moreover, spirits below the heavens
appear in a kind of cloud. That there are several atmospheres, and that
they are distinct from each other by means of degrees, may be seen
above (n. 176).
184. DEGREES ARE OF A TWOFOLD KIND, DEGREES OF HEIGHT AND DEGREES OF
BREADTH.
A knowledge of degrees is like a key to lay open the causes of things,
and to give entrance into them. Without this knowledge, scarcely
anything of cause can be known; for without it, the objects and
subjects of both worlds seem to have but a single meaning, as if there
were nothing in them beyond that which meets the eye; when yet compared
to the things which lie hidden within, what is thus seen is as one to
thousands, yea, to tens of thousands. The interiors which are not open
to view can in no way be discovered except through a knowledge of
degrees. For things exterior advance to things interior and through
these to things inmost, by means of degrees; not by continuous degrees
but by discrete degrees. "Continuous degrees" is a term applied to the
gradual lessenings or decreasings from grosser to finer, or from denser
to rarer; or rather, to growths and increasings from finer to grosser,
or from rarer to denser; precisely like the gradations of light to shade,
or of heat to cold. But discrete degrees are entirely different: they
are like things prior, subsequent and final; or like end, cause, and
effect. These degrees are called discrete, because the prior is by
itself; the subsequent by itself; and the final by itself; and yet
taken together they make one. There are atmospheres, from highest to
lowest, that is, from the sun to the earth, called ethers and airs that
are separated into such degrees; they are like simples, collections of
simples, and again collections of these, which taken together are called
a composite. Such degrees are discrete [or separate], because each has
a distinct existence, and these degrees are what are meant by "degrees
of height;" but the former degrees are continuous, because they increase
continuously and these degrees are what are meant by "degrees of breadth."
185. Each and all things that have existence in the spiritual world and
in the natural world, have conjoint existence from discrete degrees and
from continuous degrees together, that is, from degrees of height and
from degrees of breadth. The dimension which consists of discrete degrees
is called height, and the dimension that consists of continuous degrees
is called breadth; their position relatively to the sight of the eye does
not alter the designation. Without a knowledge of these degrees nothing
can be known of how the three heavens differ from each other; nor can
anything be known of the differences of love and wisdom of the angels
there; nor of the differences of heat and light in which they are; nor
of the differences of atmospheres which environ and contain these. Nor
without a knowledge of these degrees can anything be known of the
differences among the interior powers of the minds of men, thus nothing
of their state as regards reformation and regeneration; nor anything
of the differences among the exterior powers of the bodies both of angels
and men; and nothing whatever can be known of the distinction between
spiritual and natural, thus nothing of correspondence. Nor, indeed, can
anything be known of any difference between the life of men and that of
beasts, or between the more perfect and the less perfect animals; neither
of the differences among the forms of the vegetable kingdom, nor among
the matters of the mineral kingdom. From which it can be seen that they
who are ignorant of these degrees are unable to see causes from anything
of judgment; they see only effects, and from these judge of causes,
which is done for the most part by an induction that is continuous
with effects. But causes produce effects not continuously but discretely;
for cause is one thing, and effect is another. The difference between the
two is like the difference between prior and subsequent, or between that
which forms and that which is formed.
186. That it may be still better comprehended what discrete degrees are,
what their nature is, and how they differ from continuous degrees, the
angelic heavens may serve as an example. There are three heavens, and
these are separated by degrees of height; therefore the heavens are one
below another, nor do they communicate with each other except by influx,
which proceeds from the Lord through the heavens in their order to the
lowest; and not contrariwise. Each heaven by itself, however, is divided
not by degrees of height but by degrees of breadth. Those who are in the
middle, that is, at the center, are in the light of wisdom; but those
who are around about, even to the boundaries, are in the shade of wisdom.
Thus wisdom grows less and less even to ignorance, as light decreases to
shade, which takes place continuously. It is the same with men. The
interiors belonging to their minds are separated into as many degrees
as the angelic heavens; and these degrees are one above another;
therefore the interiors of men which belong to their minds are separated
by discrete degrees, that is, degrees of height. Consequently a man may
be in the lowest degree, then in a higher, and also in the highest
degree, according to the degree of his wisdom; moreover, when he is
in the lowest degree only, the higher degree is shut, - but is opened
as he receives wisdom from the Lord. There are also in a man, as in
heaven, continuous degrees, that is degrees of breadth. A man is like
the heavens because as regards the interiors of his mind, he is a heaven
in least form, in the measure in which he is in love and wisdom from the
Lord. That man as regards the interiors of his mind is a heaven in least
form may be seen in the work Heaven and Hell (n. 51-58.)
187. From all this it can be seen, that one who knows nothing about
discrete degrees, that is, degrees of height, can know nothing about the
state of man as regards his reformation and regeneration, which are
effected through the reception of love and wisdom of the Lord, and
then through the opening of the interior degrees of his mind in their
order. Nor can he know anything about influx from the Lord through the
heavens nor anything about the order into which he was created. For if
anyone thinks about these, not from discrete degrees or degrees of
height but from continuous degrees or degrees of breadth, he is not able
to perceive anything about them from causes, but only from effects; and
to see from effects only is to see from fallacies, from which come
errors, one after another; and these may be so multiplied by inductions
that at length enormous falsities are called truths.
188. I am not aware that anything has been known hitherto about discrete
degrees or degrees of height, only continuous degrees or degrees of
breadth have been known; yet nothing of the real truth about cause can
become known without a knowledge of degrees of both kinds. These degrees
therefore shall be treated of throughout this Part; for it is the object
of this little work to uncover causes, that effects may-be seen from
them, and thus the darkness may be dispelled in which the man of the
church is in respect to God and the Lord, and in respect to Divine things
in general which are called spiritual things. This I may mention, that
the angels are in grief for the darkness on the earth; saying that they
see light hardly anywhere, and that men eagerly lay hold of fallacies
and confirm them, thereby multiplying falsities upon falsities; and to
confirm fallacies men search out, by means of reasonings from falsities
and from truths falsified, such things as cannot be controverted, owing
to the darkness in respect to causes and the ignorance respecting truths.
The angels lament especially over confirmations respecting faith separate
from charity and justification thereby; also over men's ideas about God,
angels and spirits, and their ignorance of what love and wisdom are.
189. DEGREES OF HEIGHT ARE HOMOGENEOUS, AND ONE IS FROM THE OTHER IN
SUCCESSION LIKE END, CAUSE, AND EFFECT.
As degrees of breadth, that is continuous degrees, are like gradations
from light to shade, from heat to cold, from hard to soft, from dense
to rare, from thick to thin, and so forth; and as these degrees are
known from sensuous and ocular experience, while degrees of height, or
discrete degrees, are not, the latter kind shall be treated of especially
in this Part; for without a knowledge of these degrees, causes cannot be
seen. It is known indeed that end, cause, and effect follow in order,
like prior, subsequent, and final; also that the end begets the cause,
and, through the cause, the effect, that the end may have form; also about
these many other things are known; and yet to know these things, and not
to see them in their applications to existing things is simply to know
abstractions, which remain in the memory only so long as the mind is in
analytical ideas from metaphysical thought. From this it is that although
end, cause, and effect advance according to discrete degrees, little if
anything is known in the world about these degrees. For a mere knowledge
of abstractions is like an airy something which flies away; but when
abstractions are applied to such things as are in the world, they become
like what is seen with the eyes on earth, and remains in the memory.
190. All things which have existence in the world, of which threefold
dimension is predicated, that is, which are called compounds, consist
of degrees of height, that is, discrete degrees; as examples will make
clear. It is known from ocular experience, that every muscle in the human
body consists of minute fibers, and these put together into little bundles
form larger fibers, called motor fibers, and groups of these form the
compound called a muscle. It is the same with nerves; in these from minute
fibers larger fibers are compacted, which appear as filaments, and these
grouped together compose the nerve. The same is true of the rest of the
combinations, bundlings and groupings out of which the organs and viscera
are made up; for these are compositions of fibers and vessels variously
put together according to like degrees. It is the same also with each and
every thing of the vegetable and mineral kingdoms. In woods there are
combinations of filaments in threefold order. In metals and stones there
are groupings of parts, also in threefold order. From all this the
nature of discrete degrees can be seen, namely, that one is from the
other, and through the second there is a third which is called the
composite; and that each degree is discreted from the others.
191. From these examples a conclusion may be formed respecting those
things that are not visible to the eye, for with those it is the same;
for example, with the organic substances which are the receptacles and
abodes of thoughts and affections in the brains; with atmospheres; with
heat and light; and with love and wisdom. For atmospheres are receptacles
of heat and light; and heat and light are receptacles of love and wisdom;
consequently, as there are degrees of atmospheres, there are also like
degrees of heat and light, and of love and wisdom; for the same principle
applies to the latter as to the former.
192. That these degrees are homogeneous, that is, of the same character
and nature, appears from what has just been said. The motor fibers of
muscles, least, larger, and largest, are homogeneous. Woody filaments,
from the least to the composite formed of these, are homogeneous. So
likewise are parts of stones and metals of every kind. The organic
substances which are receptacles and abodes of thoughts and affections,
from the most simple to their general aggregate which is the brain, are
homogeneous. The atmospheres, from pure ether to air, are homogeneous.
The degrees of heat and light in series, following the degrees of
atmospheres, are homogeneous, therefore the degrees of love and wisdom
are also homogeneous. Things which are not of the same character and
nature are heterogeneous, and do not harmonize with things homogeneous;
thus they cannot form discrete degrees with them, but only with their
own, which are of the same character and nature and with which they are
homogeneous.
193. That these things in their order are like ends, causes, and effects,
is evident; for the first, which is the least, effectuates its cause by
means of the middle, and its effect by means of the last.
194. It should be known that each degree is made distinct from the others
by coverings of its own, and that all the degrees together are made
distinct by means of a general covering; also, that this general covering
communicates with interiors and inmosts in their order. From this there
is conjunction of all and unanimous action.
195. THE FIRST DEGREE IS THE ALL IN EVERYTHING OF THE SUBSEQUENT DEGREES.
This is because the degrees of each subject and of each thing are
homogeneous; and they are homogeneous because produced from the first
degree. For their formation is such that the first, by bundlings or
groupings, in a word, by aggregations of parts, produces the second,
and through this the third; and discretes each from the other by a
covering drawn around it; from which it is clear that the first degree
is chief and singly supreme in the subsequent degrees; consequently that
in all things of the subsequent degrees, the first is the all.
196. When it is said that degrees are such in respect to each other, the
meaning is that substances are such in their degrees. This manner of
speaking by degrees is abstract, that is, universal, which makes the
statement applicable to every subject or thing which is in degrees of
this kind.
197. This can be applied to all those things which have been enumerated
in the preceding chapter, to the muscles, the nerves, the matters and
parts of both the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, to the organic
substances that are the subjects of thoughts and affections in man, to
atmospheres, to heat and light, and to love and wisdom. In all these,
the first is singly supreme in the subsequent things; yea, it is the
sole thing in them, and because it is the sole thing in them, it is the
all in them. That this is so is clear also from these well-known truths;
that the end is the all of the cause, and through the cause is the all
of the effect; and thus end, cause, and effect are called first, middle,
and last end. Further, that the cause of the cause is also the cause of
the thing caused; and that there is nothing essential in causes except
the end, and nothing essential in movement excepting effort [conatus];
also, that the substance that is substance in itself is the sole substance.
198. From all this it can clearly be seen that the Divine, which is
substance in itself, that is, the one only and sole substance, is the
substance from which is each and every thing that has been created; thus
that God is the All in all things of the universe, according to what has
been shown in Part First, as follows. Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are
substance and form (n. 40-43); Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are
substance and form in itself, therefore the Very and the Only (n. 44-46);
all things in the universe were created by Divine Love and Divine Wisdom
(n. 52-60); consequently the created universe is His image (n. 61-65);
the Lord alone is heaven where angels are (n. 113-118).
199. ALL PERFECTIONS INCREASE AND ASCEND ALONG WITH DEGREES AND ACCORDING
TO THEM.
That degrees are of two kinds, degrees of breadth and degrees of height
has been shown above (n. 185-188); also that degrees of breadth are like
those of light verging to shade, or of wisdom verging to ignorance; but
that degrees of height are like end, cause and effect, or like prior,
subsequent and final. Of these latter degrees it is said that they ascend
or descend, for they are of height; but of the former that they increase
or decrease for they are of breadth. These two kinds of degrees differ so
much that they have nothing in common; they should therefore be perceived
as distinct, and by no means be confounded.
200. All perfections increase and ascend along with degrees and according
to them, because all predicates follow their subjects, and perfection and
imperfection are general predicates; for they are predicated of life, of
forces and of forms.
Perfection of life is perfection of love and wisdom; and because the will
and understanding are receptacles of love and wisdom, perfection of life
is also perfection of will and understanding, consequently of affections
and thoughts; and because spiritual heat is the containant of love, and
spiritual light is the containant of wisdom, perfection of these may also
be referred to perfection of life.
Perfection of forces is perfection of all things that are actuated and
moved by life, in which, however, there is no life. Atmospheres as to
their active powers are such forces; the interior and exterior organic
substances with man, and with animals of every kind, are such forces;
all things in the natural world that are endowed with active powers both
immediately and mediately from its sun are such forces.
Perfection of forms and perfection of forces make one, for as the forces
are, such are the forms; with the difference only, that forms are
substances but forces are their activities; therefore like degrees of
perfection belong to both. Forms that are not at the same time forces
are also perfect according to degrees.
201. The perfection of life, forces, and forms that increase or decrease
according to degrees of breadth, that is, continuous degrees, will not
be discussed here, because there is a knowledge of these degrees in the
world; but only the perfections of life, forces, and forms that ascend
or descend according to degrees of height, that is, discrete degrees;
because these degrees are not known in the world. Of the mode in which
perfections ascend and descend according to these degrees little can be
learned from things visible in the natural world, but this can be seen
clearly from things visible in the spiritual world. From things visible
in the natural world it is merely found that the more interiorly they
are looked into the more do wonders present themselves; as, for instance,
in the eyes, ears, tongue; in muscles, heart, lungs, liver, pancreas,
kidneys, and other viscera; also, in seeds, fruits and flowers; and in
metals, minerals and stones. That wonders increase in all these the more
interiorly they are looked into is well known; yet it has become little
known thereby that the objects are interiorly more perfect according to
degrees of height or discrete degrees. This has been concealed by
ignorance of these degrees. But since these degrees stand out
conspicuously in the spiritual world (for the whole of that world from
highest to lowest is distinctly discreted into these degrees), from that
world knowledge of these degrees can be drawn; and afterwards conclusions
may be drawn therefrom respecting the perfection of forces and forms that
are in similar degrees in the natural world.
202. In the spiritual world there are three heavens, arranged according
to degrees of height. In the highest heavens are angels superior in
every perfection to the angels in the middle heaven; and in the middle
heaven are angels superior in every perfection to the angels in the
lowest heaven. The degrees of perfections are such, that angels of the
lowest heaven cannot attain to the first threshold of the perfections
of the angels of the middle heaven, nor these to the first threshold of
the perfections of the angels of the highest heaven. This seems incredible,
yet it is a truth. The reason is that they are consociated according to
discrete, not according to continuous degrees. I have learned from
observation that the difference between the affections and thoughts,
and consequently the speech, of the angels of the higher and the lower
heavens, is such that they have nothing in common; and that communication
takes place only through correspondences, which have existence by
immediate influx of the Lord into all the heavens, and by mediate influx
through the highest heaven into the lowest. Such being the nature of
these differences, they cannot be expressed in natural language,
therefore not described; for the thoughts of angels, being spiritual,
do not fall into natural ideas. They can be expressed and described
only by angels themselves, in their own languages, words, and writings,
and not in those that are human. This is why it is said that in the
heavens unspeakable things are heard and seen. These differences may be
in some measure comprehended when it is known that the thoughts of
angels of the highest or third heaven are thoughts of ends; the thoughts
of angels of the middle or second heaven thoughts of causes, and the
thoughts of angels of the lowest or first heaven thoughts of effects.
It must be noted, that it is one thing to think from ends, and another
to think about ends; that it is one thing to think from causes, and
another to think about causes; and that it is one thing to think from
effects, and another to think about effects. Angels of the lower heavens
think about causes and about ends, but angels of the higher heavens
from causes and from ends; and to think from these is a mark of higher
wisdom, but to think about these is the mark of lower wisdom. To think
from ends is of wisdom, to think from causes is of intelligence, and to
think from effects is of knowledge. From all this it is clear that all
perfection ascends and descends along with degrees and according to them.
203. Since the interior things of man, which are of his will and
understanding, are like the heavens in respect to degrees (for man,
as to the interiors of his mind, is a heaven in least form), their
perfections also are like those of the heavens. But these perfections
are not apparent to any one so long as he lives in the world, because
he is then in the lowest degree; and from the lowest degree the higher
degrees cannot be known; but they are known after death, because man
then enters into that degree which corresponds to his love and wisdom,
for he then becomes an angel, and thinks and speaks things ineffable
to his natural man; for there is then an elevation of all things of
his mind, not in a single, but in a threefold ratio. Degrees of height
are in threefold ratio, but degrees of breadth are in single ratio. But
into degrees of height none ascend and are elevated except those who in
the world have been in truths, and have applied them to life.
204. It seems as if things prior must be less perfect than things
subsequent, that is, things simple than things composite; but things
prior out of which things subsequent are formed, that is, things simple
out of which things composite are formed, are the more perfect. The
reason is that the prior or the simpler are more naked and less covered
over with substances and matters devoid of life, and are, as it were,
more Divine, consequently nearer to the spiritual sun where the Lord
is; for perfection itself is in the Lord, and from Him in that sun which
is the first proceeding of His Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and from
that in those things which come immediately after; and thus in order
down to things lowest, which are less perfect as they are farther removed.
Without such preeminent perfection in things prior and simple, neither
man nor any kind of animal could have come into existence from seed, and
afterwards continue to exist; nor could the seeds of trees and shrubs
vegetate and bear fruit. For the more prior anything prior is, or the
more simple anything simple is, the more exempt is it from injury,
because it is more perfect.
205. IN SUCCESSIVE ORDER THE FIRST DEGREE MAKES THE HIGHEST, AND THE
THIRD THE LOWEST; BUT IN SIMULTANEOUS ORDER THE FIRST DEGREE MAKES THE
INNERMOST, AND THE THIRD THE OUTERMOST.
There is successive order and simultaneous order. The successive order
of these degrees is from highest to lowest, or from top to bottom. The
angelic heavens are in this order; the third heaven there is the highest,
the second is the middle, and the first is the lowest; such is their
relative situation. In like successive order are the states of love and
wisdom with the angels there, also states of heat and light, and of the
spiritual atmospheres. In like order are all the perfections of the
forms and forces there. When degrees of height, that is, discrete degrees,
are in successive order, they may be compared to a column divided into
three stories, through which ascent and descent are made. In the upper
rooms are things most perfect and most beautiful; in the middle rooms,
things less perfect and beautiful; in the lowest, things still less
perfect and beautiful. But simultaneous order, which consists of like
degrees, has another appearance. In it, the highest things of successive
order, which are (as was said above) the most perfect and most beautiful,
are in the inmost, the lower things are in the middle, and the lowest in
the circumference. They are as if in a solid body composed of these three
degrees: in the middle or center are the finest parts, round about this
are parts less fine, and in the extremes which constitute the
circumference are the parts composed of these and which are therefore
grosser. It is like the column mentioned just above subsiding into a
plane, the highest part of which forms the innermost of the plane, the
middle forms the middle, and the lowest the outermost.
206. As the highest of successive order becomes the innermost of
simultaneous order, and the lowest becomes the outermost, so in the Word,
"higher" signifies inner, and "lower" signifies outer. "Upwards" and
"downwards," and "high" and "deep" have a like meaning.
207. In every outmost there are discrete degrees in simultaneous order.
The motor fibers in every muscle, the fibers in every nerve, also the
fibers and the little vessels in all viscera and organs, are in such
an order. Innermost in these are the most simple things, which are the
most perfect; the outermost is a composite of these. There is a like
order of these degrees in every seed and in every fruit, also in every
metal and stone; their parts, of which the whole is composed, are of
such a nature. The innermost, the middle, and the outermost elements
of the parts exist in these degrees, for they are successive compositions,
that is, bundlings and massings together from simples that are their first
substances or matters.
208. In a word, there are such degrees in every outmost, thus in every
effect. For every outmost consists of things prior and these of their
firsts. And every effect consists of a cause, and this of an end; and
end is the all of cause, and cause is the all of effect (as was shown
above); and end makes the inmost, cause the middle, and effect the
outmost. The same is true of degrees of love and wisdom, and of heat
and light, also of the organic forms of affections and thoughts in man
(as will be seen in what follows). The series of these degrees in
successive order and in simultaneous order has been treated of also in
The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the Sacred Scripture
(n. 38, and elsewhere), where it is shown that there are like degrees
in each and all things of the Word.
209. THE OUTMOST DEGREE IS THE COMPLEX, CONTAINANT AND BASE OF THE PRIOR
DEGREES.
The doctrine of degrees which is taught in this Part, has hitherto been
illustrated by various things which exist in both worlds; as by the
degrees of the heavens where angels dwell, by the degrees of heat and
light with them, and by the degrees of atmospheres, and by various things
in the human body, and also in the animal and mineral kingdoms. But
this doctrine has a wider range; it extends not only to natural, but
also to civil, moral, and spiritual things, and to each and all their
details. There are two reasons why the doctrine of degrees extends also
to such things. First, in every thing of which anything can be predicated
there is the trine which is called end, cause, and effect, and these
three are related to one another according to degrees of height. And
secondly things civil, moral, and spiritual are not something abstract
from substance, but are substances. For as love and wisdom are not
abstract things, but substance (as was shown above, n. 40-43), so in
like manner are all things that are called civil, moral, and spiritual.
These may be thought of abstractly from substances, yet in themselves
they are not abstract; as for example, affection and thought, charity
and faith, will and understanding; for it is the same with these as
with love and wisdom, in that they are not possible outside of subjects
which are substances, but are states of subjects, that is, substances.
That they are changes of these, presenting variations, will be seen in
what follows. By substance is also meant form, for substance is not
possible apart from form.
210. From its being possible to think of will and understanding, of
affection and thought, and of charity and faith, abstractly from the
substances which are their subjects, and from their having been so
thought of, it has come to pass, that a correct idea of these things,
as being states of substances or forms, has perished. It is altogether
as with sensations and actions, which are not things abstract from the
organs of sensation and motion. Abstracted, that is, separate, from these
they are mere figments of reason; for they are like sight apart from an
eye, hearing apart from an ear, taste apart from a tongue, and so forth.
211. Since all things civil, moral, and spiritual advance through
degrees, just as natural things do, not only through continuous but
also through discrete degrees; and since the progressions of discrete
degrees are like progressions of ends to causes, and of causes to
effects, I have chosen to illustrate and confirm the present point,
that the outmost degree is the complex, containant, and base of prior
degrees, by the things above mentioned, that is, by what pertains to
love and wisdom, to will and understanding, to affection and thought,
and to charity and faith.
212. That the outmost degree is the complex, containant, and base of
prior degrees, is clearly seen from progression of ends and causes to
effects. That the effect is the complex, containant, and base of causes
and ends can be comprehended by enlightened reason; but it is not so
clear that the end with all things thereof, and the cause with all things
thereof, are actually in the effect, and that the effect is their full
complex. That such is the case can be seen from what has been said above
in this Part, particularly from this, that one thing is from another in
a threefold series, and that the effect is nothing else than the end in
its outmost. And since the outmost is the complex, it follows that it is
the containant and also the base.
213. As regards love and wisdom:-Love is the end, wisdom the instrumental
cause, and use is the effect; and use is the complex, containant, and
base of wisdom and love; and use is such a complex and such a containant,
that all things of love and all things of wisdom are actually in it; it
is where they are all simultaneously present. But it should be borne in
mind that all things of love and wisdom, which are homogeneous and
concordant, are present in use, according to what is said and shown
above (in chapter, n. 189-194).
214. Affection, thought, and action are also in a series of like degrees,
because all affection has relation to love, thought to wisdom, and action
to use. Charity, faith, and good works are in a series of like degrees,
for charity is of affection, faith of thought, and good works of action.
Will, understanding, and doing are also in a series of like degrees; for
will is of love and so of affection, understanding is of wisdom and so
of faith, and doing is of use and so of work; as, then, all things of
wisdom and love are present in use, so all things of thought and affection
are present in action, all things of faith and charity in good works, and
so forth; but all are homogeneous, that is, concordant.
215. That the outmost in each series, that is to say, use, action, work,
and doing, is the complex and containant of all things prior, has not
yet been known. There seems to be nothing more in use, in action, in
work, and in doing than such as there is in movement; yet all things
prior are actually present in these, and so fully that nothing is lacking.
They are contained therein like wine in its cask, or like furniture in
a house. They are not apparent, because they are regarded only externally;
and regarded externally they are simply activities and motions. It is as
when the arms and hands are moved, and man is not conscious that a
thousand motor fibers concur in every motion of them, and that to the
thousand motor fibers correspond thousands of things of thought and
affection, by which the motor fibers are excited. As these act deep
within, they are not apparent to any bodily sense. This much is known,
that nothing is done in or through the body except from the will through
the thought; and because both of these act, it must needs be that each
and all things of the will and thought are present in the action. They
cannot be separated; consequently from a man's deeds or works others
judge of the thought of his will, which is called his intention. It has
been made known to me that angels, from a man's deed or work alone,
perceive and see every thing of the will and thought of the doer; angels
of the third heaven perceiving and seeing from his will the end for which
he acts, and angels of the second heaven the cause through which the end
operates. It is from this that works and deeds are so often commanded in
the Word, and that it is said that a man is known by his works.
216. It is according to angelic wisdom that unless the will and
understanding, that is, affection and thought, as well as charity and
faith, clothe and wrap themselves in works or deeds, whenever possible,
they are only like something airy which passes away, or like phantoms in
air which perish; and that they first become permanent in man and a part
of his life, when he practices and does them. The reason is that the
outmost is the complex, containant, and base of things prior. Such an
airy nothing and such a phantom is faith separated from good works; such
also are faith and charity without their exercise, with this difference
only, that those who hold to faith and charity know what is good and can
will to do it, but not so those who are in faith separated from charity.
217. THE DEGREES OF HEIGHT ARE IN FULLNESS AND IN POWER IN THEIR OUTMOST
DEGREE.
In the preceding chapter it is shown that the outmost degree is the
complex and containant of prior degrees. From this it follows that prior
degrees are in their fullness in their outmost degree, for they are in
their effect, and every effect is the fullness of causes.
218. That these ascending and descending degrees, also called prior and
subsequent, likewise degrees of height or discrete degrees, are in their
power in their outmost degree, may be confirmed by all those things that
have been adduced in the preceding chapters as confirmations from objects
of sense and perception. Here, however, I choose to confirm them only by
the conatus, forces and motions in dead and in living subjects. It is
known that conatus does nothing of itself, but acts through forces
corresponding to it, thereby producing motion; consequently that conatus
is the all in forces, and through forces is the all in motion; and since
motion is the outmost degree of conatus, through motion conatus exerts
its power. Conatus, force, and motion are no otherwise conjoined than
according to degrees of height, conjunction of which is not by continuity,
for they are discrete, but by correspondences. For conatus is not force,
nor is force motion, but force is produced by conatus, because force is
conatus made active, and through force motion is produced; consequently
there is no power in conatus alone, nor in force alone, but in motion,
which is their product. That this is so may still seem doubtful, because
not illustrated by applications to sensible and perceptible things in
nature; nevertheless, such is the progression of conatus, force, and
motion into power.
219. But let application of this be made to living conatus, and to living
force, and to living motion. Living conatus in man, who is a living
subject, is his will united to his understanding; living forces in man
are the interior constituents of his body, in all of which there are
motor fibers interlacing in various ways; and living motion in man is
action, which is produced through these forces by the will united to
the understanding. For the interior things pertaining to the will and
understanding make the first degree; the interior things pertaining to
the body make the second degree; and the whole body, which is the complex
of these, makes the third degree. That the interior things pertaining to
the mind have no power except through forces in the body, also that forces
have no power except through the action of the body itself, is well known.
These three do not act by what is continuous, but by what is discrete;
and to act by what is discrete is to act by correspondences. The interiors
of the mind correspond to the interiors of the body, and the interiors of
the body correspond to the exteriors, through which actions come forth;
consequently the two prior degrees have power through the exteriors of
the body. It may seem as if conatus and forces in man have some power
even when there is no action, as in sleep and in states of rest, but still
at such times the determinations of conatus and forces are directed into
the general motor organs of the body, which are the heart and the lungs;
but when their action ceases the forces also cease, and, with the forces,
the conatus.
220. Since the powers of the whole, that is, of the body, are determined
chiefly into the arms and hands, which are outmosts, "arms" and "hands,"
in the Word, signify power, and the "right hand" signifies superior power.
And such being the evolution and putting forth of degrees into power, the
angels that are with man and in correspondence with all things belonging
to him, know merely from such action as is effected through the hands,
what a man is in respect to his understanding and will, also his charity
and faith, thus in respect to the internal life pertaining to his mind
and the external life derived therefrom in the body. I have often wondered
that the angels have such knowledge from the mere action of the body
through the hands; but that it is so has been shown to me repeatedly by
living experience, and it has been said that it is from this that
inductions into the ministry are performed by the laying on of the hands,
and that "touching with the hand" signifies communicating, with other
like things. From all this the conclusion is formed, that the all of
charity and faith is in works, and that charity and faith without works
are like rainbows about the sun, which vanish away and are dispersed by
a cloud. On this account "works" and "doing works" are so often mentioned
in the Word, and it is said that a man's salvation depends upon these;
moreover, he that doeth is called a wise man, and he that doeth not is
called a foolish man. But it should be remembered that by "works" here
are meant uses actually done; for the all of charity and faith is in uses
and according to uses. There is this correspondence of works with uses,
because the correspondence is spiritual, but it is carried out through
substances and matters, which are subjects.
221. Two arcana, which are brought within reach of the understanding by
what precedes, may here be revealed. The First Arcanum is that the Word
is in its fullness and in its power in the sense of the letter. For there
are three senses in the Word, according to the three degrees; the celestial
sense, the spiritual sense, and the natural sense. Since these senses are
in the Word according to the three degrees of height, and their conjunction
is effected by correspondences, the outmost sense, which is the natural
and is called the sense of the letter, is not only the complex, containant
and base of the corresponding interior senses, but moreover in the outmost
sense the Word is in its fullness and in its power. This is abundantly
shown and proved in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the
Sacred Scripture (n. 27-35, 36-49, 50-61, 62-69). The Second Arcanum is
that the Lord came into the world, and took upon Him the Human, in order
to put Himself into the power of subjugating the hells, and of reducing
all things to order both in the heavens and on the earth. This Human He
put on over His former Human. This Human which He put on in the world was
like the human of a man in the world. Yet both Humans are Divine, and
therefore infinitely transcend the finite humans of angels and men. And
because He fully glorified the natural Human even to its outmosts, He
rose again with the whole body, differently from any man. Through the
assumption of this Human the Lord put on Divine Omnipotence not only
for subjugating the hells, and reducing the heavens to order, but also
holding the hells in subjection to eternity, and saving mankind. This
power is meant by His "sitting at the right hand of the power and might
of God." Because the Lord, by the assumption of a natural Human, made
Himself Divine Truth in outmosts, He is called "the Word," and it is said
that "the Word was made flesh;" moreover, Divine Truth in outmosts is
the Word in the sense of the letter. This the Lord made Himself by
fulfilling all things of the Word concerning Himself in Moses and the
Prophets. For while every man is his own good and his own truth, and man
is man on no other ground, the Lord, by the assumption of a natural Human,
is Divine Good itself and Divine Truth itself, or what is the same, He is
Divine Love itself and Divine Wisdom itself, both in Firsts and in Lasts.
Consequently the Lord, since His advent into the world, appears as a sun
in the angelic heavens, in stronger radiance and in greater splendor than
before His advent. This is an arcanum which is brought within the range
of the understanding by the doctrine of degrees. The Lord's omnipotence
before His advent into the world will be treated of in what follows.
222. THERE ARE DEGREES OF BOTH KINDS IN THE GREATEST AND IN THE LEAST
OF ALL CREATED THINGS.
That the greatest and the least of all things consist of discrete and
continuous degrees, that is, of degrees of height and of breadth, cannot
be illustrated by examples from visible objects, because the least things
are not visible to the eyes, and the greatest things which are visible
seem undistinguished into degrees; consequently this matter does not
allow of demonstration otherwise than by universals. And since angels
are in wisdom from universals, and from that in knowledge of particulars,
it is allowed to bring forward their statements concerning these things.
223. The statements of angels on this subject are as follows: There can
be nothing so minute as not to have in it degrees of both kinds; for
instance, there can be nothing so minute in any animal, or in any plant,
or in any mineral, or in the ether or air, as not to have in it degrees
of both kinds, and since ether and air are receptacles of heat and light,
and spiritual heat and spiritual light are the receptacles of love and
wisdom, there can be nothing of heat and light or of love and wisdom so
minute as not to have in it degrees of both kinds. Angels also declare
that the minutest thing of an affection and the minutest thing of a
thought, nay, the minutest thing of an idea of thought, consists of
degrees of both kinds, and that a minute thing not consisting of these
degrees would be nothing; for it would have no form, thus no quality,
nor any state which could be changed and varied, and by this means have
existence. Angels confirm this by the truth, that infinite things in God
the Creator, who is the Lord from eternity, are one distinctly; and that
there are infinite things in His infinites; and that in things infinitely
infinite there are degrees of both kinds, which also in Him are one
distinctly; and because these things are in Him, and all things were
created by Him, and things created repeat in an image the things which
are in Him, it follows that there cannot be the least finite in which
there are not such degrees. These degrees are equally in things least
and greatest, because the Divine is the same in things greatest and in
things least. That in God-Man infinite things are one distinctly, see
above (n. 17-22); and that the Divine is the same in things greatest
and in things least (n. 77-82); which positions are further illustrated
(n. 155, 169, 171).
224. There cannot be the least thing of love and wisdom, or the least
thing of affection and thought, or even the least thing of an idea of
thought, in which there are not degrees of both kinds, for the reason
that love and wisdom are substance and form (as shown above, n. 50-53),
and the same is true of affection and thought; and because there can be
no form in which these degrees are not (as was said above), it follows
that in these there are like degrees; for to separate love and wisdom,
or affection and thought, from substance in form, is to annihilate them,
since they are not possible outside of their subjects; for they are states
of their subjects perceived by man varyingly, which states present them
to view.
225. The greatest things in which there are degrees of both kinds, are
the universe in its whole complex, the natural world in its complex,
and the spiritual world in its complex; every empire and every kingdom
in its complex; also, all civil, moral and spiritual concerns of these
in their complex; the whole animal kingdom, the whole vegetable kingdom,
and the whole mineral kingdom, each in its complex; all atmospheres of
both worlds taken together, also their heats and lights. Likewise things
less general, as man in his complex; every animal in its complex, every
tree and every shrub in its complex; as also every stone and every metal
in its complex. The forms of these are alike in this, that they consist
of degrees of both kinds; the reason is that the Divine, by which they
were created, is the same in things greatest and least (as was shown
above, n.77-82). The particulars and the veriest particulars of all
these are like generals and the largest generals in this, that they are
forms of both kinds of degrees.
226. On account of things greatest and least being forms of both kinds
of degrees, there is connection between them from first to last; for
likeness conjoins them. Still, there can be no least thing which is the
same as any other; consequently all particulars are distinct from each
other, likewise all veriest particulars. In any form or in different
forms there can be no least thing the same as any other, for the reason
that in greatest forms there are like degrees, and the greatest are made
up of leasts. From there being such degrees in things greatest, and
perpetual differences in accordance with these degrees, from top to
bottom and from center to circumference, it follows that their lesser
or least constituents, in which there are like degrees, can no one of
them be the same as any other.
227. It is likewise a matter of angelic wisdom that from this similitude
between generals and particulars, that is, between things greatest and
least in respect to these degrees, comes the perfection of the created
universe; for thereby one thing regards another as its like, with which
it can be conjoined for every use, and can present every end in effect.
228. But these things may seem paradoxical, because they are not explained
by application to visible things; yet things abstract, being universals,
are often better comprehended than things applied, for these are of
perpetual variety, and variety obscures.
229. Some contend that there can be a substance so simple as not to be
a form from lesser forms, and out of that substance, through a process
of massing, substantiated or composite things arise, and finally
substances called material. But there can be no such absolutely simple
substances. For what is substance without form? It is that of which
nothing can be predicated; and out of mere being of which nothing can
be predicated, no process of massing can make anything. That there are
things innumerable in the first created substance of all things, which
are things most minute and simple, will be seen in what follows, where
forms are treated of.
230. IN THE LORD THE THREE DEGREES OF HEIGHT ARE INFINITE AND UNCREATE,
BUT IN MAN THE THREE DEGREES ARE FINITE AND CREATED.
In the Lord the three degrees of height are infinite and uncreate,
because the Lord is Love itself and Wisdom itself (as has been already
shown); and because the Lord is Love itself and Wisdom itself, He is
also Use itself. For love has use for its end, and brings forth use by
means of wisdom; for without use love and wisdom have no boundary or
end, that is, no home of their own, consequently they cannot be said
to have being and have form unless there be use in which they may be.
These three constitute the three degrees of height in subjects of life.
These three are like first end, middle end which is called cause, and
last end which is called effect. That end, cause and effect constitute
the three degrees of height has been shown above and abundantly proved.
231. That in man there are these three degrees can be seen from the
elevation of his mind even to the degrees of love and wisdom in which
angels of the second and third heavens are; for all angels were born men;
and man, as regards the interiors pertaining to his mind, is a heaven in
least form; therefore there are in man, by creation, as many degrees of
height as there are heavens. Moreover, man is an image and likeness of
God; consequently these three degrees have been inscribed on man, because
they are in God-Man, that is, in the Lord. That in the Lord these degrees
are infinite and uncreate, and in man finite and created, can be seen from
what was shown in Part First; namely, from this, that the Lord is Love and
Wisdom in Himself; and that man is a recipient of love and wisdom from the
Lord; also, that of the Lord nothing but what is infinite can be
predicated, and of man nothing but what is finite.
232. These three degrees with the angels are called Celestial, Spiritual,
and Natural; and for them the celestial degree is the degree of love, the
spiritual the degree of wisdom, and the natural the degree of uses. These
degrees are so called because the heavens are divided into two kingdoms,
one called the celestial, the other the spiritual, to which is added a
third kingdom wherein are men in the world, and this is the natural
kingdom. Moreover, the angels of whom the celestial kingdom consists
are in love; the angels, of whom the spiritual kingdom consists are in
wisdom; while men in the world are in uses; therefore these kingdoms
are conjoined. How it is to be understood that men are in uses will be
shown in the next Part.
233. It has been told me from heaven, that in the Lord from eternity,
who is Jehovah, before His assumption of a Human in the world, the two
prior degrees existed actually, and the third degree potentially, as
they do also with angels; but that after the assumption of a Human in
the world, He put on over these the third degree, called the natural,
thereby becoming Man, like a man in the world; but with the difference,
that in the Lord this degree, like the prior degrees, is infinite and
uncreate, while in angel and in man they are all finite and created. For
the Divine which, apart from space, had filled all spaces (n. 69-72),
penetrated even to the outmosts of nature; yet before the assumption of
the Human, the Divine influx into the natural degree was mediate through
the angelic heavens, but after the assumption it was immediate from
Himself. This is the reason why all churches in the world before His
Advent were representative of spiritual and celestial things, but after
His Advent became spiritual-natural and celestial-natural, and
representative worship was abolished. This also was the reason why the
sun of the angelic heaven, which, as was said above, is the first
proceeding of His Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, after the assumption
of the Human shone out with greater effulgence and splendor than before
the assumption. And this is what is meant by these words in Isaiah:
In that day the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun,
and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven
days (30:26).
This is said of the state of heaven and of the church after the Lord's
coming into the world. Again, in the Apocalypse:
The countenance of the Son of man was as the sun shineth in his
strength (1:16);
and elsewhere (as in Isaiah 60:20; 2 Sam. 23:3, 4; Matt. 17:1, 2). The
mediate enlightenment of men through the angelic heaven, which existed
before the coming of the Lord, may be compared to the light of the moon,
which is the mediate light of the sun; and because after His coming
this was made immediate, it is said in Isaiah,
That the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun (30:26);
and in David:
In His days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace
until there is no longer any moon (72:7).
This also is said of the Lord.
234. The reason why the Lord from eternity, that is, Jehovah, put on
this third degree by the assumption of a Human in the world, was that
He could enter into this degree only by means of a nature like human
nature, thus only by means of conception from His Divine and by birth
from a virgin; for in this way He could put off a nature which, although
a receptacle of the Divine, is in itself dead, and could put on the
Divine. This is meant by the Lord's two states in the world, which are
called the state of exinanition and the state of glorification, which
are treated of in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the Lord.
235. Of the threefold ascent of the degrees of height this much has been
said in general; but these degrees cannot here be discussed in detail,
because (as was said in the preceding chapter) there must be these three
degrees in things greatest and things least; this only need be said, that
there are such degrees in each and all things of love, and therefrom in
each and all things of wisdom, and from both of these in each and all
things of use. In the Lord all these degrees are infinite; in angel and
man they are finite. But how there are these three degrees in love, in
wisdom, and in uses cannot be described and unfolded except in series.
236. THESE THREE DEGREES OF HEIGHT ARE IN EVERY MAN FROM BIRTH, AND CAN
BE OPENED SUCCESSIVELY; AND, AS THEY ARE OPENED, MAN IS IN THE LORD AND
THE LORD IN MAN.
That there are three degrees of height in every man, has not until now
become known for the reason that these degrees have not been recognized,
and so long as they remained unnoticed, none but continuous degrees could
be known; and when none but continuous degrees are known, it may be
supposed that love and wisdom increase in man only by continuity. But
it should be known, that in every man from his birth there are three
degrees of height, or discrete degrees, one above or within another;
and that each degree of height, or discrete degree, has also degrees of
breadth, or continuous degrees, according to which it increases by
continuity. For there are degrees of both kinds in things greatest and
least of all things (as was shown above, n. 222-229); for no degree of
one kind is possible without degrees of the other kind.
237. These three degrees of height are called natural, spiritual, and
celestial (as was said above, n. 232). When man is born he comes first
into the natural degree, and this grows in him, by continuity, according
to his knowledges and the understanding acquired by means of knowledges
even to the highest point of understanding, which is called the rational.
Yet not by this means is the second degree opened, which is called the
spiritual. That degree is opened by means of a love of uses in accordance
with the things of the understanding, although by a spiritual love of
uses, which is love towards the neighbor. This degree may grow in like
manner by continuous degrees to its height, and it grows by means of
knowledges of truth and good, that is, by spiritual truths. Yet even by
such truths the third degree which is called the celestial is not opened;
for this degree is opened by means of the celestial love of use, which
is love to the Lord; and love to the Lord is nothing else than committing
to life the precepts of the Word, the sum of which is to flee from evils
because they are hellish and devilish, and to do good because it is
heavenly and Divine. In this manner these three degrees are successively
opened in man.
238. So long as man lives in the world he knows nothing of the opening
of these degrees within him, because he is then in the natural degree,
which is the outmost, and from this he then thinks, wills, speaks, and
acts; and the spiritual degree, which is interior, communicates with the
natural degree, not by continuity but by correspondences, and
communication by correspondences is not sensibly felt. But when man puts
off the natural degree, which he does at death, he comes into that degree
which has been opened within him in the world; he in whom the spiritual
degree has been opened coming into that degree, and he within whom the
celestial degree has been opened coming into that degree. He who comes
into the spiritual degree after death no longer thinks, wills, speaks,
and acts naturally, but spiritually; and he who comes into the celestial
degree thinks, wills, speaks, and acts according to that degree. And as
there can be communication between the three degrees only by
correspondences, the differences of love, wisdom, and use, as regards
these degrees are such as to have no common ground by means of anything
continuous. From all this it is plain that man has three degrees of
height that may be successively opened in him.
239. Since there are in man three degrees of love and wisdom, and
therefore of use, it follows that there must be in him three degrees,
of will, of understanding, and of result therefrom, thus of determination
to use; for will is the receptacle of love, understanding the receptacle
of wisdom, and result is use from these. From this it is evident that
there are in every man a natural, a spiritual, and a celestial will and
understanding, potentially by birth and actually when they are opened.
In a word the mind of man, which consists of will and understanding, is
from creation and therefore from birth, of three degrees, so that man
has a natural mind, a spiritual mind, and a celestial mind, and can
thereby be elevated into and possess angelic wisdom while he lives in
the world; but it is only after death, and then only if he becomes an
angel, that he enters into that wisdom, and his speech then becomes
ineffable and incomprehensible to the natural man. I knew a man of
moderate learning in the world, whom I saw after death and spoke with in
heaven, and I clearly perceived that he spoke like an angel, and that
the things he said would be inconceivable to the natural man; and for
the reason that in the world he had applied the precepts of the Word to
life and had worshiped the Lord, and was therefore raised up by the Lord
into the third degree of love and wisdom. It is important that this
elevation of the human mind should be known about, for upon it depends
the understanding of what follows.
240. There are in man from the Lord two capacities whereby he is
distinguished from beasts. One of these is the ability to understand
what is true and what is good; this is called rationality, and is a
capacity of his understanding. The other is an ability to do what is true
and good; this is called freedom, and is a capacity of his will. For man
by virtue of his rationality is able to think whatever he pleases, either
with or against God, either with or against the neighbor; he is also able
to will and to do what he thinks; but when he sees evil and fears
punishment, he is able, by virtue of his freedom, to abstain from doing
it. By virtue of these two capacities man is man, and is distinguished
from beasts. Man has these two capacities from the Lord, and they are
from Him every moment; nor are they taken away, for if they were, man's
human would perish. In these two capacities the Lord is with every man,
good and evil alike; they are the Lord's abode in the human race; from
this it is that all men live for ever, both the good and evil. But the
Lord's abode in man is nearer as by the agency of these capacities man
opens the higher degrees, for by the opening of these man comes into
higher degree of love and wisdom, thus nearer to the Lord. From this it
can be seen that as these degrees are opened, man is in the Lord and the
Lord in him.
241. It is said above, that the three degrees of height are like end,
cause, and effect, and that love, wisdom, and use follow in succession
according to these degrees; therefore a few things shall be said here
about love as being end, wisdom as being cause, and use as being effect.
Whoever consults his reason, if it is enlightened, can see that the end
of all things of man is his love; for what he loves that he thinks,
decides upon, and does, consequently that he has for his end. Man can
also see from his reason that wisdom is cause; since he, that is, his
love, which is his end, searches in his understanding for its means
through which to attain its end, thus consulting its wisdom, and these
means constitute the instrumental cause. That use is effect is evident
without explanation. But one man's love is not the same as another's,
neither is one man's wisdom the same as another's; so it is with use.
And since these three are homogeneous (as was shown above, n. 189-194),
it follows that such as is the love in man, such is the wisdom and such
is the use. Wisdom is here spoken of, but by it what pertains to man's
understanding is meant.
242. SPIRITUAL LIGHT FLOWS IN WITH MAN THROUGH DEGREES, BUT NOT SPIRITUAL
HEAT, EXCEPT SO FAR AS MAN FLEES FROM EVILS AS SINS AND LOOKS TO THE LORD.
It is evident from what has been shown above that from the sun of heaven,
which is the first proceeding of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom (treated
of in Part Second), light and heat proceed - light from its wisdom, and
heat from its love; also that light is the receptacle of wisdom, and heat
of love; also that so far as man comes into wisdom he comes into that
Divine light, and so far as he comes into love he comes into that Divine
heat. From what has been shown above it is also evident that there are
three degrees of light and three degrees of heat, that is, three degrees
of wisdom and three degrees of love, and that these degrees have been
formed in man in order that he may be a receptacle of the Divine Love
and the Divine Wisdom, thus of the Lord. It is now to be shown that
spiritual light flows in through these three degrees in man, but not
spiritual heat, except so far as man shuns evils as sins and looks to
the Lord - or, what is the same, that man is able to receive wisdom even
to the third degree, but not love, unless he flees from evils as sins
and looks to the Lord; or what is still the same, that man's understanding
can be raised into wisdom, but not his will, except so far as he flees
from evils as sins.
243. That the understanding can be raised into the light of heaven, that
is, into angelic wisdom, while the will cannot be raised into the heat
of heaven, that is, into angelic love, unless man flees from evils as
sins and looks to the Lord, has been made plainly evident to me from
experience in the spiritual world. I have frequently seen and perceived
that simple spirits, who knew merely that God is and that the Lord was
born a man, and who knew scarcely anything else, clearly apprehended the
arcana of angelic wisdom almost as the angels do; and not these simple
ones alone, but many also of the infernal crew. These, while they
listened, understood, but not when they thought within themselves;
for while they listened, light entered from above, and when they thought
within themselves, no light could enter except that which corresponded
to their heat or love; consequently when they had listened to and
perceived these arcana, as soon as they turned their ears away they
remembered nothing, those belonging to the infernal crew even rejecting
these things with disgust and utterly denying them, because the fire of
their love and its light, being delusive, induced darkness, by which the
heavenly light entering from above was extinguished.
244. The same thing happens in the world. A man not altogether stupid,
and who has not confirmed himself in falsities from the pride of
self-intelligence, hearing others speak on some exalted matter, or
reading something of the kind, if he is in any affection of knowing,
understands these things and also retains them, and may afterwards
confirm them. A bad man as well as a good man may do this. Even a bad
man, though in heart he denies the Divine things pertaining to the
church, can still understand them, and also speak of and preach them,
and in writing learnedly prove them; but when left to his own thought,
from his own infernal love he thinks against them and denies them. From
which it is obvious that the understanding can be in spiritual light even
when the will is not in spiritual heat; and from this it also follows
that the understanding does not lead the will, or that wisdom does not
beget love, but only teaches and shows the way, - teaching how a man
ought to live, and showing the way in which he ought to go. It further
follows that the will leads the understanding, and causes it to act as
one with itself; also that whatever in the understanding agrees with the
love which is in the will, the love calls wisdom. In what follows it will
be seen that the will does nothing by itself apart from the understanding,
but does all that it does in conjunction with the understanding; moreover,
that it is the will that by influx takes the understanding into
partnership with itself, and not the reverse.
245. The nature of the influx of light into the three degrees of life in
man which belong to his mind, shall now be shown. The forms which are
receptacles of heat and light, that is, of love and wisdom in man, and
which (as was said) are in threefold order or of three degrees, are
transparent from birth, transmitting spiritual light as crystal glass
transmits natural light; consequently in respect to wisdom man can be
raised even into the third degree. Nevertheless these forms are not
opened except when spiritual heat conjoins itself to spiritual light,
that is, love to wisdom; by such conjunction these transparent forms are
opened according to degrees. It is the same with light and heat from the
sun of the world in their action on plants on the earth. The light of
winter, which is as bright as that of summer, opens nothing in seed or
in tree, but when vernal heat conjoins itself to that light then the heat
opens them. There is this similarity because spiritual light corresponds
to natural light, and spiritual heat to natural heat.
246. This spiritual heat is obtained only by fleeing from evils as sins,
and at the same time looking to the Lord; for so long as man is in evils
he is also in the love of them, for he lusts after them; and the love of
evil and the lust, abide in a love contrary to spiritual love and
affection; and such love or lust can be removed only by fleeing from
evils as sins; and because man cannot flee from evils from himself, but
only from the Lord. He must look to the Lord. So when he flees from
evils from the Lord, the love of evil and its heat are removed, and the
love of good and its heat are introduced in their stead, whereby a higher
degree is opened; for the Lord flowing in from above opens that degree,
and then conjoins love, that is, spiritual heat, to wisdom or spiritual
light, from which conjunction man begins to flourish spiritually, like a
tree in spring-time.
247. By the influx of spiritual light into all three degrees of the mind
man is distinguished from beasts; and, as contrasted with beasts, he can
think analytically, and see both natural and spiritual truth; and when he
sees them he can acknowledge them, and thus be reformed and regenerated.
This capacity to receive spiritual light is what is meant by rationality
(referred to above), which every man has from the Lord, and which is not
taken away from him, for if it were taken away he could not be reformed.
From this capacity, called rationality, man, unlike the beasts, is able
not only to think but also to speak from thought; and afterwards from his
other capacity, called freedom (also referred to above), he is able to do
those things that he thinks from his understanding. As these two
capacities, rationality and freedom, which are proper to man, have been
treated of above (n. 240), no more will be said about them here.
248. UNLESS THE HIGHER DEGREE WHICH IS THE SPIRITUAL IS OPENED IN MAN,
HE BECOMES NATURAL AND SENSUAL.
It was shown above that there are three degrees of the human mind, called
natural, spiritual, and celestial, and that these degrees may be opened
successively in man; also, that the natural degree is first opened;
afterwards, if man flees from evil as sins and looks to the Lord, the
spiritual degree is opened; and lastly, the celestial. Since these
degrees are opened successively according to man's life, it follows that
the two higher degrees may remain unopened, and man then continues in
the natural degree, which is the outmost. Moreover, it is known in the
world that there is a natural and a spiritual man, or an external and an
internal man; but it is not known that a natural man becomes spiritual
by the opening of some higher degree in him, and that such opening is
effected by a spiritual life, which is a life conformed to the Divine
precepts; and that without a life conformed to these man remains natural.
249. There are three kinds of natural men; the first consists of those
who know nothing of the Divine precepts; the second, of those who know
that there are such precepts, but give no thought to a life according to
them; and the third, of those who despise and deny these precepts. In
respect to the first class, which consists of those who know nothing of
the Divine precepts, since they cannot be taught by themselves they must
needs remain natural. Every man is taught respecting the Divine precepts,
not by immediate revelations, but by others who know them from religion,
on which subject see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the
Sacred Scriptures (n. 114-118). Those of the second class, who know that
there are Divine precepts but give no thought to a life according to
them, also remain natural, and care about no other concerns than those
of the world and the body. These after death become mere menials and
servants, according to the uses which they are able to perform for those
who are spiritual; for the natural man is a menial and servant, and the
spiritual man is a master and lord. Those of the third class, who despise
and deny the Divine precepts, not only remain natural, but also become
sensual in the measure of their contempt and denial. Sensual men are the
lowest natural men, who are incapable of thinking above the appearances
and fallacies of the bodily senses. After death they are in hell.
250. As it is unknown in the world what the spiritual man is, and what
the natural, and as by many he who is merely natural is called spiritual,
and conversely, these subjects shall be separately discussed, as follows:
(1) What the natural man is, and what the spiritual man.
(2) The character of the natural man in whom the spiritual degree is
opened.
(3) The character of the natural man in whom the spiritual degree is not
opened and yet not closed.
(4) The character of the natural man in whom the spiritual degree is
entirely closed.
(5) Lastly, The nature of the difference between the life of a man
merely natural and the life of a beast.
251. (1) What the natural man is, and what the spiritual man. Man is not
man from face and body, but from understanding and will; therefore by
the natural man and the spiritual man is meant that man's understanding
and will are either natural or spiritual. The natural man in respect to
his understanding and will is like the natural world, and may be called
a world or microcosm; and the spiritual man in respect to his
understanding and will is like the spiritual world, and may be called
a spiritual world or heaven. From which it is evident that as the natural
man is in a kind of image a natural world, so he loves those things which
are of the natural world; and that as the spiritual man is in a kind of
image a spiritual world, so he loves those things which are of that world,
or of heaven. The spiritual man indeed loves the natural world also but
not otherwise than as a master loves his servant through whom he performs
uses. Moreover, according to uses the natural man becomes like the
spiritual, which is the case when the natural man feels from the spiritual
the delight of use; such a natural man may be called spiritual-natural.
The spiritual man loves spiritual truths; he not only loves to know and
understand them, but also wills them; while the natural man loves to
speak of those truths and also do them. Doing truths is performing uses.
This subordination is from the conjunction of the spiritual world and the
natural world; for whatever appears and is done in the natural world
derives its cause from the spiritual world. From all this it can be seen
that the spiritual man is altogether distinct from the natural, and that
there is no other communication between them than such as there is between
cause and effect.
252. (2) The character of the natural man in whom the spiritual degree
is opened. This is obvious from what has been said above; to which it
may be added, that a natural man is a complete man when the spiritual
degree is opened in him, for he is then consociated with angels in
heaven and at the same time with men in the world, and in regard to
both, lives under the Lord's guidance. For the spiritual man imbibes
commands from the Lord through the Word, and executes them through the
natural man. The natural man who has the spiritual degree opened does
not know that he thinks and acts from his spiritual man, for it seems
as if he did this from himself, when yet he does not do it from himself
but from the Lord. Nor does the natural man whose spiritual degree has
been opened know that by means of his spiritual man he is in heaven,
when yet his spiritual man is in the midst of angels of heaven, and
sometimes is even visible to them; but because he draws himself back to
his natural man, after a brief stay there he disappears. Nor does the
natural man in whom the spiritual degree has been opened know that his
spiritual mind is being filled by the Lord with thousands of arcana of
wisdom, and with thousands of delights of love, and that he is to come
into these after death, when he becomes an angel. The natural man does
not know these things because communication between the natural man and
the spiritual man is effected by correspondences; and communication by
correspondences is perceived in the understanding only by the fact that
truths are seen in light, and is perceived in the will only by the fact
that uses are performed from affection.
253. (3) The character of the natural man in whom the spiritual degree
is not opened, and yet not closed. The spiritual degree is not opened,
and yet not closed, in the case of those who have led somewhat of a life
of charity and yet have known little of genuine truth. The reason is,
that this degree is opened by conjunction of love and wisdom, or of heat
with light; love alone or spiritual heat alone not opening it, nor wisdom
alone or spiritual light alone, but both in conjunction. Consequently,
when genuine truths, out of which wisdom or light arises, are unknown,
love is inadequate to open that degree; it only keeps it in the
possibility of being opened; this is what is meant by its not being
closed. Something like this is seen in the vegetable kingdom, in that
heat alone does not cause seeds and trees to vegetate, but heat in
conjunction with light effects this. It is to be known that all truths
are of spiritual light and all goods are of spiritual heat, and that
good opens the spiritual degree by means of truths; for good, by means
of truths, effects use, and uses are goods of love, which derive their
essence from a conjunction of good and truth. The lot, after death, of
those in whom the spiritual degree is not opened and yet not closed,
is that since they are still natural and not spiritual, they are in the
lowest parts of heaven, where they sometimes suffer hard times; or they
are in the outskirts in some higher heaven, where they are as it were in
the light of evening; for (as was said above) in heaven and in every
society there the light decreases from the middle to the outskirts, and
those who above others are in Divine truths are in the middle, while
those who are in few truths are in the outskirts. Those are in few
truths who from religion know only that there is a God, and that the
Lord suffered for them, and that charity and faith are essentials of
the church, not troubling themselves to know what faith is or what
charity is; when yet faith in its essence is truth, and truth is
manifold, and charity is all the work of his calling which man does
from the Lord; he does this from the Lord when he flees from evils as
sins. It is just as was said above, that the end is the all of the cause,
and the effect the all of the end by means of the cause; the end is
charity or good, the cause is faith or truth, and effects are good works
or uses; from which it is plain that from charity no more can be carried
into works than the measure in which charity is conjoined with the truths
which are called truths of faith. By means of these truths charity enters
into works and qualifies them.
254. (4) The character of the natural man in whom the spiritual degree
is entirely closed. The spiritual degree is closed in those who are in
evils as to life, and still more in those who from evils are in falsities.
It is the same as with the fibril of a nerve, which contracts at the
slightest touch of any thing heterogeneous; so every motive fiber of a
muscle, yea, the muscle itself, and even the whole body shrinks from the
touch of whatever is hard or cold. So also the substances or forms of the
spiritual degree in man shrink from evils and their falsities, because
these are heterogeneous. For the spiritual degree, being in the form of
heaven, admits nothing but goods, and truths that are from good; these
are homogeneous to it; but evils, and falsities that are from evil, are
heterogeneous to it. This degree is contracted, and by contraction closed,
especially in those who in the world are in love of ruling from love of
self, because this love is opposed to love to the Lord. It is also closed,
but not so much, in those who from love of the world are in the insane
greed of possessing the goods of others. These loves shut the spiritual
degree, because they are the origins of evils. The contraction or closing
of this degree is like the twisting back of a spiral in the opposite
direction; for which reason, that degree after it is closed, turns back
the light of heaven; consequently there is thick darkness there instead
of heavenly light, and truth which is in the light of heaven, becomes
nauseous. In such persons, not only does the spiritual degree itself
become closed, but also the higher region of the natural degree which
is called the rational, until at last the lowest region of the natural
degree, which is called the sensual, alone stands open; this being
nearest to the world and to the outward senses of the body, from which
such a man afterwards thinks, speaks, and reasons. The natural man who
has become sensual through evils and their falsities, in the spiritual
world in the light of heaven does not appear as a man but as a monster,
even with nose drawn back (the nose is drawn in because the nose
corresponds to the perception of truth); moreover, he cannot bear a ray
of heavenly light. Such have in their caverns no other light than what
resembles the light from live coals or from burning charcoal. From all
this it is evident who and of what character are those in whom the
spiritual degree is closed.
255. (5) The nature of the difference between the life of a natural man
and the life of a beast. This difference will be particularly discussed
in what follows, where Life will be treated of. Here it may be said only
that the difference is that man has three degrees of mind, that is, three
degrees of understanding and will, which degrees can be opened
successively; and as these are transparent, man can be raised as to his
understanding into the light of heaven and see truths, not only civil
and moral, but also spiritual, and from many truths seen can form
conclusions about truths in their order, and thus perfect the
understanding to eternity. But beasts do not have the two higher
degrees, but only the natural degrees, and these apart from the higher
degrees have no capacity to think on any subject, civil, moral, or
spiritual. And since the natural degrees of beasts are incapable of
being opened, and thereby raised into higher light, they are unable to
think in successive order, but only in simultaneous order, which is not
thinking, but acting from a knowledge corresponding to their love. And
because they are unable to think analytically, and to view a lower
thought from any higher thought, they are unable to speak, but are able
only to utter sounds in accordance with the knowledge pertaining to their
love. Yet the sensual man, who is in the lowest sense natural, differs
from the beast only in this, that he can fill his memory with knowledges,
and think and speak therefrom; this power he gets from a capacity proper
to every man, of being able to understand truth if he chooses; it is this
capacity that makes the difference. Nevertheless many, by abuse of this
capacity, have made themselves lower than beasts.
256. THE NATURAL DEGREE OF THE HUMAN MIND REGARDED IN ITSELF IS CONTINUOUS,
BUT BY CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE TWO HIGHER DEGREES IT APPEARS WHEN IT IS
ELEVATED AS IF IT WERE DISCRETE.
Although this is hardly comprehensible, by those who have as yet no
knowledge of degrees of height, it must nevertheless be revealed, because
it is a part of angelic wisdom; and while the natural man is unable to
think about this wisdom in the same way as angels do, nevertheless it can
be comprehended by his understanding, when it has been raised into the
degree of light in which angels are; for his understanding can be elevated
even to that extent, and enlightened according to its elevation. But this
enlightenment of the natural mind does not ascend by discrete degrees; but
increases in a continuous degree, and as it increases, that mind is
enlightened from within by the light of the two higher degrees. How this
occurs can be comprehended from a perception of degrees of height, as
being one above another, while the natural degree, which is the lowest,
is a kind of general covering to the two higher degrees. Then, as the
natural degree is raised up towards a degree of the higher kind, the
higher acts from within upon the outer natural and illuminates it. This
illumination is effected, indeed, from within, by the light of the higher
degrees, but the natural degree which envelops and surrounds the higher
receives it by continuity, thus more lucidly and purely in proportion to
its ascent; that is, from within, by the light of the higher degrees, the
natural degree is enlightened discretely, but in itself is enlightened
continuously. From this it is evident that so long as man lives in the
world, and is thereby in the natural degree, he cannot be elevated into
very wisdom, such as the angels have, but only into higher light, even up
to angels, and can receive enlightenment from their light that flows in
from within and illuminates. But these things cannot as yet be more
clearly described; they can be better comprehended from effects; for
effects present causes in themselves in clear light, and thus illustrate
them, when there is some previous knowledge of causes.
257. The effects are these: (1) The natural mind may be raised up to the
light of heaven in which angels are, and may perceive naturally, thus not
so fully, what the angels perceive spiritually; nevertheless, man's
natural mind cannot be raised into angelic light itself. (2) By means of
his natural mind, raised to the light of heaven, man can think, yea,
speak with angels; but the thought and speech of the angels then flow
into the natural thought and speech of the man, and not conversely; so
that angels speak with man in a natural language, which is the man's
mother tongue. (3) This is effected by a spiritual influx into what is
natural, and not by any natural influx into what is spiritual. (4) Human
wisdom, which so long as man lives in the natural world is natural, can
by no means be raised into angelic wisdom, but only into some image of
it. The reason is, that elevation of the natural mind is effected by
continuity, as from shade to light, or from grosser to purer. Still the
man in whom the spiritual degree has been opened comes into that wisdom
when he dies; and he may also come into it by a suspension of bodily
sensations, and then by an influx from above into the spiritual parts
of his mind. (5) Man's natural mind consists of spiritual substances
together with natural substances; thought comes from its spiritual
substances, not from its natural substances; these recede when the man
dies, while its spiritual substances do not. Consequently, after death,
when man becomes a spirit or angel, the same mind remains in a form like
that which it had in the world. (6) The natural substances of that mind,
which recede (as was said) by death, constitute the cutaneous covering
of the spiritual body which spirits and angels have. By means of such
covering, which is taken from the natural world, their spiritual bodies
maintain existence; for the natural is the outmost containant:
consequently there is no spirit or angel who was not born a man. These
arcana of angelic wisdom are here adduced that the quality of the natural
mind in man may be known, which subject is further treated of in what
follows.
258. Every man is born into a capacity to understand truths even to the
inmost degree in which the angels of the third heaven are; for the human
understanding, rising up by continuity around the two higher degrees,
receives the light of their wisdom, in the manner stated above (n. 256).
Therefore man has the ability to become rational according to his
elevation; if raised to the third degree he becomes rational from that
degree, if raised to the second degree he becomes rational from that
degree, if not raised he is rational in the first degree. It is said
that he becomes rational from those degrees, because the natural degree
is the general receptacle of their light. The reason why man does not
become rational to the height that he might is, that love, which is of
the will, cannot be raised in the same manner as wisdom, which is of the
understanding. Love, which is of the will, is raised only by fleeing from
evils as sins, and then by goods of charity, which are uses, which the
man thereafter performs from the Lord. Consequently, when love, which is
of the will, is not at the same time raised, wisdom, which is of the
understanding, however it may have ascended, falls back again down to its
own love. Therefore, if man's love is not at the same time raised into
the spiritual degree, he is rational only in the lowest degree. From all
this it can be seen that man's rational is in appearance as if it were of
three degrees, a rational from the celestial, a rational from the
spiritual, and a rational from the natural; also that rationality, which
is the capacity whereby man is elevated, is still in man whether he be
elevated or not.
259. It has been said that every man is born into that capacity, namely,
rationality, but by this is meant every man whose externals have not been
injured by some accident, either in the womb, or by some disease after
birth, or by a wound inflicted on the head, or in consequence of some
insane love bursting forth, and breaking down restraints. In such the
rational cannot be elevated; for life, which is of the will and
understanding, has in such no bounds in which it can terminate, so
disposed that it can produce outmost acts according to order; for life
acts in accordance with outmost determinations, though not from them.
That there can be no rationality with infants and children, may be seen
below (n. 266, at the end).
260. THE NATURAL MIND, SINCE IT IS THE COVERING AND CONTAINANT OF THE
HIGHER DEGREES OF THE HUMAN MIND, IS REACTIVE; AND IF THE HIGHER DEGREES
ARE NOT OPENED IT ACTS AGAINST THEM, BUT IF THEY ARE OPENED IT ACTS WITH
THEM.
It has been shown in the preceding chapter that as the natural mind is
in the outmost degree, it envelops and encloses the spiritual mind and
the celestial mind, which, in respect to degrees, are above it. It is
now to be shown that the natural mind reacts against the higher or
interior minds. It reacts because it covers, includes, and contains them,
and this cannot be done without reaction; for unless it reacted, the
interior or enclosed parts would become loosened and press outward and
thus fall apart, just as the viscera, which are the interiors of the
body, would push forth and fall asunder if the coverings which are about
the body did not react against them; so, too, unless the membrane
investing the motor fibers of a muscle reacted against the force of
these fibers in their activities, not only would action cease, but all
the inner tissues would be let loose. It is the same with every outmost
degree of the degrees of height; consequently with the natural mind with
respect to higher degrees; for, as was said above, there are three
degrees of the human mind, the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial,
and the natural mind is in the outmost degree. Another reason why the
natural mind reacts against the spiritual mind is, that the natural mind
consists not only of substances of the spiritual world but also of
substances of the natural world (as was said above, n. 257), and
substances of the natural world of their very nature react against the
substances of the spiritual world; for substances of the natural world
are in themselves dead, and are acted upon from without by substances of
the spiritual world; and substances which are dead, and which are acted
upon from without, by their nature resist, and thus by their nature
react. From all this it can be seen that the natural man reacts against
the spiritual man, and that there is combat. It is the same thing whether
the terms "natural and spiritual man" or "natural and spiritual mind"
are used.
261. From this it is obvious that when the spiritual mind is closed the
natural mind continually acts against the things of the spiritual mind,
fearing lest anything should flow in therefrom to disturb its own states.
Everything that flows in through the spiritual mind is from heaven, for
the spiritual mind in its form is a heaven; while everything that flows
into the natural mind is from the world, for the natural mind in its form
is a world. From which it follows that when the spiritual mind is closed,
the natural mind reacts against all things of heaven, giving them no
admission except so far as they are serviceable to it as means for
acquiring and possessing the things of the world. And when the things
of heaven are made to serve the natural mind as means to its own ends,
then those means, though they seem to be heavenly, are made natural; for
the end qualifies them, and they become like the knowledges of the
natural man, in which interiorly there is nothing of life. But as things
heavenly cannot be so joined to things natural that the two act as one,
they separate, and, with men merely natural, things heavenly arrange
themselves from without, in a circuit about the natural things which are
within. From this it is that a merely natural man can speak and preach
about heavenly things, and even simulate them in his actions, though
inwardly he thinks against them; the latter he does when alone, the
former when in company. But of these things more in what follows.
262. By virtue of the reaction which is in him from birth the natural
mind, or man, when he loves himself and the world above all things, acts
against the things that are of the spiritual mind or man. Then also he
has a sense of enjoyment in evils of every kind, as adultery, fraud,
revenge, blasphemy, and other like things; he then also acknowledges
nature as the creator of the universe; and confirms all things by means
of his rational faculty; and after confirmation he either perverts or
suffocates or repels the goods and truths of heaven and the church, and
at length either shuns them or turns his back upon them or hates them.
This he does in his spirit, and in the body just so far as he dares to
speak with others from his spirit without fear of the loss of reputation
as a means to honor and gain. When man is such, he gradually shuts up
the spiritual mind closer and closer. Confirmations of evil by means of
falsities especially close it up; therefore evil and falsity when
confirmed cannot be uprooted after death; they are only uprooted by means
of repentance in the world.
263. But when the spiritual mind is open the state of the natural mind
is wholly different. Then the natural mind is arranged in compliance
with the spiritual mind, and is subordinated to it. For the spiritual
mind acts upon the natural mind from above or within, and removes the
things therein that react, and adapts to itself those that act in harmony
with itself, whereby the excessive reaction is gradually taken away. It
is to be noted, that in things greatest and least of the universe, both
living and dead, there is action and reaction, from which comes an
equilibrium of all things; this is destroyed when action overcomes
reaction, or the reverse. It is the same with the natural and with the
spiritual mind. When the natural mind acts from the enjoyments of its
love and the pleasures of its thought, which are in themselves evils and
falsities, the reaction of the natural mind removes those things which
are of the spiritual mind and blocks the doors lest they enter, and it
makes action to come from such things as agree with its reaction. The
result is an action and reaction of the natural mind opposite to the
action and reaction of the spiritual mind, whereby there is a closing
of the spiritual mind like the twisting back of a spiral. But when the
spiritual mind is opened, the action and reaction of the natural mind
are inverted; for the spiritual mind acts from above or within, and at
the same time it acts from below or from without, through those things
in the natural mind which are arranged in compliance with it; and it
twists back the spiral in which the action and reaction of the natural
mind lie. For the natural mind is by birth in opposition to the things
belonging to the spiritual mind; an opposition derived, as is well known,
from parents by heredity. Such is the change of state which is called
reformation and regeneration. The state of the natural mind before
reformation may be compared to a spiral twisting or bending itself
downward; but after reformation it may be compared to a spiral twisting
or bending itself upwards; therefore man before reformation looks
downwards to hell, but after reformation looks upwards to heaven.
264. THE ORIGIN OF EVIL IS FROM THE ABUSE OF THE CAPACITIES PROPER TO
MAN, THAT ARE CALLED RATIONALITY AND FREEDOM.
By rationality is meant the capacity to understand what is true and
thereby what is false, also to understand what is good and thereby what
is evil; and by freedom is meant the capacity to think, will and do these
things freely. From what precedes it is evident, and it will become more
evident from what follows, that every man from creation, consequently
from birth, has these two capacities, and that they are from the Lord;
that they are not taken away from man; that from them is the appearance
that man thinks, speaks, wills, and acts as from himself; that the Lord
dwells in these capacities in every man, that man by virtue of that
conjunction lives to eternity; that man by means of these capacities
can be reformed and regenerated, but not without them; finally, that by
them man is distinguished from beasts.
265. That the origin of evil is from the abuse of these capacities will
be explained in the following order:
(1) A bad man equally with a good man enjoys these two capacities.
(2) A bad man abuses these capacities to confirm evils and falsities,
but a good man uses them to confirm goods and truths.
(3) Evils and falsities confirmed in man are permanent, and come to be
of his love, consequently of his life.
(4) Such things as have come to be of the love and life are engendered
in offspring.
(5) All evils, both engendered and acquired, have their seat in the
natural mind.
266. (1) A bad man, equally with a good man enjoys these two capacities.
It was shown in the preceding chapter that the natural mind, as regards
the understanding, can be elevated even to the light in which angels of
the third heaven are, and can see truths, acknowledge them, and then give
expression to them. From this it is plain that since the natural mind can
be elevated, a bad man equally with a good man enjoys the capacity called
rationality; and because the natural mind can be elevated to such an
extent, it follows that a bad man can also think and speak about heavenly
truths. Moreover, that he is able to will and to do them, even though he
does not will and do them, both reason and experience affirm. Reason
affirms it: for who cannot will and do what he thinks? His not willing
and doing it is because he does not love to will and do it. This ability
to will and to do is the freedom which every man has from the Lord; but
his not willing and doing good when he can, is from a love of evil, which
opposes; but this love he is able to resist, and many do resist it.
Experience in the spiritual world has often corroborated this. I have
listened to evil spirits who inwardly were devils, and who in the world
had rejected the truths of heaven and the church. When the affection for
knowing, in which every man is from childhood, was excited in them by
the glory that, like the brightness of fire, surrounds each love, they
perceived the arcana of angelic wisdom just as clearly as good spirits
do who inwardly were angels. Those diabolical spirits even declared that
they were able to will and act according to those arcana, but did not
wish to. When told that they might will them, if only they would flee
from evils as sins, they said that they could even do that, but did not
wish to. From this it was evident that the wicked equally with the good
have the capacity called freedom. Let any one look within himself, and
he will observe that it is so. Man has the power to will, because the
Lord, from whom that capacity comes, continually gives the power; for,
as was said above, the Lord dwells in every man in both of these
capacities, and therefore in the capacity, that is, in the power, of
being able to will. As to the capacity to understand, called rationality,
this man does not have until his natural mind reaches maturity; until
then it is like seed in unripe fruit, which cannot be opened in the soil
and grow up into a shrub. Neither does this capacity exist in those
mentioned above (n. 259).
267. (2) A bad man abuses these capacities to confirm evils and falsities,
but a good man uses them to confirm goods and truths. From the intellectual
capacity called rationality, and from the voluntary capacity called
freedom, man derives the ability to confirm whatever he wishes; for
the natural man is able to raise his understanding into higher light
to any extent he desires; but one who is in evils and in falsities
therefrom, raises it no higher than into the upper regions of his natural
mind, and rarely as far as the border of the spiritual mind; for the reason
that he is in the delights of the love of his natural mind, and when he
raises the understanding above that mind, the delight of his love perishes;
and if it is raised still higher, and sees truths which are opposed to the
delights of his life or to the principles of his self-intelligence, he
either falsifies those truths or passes them by and contemptuously leaves
them behind, or retains them in the memory as means to serve his life's
love, or the pride of his self-intelligence. That the natural man is able
to confirm whatever he wishes is plainly evident from the multitude of
heresies in the Christian world, each of which is confirmed by its
adherents. Who does not know that evils and falsities of every kind can
be confirmed? It is possible to confirm, and by the wicked it is
confirmed within themselves, that there is no God, and that nature is
everything and created herself; that religion is only a means for keeping
simple minds in bondage; that human prudence does everything, and Divine
providence nothing except sustaining the universe in the order in which
it was created; also that murders, adulteries, thefts, frauds, and revenge
are allowable, as held by Machiavelli and his followers. These and many
like things the natural man is able to confirm, and even to fill volumes
with the confirmations; and when such falsities are confirmed they appear
in their delusive light, but truths in such obscurity as to be seen only
as phantoms of the night. In a word, take what is most false and present
it as a proposition, and ask an ingenious person to prove it, and he will
do so to the complete extinction of the light of truth; but set aside his
confirmations, return and view the proposition itself from your own
rationality, and you will see its falsity in all its deformity. From all
this it can be seen that man is able to abuse these two capacities, which
he has from the Lord, to confirm evils and falsities of every kind. This
no beast can do, because no beast enjoys these capacities. Consequently,
a beast is born into all the order of its life, and into all the knowledge
of its natural love, but man is not.
268. (3) Evils and falsities confirmed in man are permanent, and come to
be of his love and life. Confirming evil and falsity is nothing else
than putting away good and truth, and if persisted in, it is their
rejection; for evil removes and rejects good, and falsity truth. For
this reason confirming evil and falsity is a closing up of heaven, - for
every good and truth flows in from the Lord through heaven, - and when
heaven is closed, man is in hell, and in a society therein which a like
evil prevails and a like falsity; from which hell he cannot afterwards
be delivered. It has been granted me to speak with some who ages ago
confirmed themselves in the falsities of their religion, and I saw that
they remained in the same falsities, in the same way as they were in
them in the world. The reason is, that all things in which a man confirms
himself come to be of his love and life. They come to be of his love
because they come to be of his will and understanding; and will and
understanding constitute the life of every one; and when they come to be
of man's life, they come to be not only of his whole mind but also of his
whole body. From this it is evident that a man who has confirmed himself
in evils and falsities is such from head to foot, and when he is wholly
such, by no turning or twisting back can he be reduced to an opposite
state, and thus withdrawn from hell. From all this, and from what precedes
in this chapter, it can be seen what the origin of evil is.
269. (4) Such things as have come to be of the love, and consequently of
the life, are engendered in offspring. It is known that man is born into
evil, and that he derives it by inheritance from parents; though by some
it is believed that he inherits it not from his parents, but through
parents from Adam; this, however, is an error. He derives it from the
father, from whom he has a soul that is clothed with a body in the mother.
For the seed, which is from the father, is the first receptacle of life,
but such a receptacle as it was with the father; for the seed is in the
form of his love, and each one's love is, in things greatest and least,
similar to itself; and there is in the seed a conatus to the human form,
and by successive steps it goes forth into that form. From this it follows
that evils called hereditary are from fathers, thus from grandfathers and
great-grandfathers, successively transmitted to offspring. This may be
learned also from observation, for as regards affections, there is a
resemblance of races to their first progenitor, and a stronger resemblance
in families, and a still stronger resemblance in households; and this
resemblance is such that generations are distinguishable not only by the
disposition, but even by the face. But of this ingeneration of the love
of evil by parents in offspring more will be said in what follows, where
the correspondence of the mind, that is, of the will and understanding,
with the body and its members and organs will be fully treated of. Here
these few things only are brought forward, that it may be known that evils
are derived from parents successively, and that they increase through the
accumulations of one parent after another, until man by birth is nothing
but evil; also that the malignity of evil increases according to the
degree in which the spiritual mind is closed up, for in this manner the
natural mind also is closed above; finally, that there is no recovery
from this in posterity except through their fleeing from evils as sins
by the help of the Lord. In this and in no other way is the spiritual
mind opened, and by means of such opening the natural mind is brought back
into correspondent form.
270. (5) All evils and their falsities, both engendered and acquired,
have their seat in the natural mind. Evils and their falsities have their
seat in the natural mind, because that mind is, in form or image, a world;
while the spiritual mind in its form or image is a heaven, and in heaven
evil cannot be entertained. The spiritual mind, therefore, is not opened
from birth, but is only in the capability of being opened. Moreover, the
natural mind derives its form in part from substances of the natural
world; but the spiritual mind from substances of the spiritual world
only; and this mind is preserved in its integrity by the Lord, in order
that man may be capable of becoming a man; for man is born an animal, but
he becomes a man. The natural mind, with all its belongings, is coiled
into gyres from right to left, but the spiritual mind into gyres from left
to right; the two thus curving in directions contrary to each other - a
proof that evil has its seat in the natural mind, and that of itself it
acts against the spiritual mind. Moreover, the gyration from right to left
is turned downward, thus towards hell, but the gyration from left to right
tends upward, thus toward heaven. This was made evident to me by the fact
that an evil spirit can gyrate his body only from right to left, not from
left to right; while a good spirit can gyrate his body from right to left
only with difficulty, but with ease from left to right. Gyration follows
the flow of the interiors, which belong to the mind.
271. EVILS AND FALSITIES ARE IN COMPLETE OPPOSITION TO GOODS AND TRUTHS,
BECAUSE EVILS AND FALSITIES ARE DIABOLICAL AND INFERNAL, WHILE GOODS AND
TRUTHS ARE DIVINE AND HEAVENLY.
That evil and good are opposites, also the falsity of evil and the truth
of good, every one acknowledges when he hears it. Still those who are in
evil do not feel, and therefore do not perceive, otherwise than that evil
is good; for evil gives enjoyment to their senses, especially sight and
hearing, and from that gives enjoyment also to their thoughts, and thus
their perceptions. While, therefore, the evil acknowledge that evil and
good are opposites, still, when they are in evil, they declare from their
enjoyment of it that evil is good, and good evil. For example:-One who
abuses his freedom to think and to do what is evil calls that freedom,
while its opposite, namely, to think the good which in itself is good,
he calls bondage; when, in fact, the latter is to be truly free, and the
former to be in bondage. He who loves adulteries calls it freedom to
commit adultery, but not to be allowed to commit adultery he calls
bondage; for in lasciviousness he has a sense of enjoyment, but of the
contrary in chastity. He who is in the love of ruling from love of self
feels in that love an enjoyment of life surpassing other enjoyments of
every kind; consequently, everything belonging to that love he calls
good, and everything contrary to it he declares to be evil; when yet
the reverse is true. It is the same with every other evil. While every
one, therefore, acknowledges that evil and good are opposites, those who
are in evils cherish a reverse conception of such opposition, and only
those who are in good have a right conception of it. No one so long as he
is in evil can see good, but he who is in good can see evil. Evil is below
as in a cave, good is above as on a mountain.
272. Now as many do not know what the nature of evil is, and that it is
entirely opposite to good, and as this knowledge is important, the subject
shall be considered in the following order:
(1) The natural mind that is in evils and in falsities therefrom is a
form and image of hell.
(2) The natural mind that is a form and image of hell descends through
three degrees.
(3) The three degrees of the natural mind that is a form and image of
hell, are opposite to the three degrees of the spiritual mind which is
a form and image of heaven.
(4) The natural mind that is a hell is in every respect opposed to the
spiritual mind that is a heaven.
273. (1) The natural mind that is in evils and in falsities therefrom is
a form and image of hell. The nature of the natural mind in man in its
substantial form cannot here be described, that is, its nature in its own
form woven out of the substances of both worlds, in the brains where that
mind in its first principles, has its seat. The universal idea of that
form will be given in what follows, where the correspondence of the mind
and body is to be treated of. Here somewhat only shall be said of its form
as regards the states and their changes, whereby perceptions, thoughts,
intentions, volitions, and their belongings are manifested; for, as
regards these states and changes, the natural mind that is in evils and
their falsities is a form and image of hell. Such a form supposes a
substantial form as a subject; for without a substantial form as a
subject, changes of state are impossible, just as sight is impossible
without an eye, or hearing without an ear. In regard, then, to the form
or image wherein the natural mind images hell, that form or image is such
that the reigning love with its lusts, which is the universal state of
that mind, is like what the devil is in hell; and the thoughts of the
false arising out of that reigning love are, as it were, the devil's
crew. By "the devil" and by "his crew" nothing else is meant in the Word.
Moreover, the case is similar, since in hell there is a love of ruling
from love of self, a reigning love, called there the "devil;" and the
affections of the false, with the thoughts arising out of that love, are
called "his crew." It is the same in every society of hell, with
differences resembling the differences of species in a genus. And the
natural mind that is in evils and in falsities therefrom is in a similar
form; consequently, a natural man who is of this character comes, after
death, into a society of hell similar to himself, and then, in each and
every particular, he acts in unison with it; for he thus enters into his
own form, that is, into the states of his own mind. There is also another
love, called "satan," subordinate to the former love that is called the
devil; it is the love of possessing the goods of others by every evil
device. Cunning villainies and subtleties are its crew. Those who are in
this hell are generally called satans; those in the former, devils; and
such of them as do not act in a clandestine way there do not disown their
name. From this it is that the hells, as a whole, are called the Devil
and Satan. The two hells are generically divided in accordance with these
two loves, because all the heavens are divided into two kingdoms, the
celestial and the spiritual, in accordance with two loves; and the devil
- hell corresponds, by opposites, to the celestial kingdom, and the satan -
hell corresponds, by opposites, to the spiritual kingdom. That the heavens
are divided into two kingdoms, the celestial and the spiritual, may be
seen in the work Heaven and Hell (n. 20-28). The reason why a natural
mind of such a character is in form a hell, is that every spiritual form
is like itself both in what is greatest and in what is least; therefore
every angel is, in lesser form, a heaven, as is also shown in the work on
Heaven and Hell (n. 51-58); from which it follows that every man or spirit
who is a devil or a satan is, in lesser form, a hell.
274. (2) The natural mind that is a form or image of hell descends
through three degrees It may be seen above (n. 222-229) that both in
the greatest and in the least of all things there are degrees of two
kinds, namely, degrees of height and degrees of breadth. This is also
true of the natural mind in its greatest and its least parts. Degrees
of height are what are now referred to. The natural mind, by its two
capacities called rationality and freedom, is in such a state as to be
capable of ascending through three degrees, or of descending through
three degrees; it ascends by goods and truths, and descends by evils and
falsities. When it ascends, the lower degrees which tend to hell are
shut, and when it descends, the higher degrees which tend to heaven are
shut; for the reason that they are in reaction. These three degrees,
higher and lower, are neither open nor shut in man in earliest infancy,
for he is then ignorant both of good and truth and of evil and falsity;
but as he lets himself into one or the other, the degrees are opened
and shut on the one side or the other. When they are opened towards hell,
the reigning love, which is of the will, obtains the highest or inmost
place; the thought of the false, which is of the understanding from that
love, obtains the second or middle place; and the result of the love
through the thought, or of the will through the understanding, obtains
the lowest place. The same is true here as of degrees of height treated
of above; they stand in order as end, cause, and effect, or as first end,
middle end, and last end. The descent of these degrees is towards the
body, consequently in the descent they wax grosser, and become material
and corporeal. If truths from the Word are received in the second degree
to form it, these truths are falsified by the first degree, which is the
love of evil, and become servants and slaves. From this it can be seen
what the truths of the church from the Word become with those who are in
the love of evil, or whose natural mind is in form a hell, namely, that
they are profaned because they serve the devil as means; for the love of
evil reigning in the natural mind that is a hell, is the devil, as was
said above.
275. (3) The three degrees of the natural mind that is a form and image
of hell, are opposite to the three degrees of the spiritual mind which
is a form and image of heaven. It has been shown above that there are
three degrees of the mind, called natural, spiritual, and celestial, and
that the human mind, made up of these degrees, looks towards heaven, and
turns itself about in that direction. From this it can be seen that the
natural mind, looking downwards and turning itself about towards hell,
is made up in like manner of three degrees, and that each degree of it is
opposite to a degree of that mind which is a heaven. That this is so has
been made very clear to me by things seen in the spiritual world; namely,
that there are three heavens, and these distinct according to three
degrees of height; that there are three hells, and these also distinct
according to three degrees of height or depth; that the hells are opposed
to the heavens in each and every particular; also that the lowest hell is
opposite to the highest heaven, and the middle hell to the middle heaven,
and the uppermost hell to the lowest heaven. It is the same with the
natural mind that is in the form of hell; for spiritual forms are like
themselves in things greatest and least. The heavens and hells are thus
opposite, because their loves are opposed. In the heavens, love to the
Lord, and consequent love to the neighbor, constitute the inmost degree;
in the hells, love of self and love of the world constitute the inmost
degree. In the heavens, wisdom and intelligence, springing from their
loves, constitute the middle degree; in the hells folly and insanity,
springing from their loves and appearing like wisdom and intelligence,
constitute the middle degree. In the heavens, the results from the two
other degrees, either laid up in the memory as knowledges, or determined
into actions in the body, constitute the lowest degree; in the hells, the
results from the two other degrees, which have become either knowledges
or acts, constitute the outermost degree. How the goods and truths of
heaven are turned, in the hells, into evils and falsities, thus into what
is opposite, may be seen from this experience: I heard that a certain
Divine truth flowed down out of heaven into hell, and that in its descent
by degrees it was converted on the way into what is false, until at the
lowest hell, it became the exact opposite of that truth; from which it
was manifest that the hells according to degrees are in opposition to the
heavens in regard to all goods and truths, these becoming evils and
falsities by influx into forms turned the reverse way; for all inflowing,
it is well known, is perceived and felt according to recipient forms and
their states. This conversion into the opposite was made further evident
to me from this experience: it was granted me to see the hells as they
are placed relatively to the heavens; and those who were there appeared
inverted, the head downward and the feet upward; but it was said that
they nevertheless appear to themselves to be upright on their feet;
comparatively like the antipodes. By these evidences from experience,
it can be seen that the three degrees of the natural mind, which is a
hell in form and image, are opposite to the three degrees of the spiritual
mind which is a heaven in form and image.
276. (4) The natural mind that is a hell is in complete opposition to
the spiritual mind which is a heaven. When the loves are opposite all
things of perception become opposites; for out of love, which makes the
very life of man, everything else flows like streams from their source;
the things not from that source separating in the natural mind from those
which are. Whatever springs from man's reigning love is in the middle,
and other things are at the sides. If these latter are truths of the
church from the Word, they are transferred from the middle further away
to the sides, and are finally exterminated; and then the man, that is,
the natural mind, perceives evil as good, and sees falsity as truth; and
conversely. This is why he believes perfidy to be wisdom, insanity to be
intelligence, cunning to be prudence, and evil devices to be ingenuity;
moreover, he makes nothing of Divine and heavenly things pertaining to
the church and worship, while he regards bodily and worldly things as of
the greatest worth. He thus inverts the state of his life, making what
is of the head to be of the sole of the foot, and trampling upon it; and
making what is of the sole of the foot to be of the head. Thus from being
alive he becomes dead. One is said to be alive whose mind is a heaven,
and one is said to be dead whose mind is a hell.
277. ALL THINGS OF THE THREE DEGREES OF THE NATURAL MIND ARE INCLUDED
IN THE DEEDS THAT ARE DONE BY THE ACTS OF THE BODY.
By the knowledge of degrees, which is set forth in this Part, the
following arcanum is disclosed: all things of the mind, that is, of the
will and understanding of man, are in his acts or deeds, included
therein very much as things visible and invisible are in a seed or
fruit or egg. Acts or deeds by themselves appear outwardly as these do,
but in their internals there are things innumerable, such as the
concurring forces of the motor fibers of the whole body and all things
of the mind that excite and determine these forces, all of which, as
shown above, are of three degrees. And since all things of the mind are
in these, so also are things of the will, that is, all the affections
of man's love, which make the first degree; all things of the
understanding, that is, all thoughts from his perception, which makes
the second degree; and all things of the memory, that is, all ideas of
the thought nearest to speech, taken from the memory, which compose the
third degree. Out of these things determined into act, deeds come forth,
in which, seen in external form, prior things are not visible although
they are actually therein. That the outmost is the complex, containant,
and base of things prior may be seen above (n. 209-216); and that degrees
of height are in fullness in their outmost (n. 217-221).
278. The acts of the body when viewed by the eye, appear thus simple and
uniform, as seeds, fruits, and eggs do, in external form, or as nuts and
almonds in their shells, yet they contain in themselves all the prior
things from which they exist, because every outmost is sheathed about and
is thereby rendered distinct from things prior. So is each degree
enveloped by a covering, and thereby separated from other degrees;
consequently things of the first degree are not perceived by the second,
nor those of the second by the third. For example: The love of the will,
which is the first degree of the mind, is not perceived in the wisdom of
the understanding, which is the second degree of the mind, except by a
certain enjoyment in thinking of the matter. Again, the first degree,
which is, as just said, the love of the will, is not perceived in the
knowledge of the memory, which is the third degree, except by a certain
pleasure in knowing and speaking. From all this it follows that every
deed, or bodily act, includes all these things, although externally it
appears simple, and as if it were a single thing.
279. This is corroborated by the following: The angels who are with man
perceive separately the things that are from the mind in the act, the
spiritual angels perceiving those things therein that are from the
understanding, and the celestial angels those things therein that are
from the will. This appears incredible, but it is true. It should be
known, however, that the things of the mind pertaining to any subject
that is under consideration, or before the mind, are in the middle, and
the rest are round about these according to their affinities therewith.
The angels declare that a man's character is perceived from a single
deed, but in a likeness of his love, which varies according to its
determinations into affections, and into thoughts therefrom. In a word,
before the angels every act or deed of a spiritual man is like a
palatable fruit, useful and beautiful, which when opened and eaten
yields flavor, use, and delight. That the angels have such a perception
of the acts and deeds of men may also be seen above (n. 220).
280. It is the same with man's speech. The angels recognize a man's love
from his tone in speaking, his wisdom from his articulation, and his
knowledge from the meaning of the words. They declare, moreover, that
these three are in every word, because the word is a kind of resultant,
involving tone, articulation, and meaning. It was told me by angels of
the third heaven that from each successive word that a man speaks in
discourse they perceive the general state of his disposition, and also
some particular states. That in each single word of the Word there is
something spiritual from the Divine wisdom, and something celestial from
the Divine love; and that these are perceived by angels when the Word is
devoutly read by man, has been abundantly shown in The Doctrine of the
New Jerusalem Concerning the Sacred Scripture.
281. The conclusion is, that in the deeds of a man whose natural mind
descends through three degrees into hell there are all his evils and his
falsities of evil; and that in the deeds of a man whose natural mind
ascends into heaven there are all his goods and truths; and that both are
perceived by the angels from the mere speech and act of man. From this
it is said in the Word that a man "shall be judged according to his
deeds," and that he shall render an account of his words.
282. PART FOURTH.
THE LORD FROM ETERNITY, WHO IS JEHOVAH, CREATED THE UNIVERSE AND ALL
THINGS THEREOF FROM HIMSELF, AND NOT FROM NOTHING.
It is known throughout the world, and acknowledged by every wise man from
interior perception, that God, who is the Creator of the universe, is One;
and it is known from the Word that God the Creator of the universe is
called "Jehovah," which is from the verb to be, because He alone is. That
the Lord from eternity is that Jehovah is shown by many statements from
the Word in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the Lord. Jehovah
is called the Lord from eternity, since Jehovah assumed a Human that He
might save men from hell; He then commanded His disciples to call Him
Lord. Therefore in the New Testament Jehovah is called "the Lord;" as can
be seen from this:
Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy
soul (Deut. 5:5);
but in the New Testament:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all
thy soul (Matt. 22:35).
It is the same in other passages in the Gospels, taken from the Old
Testament.
283. Every one who thinks from clear reason sees that the universe was
not created out of nothing, for he sees that not anything can be made out
of nothing; since nothing is nothing, and to make anything out of nothing
is a contradiction, and a contradiction is contrary to the light of truth,
which is from Divine Wisdom; and whatever is not from Divine Wisdom is not
from Divine Omnipotence. Every one who thinks from clear reason sees also
that all things have been created out of a Substance that is Substance in
itself for that is Esse itself, out of which every thing that is can take
form; and since God alone is Substance in itself, and therefore Esse
itself, it is evident that from this source alone is the formation of
things. Many have seen this, because reason causes them to see it; and
yet they have not dared to confirm it, fearing lest they might thereby be
led to think that the created universe is God, because from God, or that
nature is from itself, and consequently that the inmost of nature is what
is called God. For this reason, although many have seen that the formation
of all things is from God alone and out of his Esse, yet they have not
dared to go beyond their first thought on the subject, lest their
understanding should become entangled in a so-called Gordian knot, beyond
the possibility of release. Such release would be impossible, because their
thought of God, and of the creation of the universe by God, has been in
accordance with time and space, which are properties of nature; and from
nature no one can have any perception of God and of the creation of the
universe; but every one whose understanding is in any interior light can
have a perception of nature and of its creation out of God, because God
is not in time and space. That the Divine is not in space may be seen
above (n. 7-10); that the Divine apart from space fills all the spaces
of the universe (n. 69-72); and that the Divine apart from time is in
all time (n. 73-76). In what follows it will be seen that although God
has created the universe and all things thereof out of Himself, yet there
is nothing whatever in the created universe that is God; and other things
besides, which will place this matter in its proper light.
284. Part First of this Work treated of God, that He is Divine Love and
Divine Wisdom; that He is life, and that He is substance and form, which
is the very and only Esse. Part Second treated of the spiritual sun and
its world, and of the natural sun and its world, and of the creation of
the universe with all things thereof from God by means of these two suns.
Part Third treated of degrees in which are each and all things that have
been created. Part Fourth will now treat of the creation of the universe
from God. All these subjects are now explained, because the angels have
lamented before the Lord, that when they look upon the world they see
nothing but darkness, and among men no knowledge of God, of heaven, or of
the creation of nature, for their wisdom to rest upon.
285. THE LORD FROM ETERNITY, THAT IS, JEHOVAH, COULD NOT HAVE CREATED
THE UNIVERSE AND ALL THINGS THEREOF UNLESS HE WERE A MAN.
Those who have a corporeal natural idea of God as a Man, are wholly unable
to comprehend how God as a Man could have created the universe and all
things thereof; for they think within themselves, How can God as a Man
wander all over the universe from space to space, and create? Or how can
He, from His place, speak the word, and as soon as it is spoken, creation
follow? When it is said that God is a Man, such ideas present themselves
to those whose conception of the God-Man is like their conception of a man
in the world, and who think of God from nature and its properties, which
are time and space. But those whose conception of God-Man is not drawn from
their conception of a man in the world, nor from nature and its space and
time, clearly perceive that unless God were a man the universe could not
have been created. Bring your thought into the angelic idea of God as
being a Man, putting away, as much as you can, the idea of space, and you
will come near in thought to the truth. In fact, some of the learned
have a perception of spirits and angels as not in space, because they have
a perception of the spiritual as apart from space. For the spiritual is
like thought, which although it is in man, man is nevertheless able by
means of it to be present as it were elsewhere, in any place however
remote. Such is the state of spirits and angels, who are men even as
regards their bodies. In whatever place their thought is, there they
appear, because in the spiritual world spaces and distances are
appearances, and make one with the thought that is from their affection.
From all this it can be seen that God, who appears as a sun far above
the spiritual world, and to whom there can belong no appearance of space,
is not to be thought of from space. And it can then be comprehended that
He created the universe out of Himself, and not out of nothing; also that
His Human Body cannot be thought great or small, that is, of any one
stature, because this also pertains to space; consequently that in things
first and last, and in things greatest and least, He is the same; and
still further, that the Human is the inmost in every created thing,
though apart from space. That the Divine is the same in things greatest
and least may be seen above (n. 77-82); and that the Divine apart from
space fills all spaces (n. 69-72). And because the Divine is not in space,
it is not continuous [nec est continuum], as the inmost of nature is.
286. That God unless He were a Man could not have created the universe
and all things thereof, may be clearly apprehended by any intelligent
person from this, that he cannot deny that in God there is Love and
Wisdom, mercy and clemency, and also goodness itself and truth itself,
inasmuch as these are from God. And because he cannot deny this, neither
can he deny that God is a Man; for abstractly from man not one of these
is possible; for man is their subject, and to separate them from their
subject is to say that they are not. Think of wisdom, and place it outside
of man - is it anything? Can you conceive of it as something ethereal, or
as something flaming? You cannot; unless perchance you conceive of it as
being within these; and if within these, it must be wisdom in a form such
as man has; it must be wholly in the form of man, not one thing can be
lacking if wisdom is to be in that form. In a word, the form of wisdom is
man; and because man is the form of wisdom, he is also the form of love,
mercy, clemency, good and truth, because these make one with wisdom. That
love and wisdom are not possible except in a form, see above (n. 50-53).
287. That love and wisdom are man is further evident from the fact that
the angels of heaven are men in beauty in the measure in which they are
in love and its wisdom from the Lord. The same is evident from what is
said of Adam in the Word, that he was created into the likeness and into
the image of God (Gen. 1:26), because into the form of love and wisdom.
Every man on earth is born into the human form as regards his body, for
the reason that his spirit, which is also called his soul, is a man; and
this is a man because it is receptive of love and wisdom from the Lord;
and so far as these are received by the spirit or soul of man, so far it
becomes a man after the death of the material body which it had drawn
about it; and so far as these are not received it becomes a monster, which
derives something of manhood from the ability to receive.
288. Because God is a Man, the whole angelic heaven in the aggregate
resembles a single man, and is divided into regions and provinces
according to the members, viscera, and organs of man. Thus there are
societies of heaven which constitute the province of all things of the
brain, of all things of the facial organs, and of all things of the
viscera of the body; and these provinces are distinct from each other,
just as those organs are in man; moreover, the angels know in what
province of Man they are. The whole heaven is in this image, because
God is a Man. God is also heaven, because the angels, who constitute
heaven, are recipients of love and wisdom from the Lord, and recipients
are images. That heaven is in the form of all things of man is shown in
the Arcana Coelestia, at the end of various chapters.
289. All this makes evident how empty are the ideas of those who think
of God as something else than a Man, and of the Divine attributes as not
being in God as a Man, since these separated from man are mere figments
of reason. That God is very Man, from whom every man is a man according
to his reception of love and wisdom, may be seen above (n. 11-13). This
truth is here corroborated on account of what follows, that the creation
of the universe by God, because He is a Man, may be perceived.
290. THE LORD FROM ETERNITY, THAT IS, JEHOVAH, BROUGHT FORTH FROM HIMSELF
THE SUN OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, AND FROM THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE AND
ALL THINGS THEREOF.
The sun of the spiritual world was treated of in Part Second of this
work, and the following propositions were there established:-Divine
Love and Divine Wisdom appear in the spiritual world as a sun (n. 83-88).
Spiritual heat and spiritual light go forth from that sun (n. 89-92).
That sun is not God, but is a Proceeding from the Divine Love and Divine
Wisdom of God-Man; so also are the heat and light from that sun (n. 93-98).
The sun of the spiritual world is at a middle altitude, and appears far
off from the angels like the sun of the natural world from men
(n. 103-107). In the spiritual world the east is where the Lord appears
as a sun, and from that the other quarters are determined (n. 119-123,
125-128). Angels turn their faces constantly to the Lord as a sum
(n. 129-134, 135-139). The Lord created the universe and all things
thereof by means of the sun, which is the first proceeding of Divine
Love and Divine Wisdom (n. 151-156). The sun of the natural world is mere
fire, and nature, which derives its origin from that sun, is consequently
dead; and the sun of the natural world was created in order that the work
of creation might completed and finished (n. 157-162). Without a double
sun, one living and the other dead, no creation is possible (n. 163-166).
291. This also, among other things, is shown in Part Second:-that the
spiritual sun is not the Lord, but is a Proceeding from His Divine Love
and His Divine Wisdom. It is called a proceeding, because the sun was
brought forth out of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom which are in themselves
substance and form, and it is by means of this that the Divine proceeds.
But as human reason is such as to be unwilling to yield assent unless it
sees a thing from its cause, and therefore has some perception of how it
is, - thus in the present case, how the sun of the spiritual world, which
is not the Lord, but a proceeding from Him, was brought forth - something
shall be said on this subject. In regard to this matter I have conversed
much with the angels. They said that they have a clear perception of it
in their own spiritual light, but that they cannot easily present it to
man, in his natural light, owing to the difference between the two kinds
of light and the consequent difference of thought. The matter, however,
may be likened, they said, to the sphere of affections and of thoughts
therefrom which encompasses each angel, whereby his presence is made
evident to others near and far. But that encompassing sphere, they said,
is not the angel himself; it is from each and everything of his body,
wherefrom substances are constantly flowing out like a stream, and what
flows out surrounds him; also that these substances, contiguous to his
body, as they are constantly moved by his life's two fountains of motion,
the heart and the lungs, arouse the same activities in the atmospheres,
and thereby produce a perception as of his presence with others;
therefore that it is not a separate sphere of affections and of thoughts
therefrom that goes forth and is continuous from him, although it is so
called, since the affections are mere states of the mind's forms in the
angel. They said, moreover, that there is such a sphere about every
angel, because there is one about the Lord, and that the sphere about
the Lord is in like manner from Him, and that that sphere is their sun,
that is, the sun of the spiritual world.
292. A perception has often been granted me of such a sphere around each
angel and spirit, and also a general sphere around many in a society. I
have also been permitted to see it under various appearances, in heaven
sometimes appearing like a thin flame, in hell like gross fire, also
sometimes in heaven like a thin and shining white cloud, and in hell like
a thick and black cloud. It has also been granted me to perceive these
spheres as various kinds of odors and stenches. By these experiences I
was convinced that a sphere, consisting of substances set free and
separated from- their bodies, encompasses every one in heaven and every
one in hell.
293. It was also perceived that a sphere flows forth, not only from
angels and spirits but also from each and all things that appear in the
spiritual world, - from trees and from their fruits, from shrubs and from
their flowers, from herbs, and from grasses, even from the soils and from
their very particles. From which it was patent that both in the case of
things living and things dead this is a universal law, That each thing is
encompassed by something like that which is within it, and that this is
continually exhaled from it. It is known, from the observation of many
learned men, that it is the same in the natural world - that is, that
there is a wave of effluvia constantly flowing forth out of man, also out
of every animal, likewise out of tree, fruit, shrub, flower, and even out
of metal and stone. This the natural world derives from the spiritual,
and the spiritual world from the Divine.
294. Because those things that constitute the sun of the spiritual world
are from the Lord, but are not the Lord, they are not life in itself, but
are devoid of life in itself; just as those things that flow forth from
angel or man, and constitute spheres around him are not the angel or the
man, but are from him, and devoid of his life. These spheres make one
with the angel or man no otherwise than that they are concordant; and
this they are because taken from the forms of their bodies, which in them
were forms of their life. This is an arcanum which angels, with their
spiritual ideas, are able to see in thought and also express in speech,
but men with their natural ideas are not; because a thousand spiritual
ideas make one natural idea, and one natural idea cannot be resolved by
man into any spiritual idea, much less into so many. The reason is that
these ideas differ according to degrees of height, which were treated of
in Part Third.
295. That there is such a difference between the thoughts of angels and
the thoughts of men was made known to me by this experience: The angels
were asked to think spiritually on some subject, and afterwards to tell
me what they had thought. This they did; but when they wished to tell me
they could not, and said that these things could not be expressed in
words. It was the same with their spiritual language and their spiritual
writing; there was not a word of spiritual language that was like any
word of natural language; nor was there anything of spiritual writing
like natural writing, except the letters, each of which contained an
entire meaning. But what is wonderful, they said that they seemed to
themselves to think, speak, and write in the spiritual state in the same
manner that man does in the natural state, when yet there is no similarity.
From this it was plain that the natural and the spiritual differ according
to degrees of height, and that they communicate with each other only by
correspondences.
296. THERE ARE IN THE LORD THREE THINGS THAT ARE THE LORD, THE DIVINE OF
LOVE, THE DIVINE OF WISDOM, AND THE DIVINE OF USE; AND THESE THREE ARE
PRESENTED IN APPEARANCE OUTSIDE OF THE SUN OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, THE
DIVINE OF LOVE BY HEAT, THE DIVINE OF WISDOM BY LIGHT AND THE DIVINE OF
USE BY THE ATMOSPHERE WHICH IS THEIR CONTAINANT.
That heat and light go forth out of the sun of the spiritual world, heat
out of the Lord's Divine Love, and light out of His Divine Wisdom, may
be seen above (n. 89-92, 99-102, 156-150). Now it will be shown that the
third which goes forth out of that sun is the atmosphere, which is the
containant of heat and light, and that this goes forth out of the Lord's
Divine which is called Use.
297. Any one who thinks with any enlightenment can see that love has use
for an end and intends it, and brings it forth by means of wisdom; for
love can bring forth no use of itself, but only by wisdom as a medium.
What, in fact, is love unless there be something loved? That something
is use; and because use is that which is loved, and is brought forth by
means of wisdom, it follows that use is the containant of wisdom and love.
That these three, love, wisdom and use follow in order according to
degrees of height, and that the outmost degree is the complex, containant,
and base of the prior degrees has been shown (n. 209-216, and elsewhere).
From all this it can be seen that these three, the Divine of Love, the
Divine of Wisdom, and the Divine of Use, are in the Lord, and are the
Lord in essence.
298. That man, as regards both his exteriors and his interiors, is a form
of all uses, and that all the uses in the created universe correspond to
those uses in him, will be fully shown in what follows; it need only be
mentioned here, that it may be known that God as a Man is the form itself
of all uses, from which form all uses in the created universe derive
their origin, thus that the created universe, viewed as to uses, is an
image of Him. Those things are called uses which from God-Man, that is,
from the Lord, are by creation in order; but those things which are from
what is man's own are not called uses; since what is man's own is hell,
and whatever is therefrom is contrary to order.
299. Now since these three, love, wisdom, and use, are in the Lord, and
are the Lord; and since the Lord is everywhere, for He is omnipresent;
and since the Lord cannot make Himself present, such as He is in Himself
and such as He is in His own sun, to any angel or man, He therefore
presents Himself by means of such things as can be received, presenting
Himself, as to love by heat, as to wisdom by light, and as to use by an
atmosphere. The Lord presents Himself as to use by an atmosphere, because
an atmosphere is a containant of heat and light, as use is the containant
of love and wisdom. For light and heat going forth from the Divine Sun
cannot go forth in nothing, that is, in vacuum, but must go forth in a
containant which is a subject. This containant we call an atmosphere; and
this encompasses the sun, receiving the sun in its bosom, and bearing it
to heaven where angels are, and then to the world where men are, thus
making the Lord's presence everywhere manifest.
300. That there are atmospheres in the angelic world, as well as in the
natural world, has been shown above (n. 173-178, 179-183). It was there
declared that the atmospheres of the spiritual world are spiritual, and
the atmospheres of the natural world are natural. It can now be seen,
from the origin of the spiritual atmosphere most closely encompassing the
spiritual sun, that everything belonging to it is in its essence such as
the sun is in its essence. The angels, by means of their spiritual ideas,
which are apart from space, elucidate this truth as follows: There is
only one substance from which all things are, and the sun of the spiritual
world is that substance; and since the Divine is not in space, and is the
same in things greatest and least, this is also true of that sun which is
the first going forth of God-Man; furthermore, this one only substance,
which is the sun, going forth by means of atmospheres according to
continuous degrees or degrees of breadth, and at the same time according
to discrete degrees or degrees of height presents the varieties of all
things in the created universe. The angels declared that these things are
totally incomprehensible, unless spaces be removed from the ideas; and
if not removed, appearances must needs induce fallacies. But so long as
the thought is held that God is the very Esse from which all things are,
fallacies cannot enter.
301. It is evident, moreover, from angelic ideas, which are apart from
space, that in the created universe nothing lives except God-Man, that is,
the Lord, neither is anything moved except by life from Him, nor has being
except through the sun from Him; so that it is a truth, that in God we
live, and move, and have our being.
302. THE ATMOSPHERES, OF WHICH THERE ARE THREE BOTH IN THE SPIRITUAL AND
IN THE NATURAL WORLD, IN THEIR OUTMOSTS CLOSE INTO SUBSTANCES AND MATTERS
SUCH AS ARE IN LANDS.
It has been shown in Part Third (n. 173-176), that there are three
atmospheres both in the spiritual and in the natural world, which are
distinct from each other according to degrees of height, and which, in
their progress toward lower things, decrease [in activity] according to
degrees of breadth. And since atmospheres in their progress toward lower
things decrease [in activity], it follows that they constantly become
more compressed and inert, and finally, in outmosts, become so compressed
and inert as to be no longer atmospheres, but substances at rest, and in
the natural world, fixed like those in the lands that are called matters.
As such is the origin of substances and matters, it follows, first, that
these substances and matters also are of three degrees; secondly, that
they are held together in mutual connection by encompassing atmospheres;
thirdly, that they are fitted for the production of all uses in their
forms.
303. That such substances or matters as are in earths, were brought forth
by the sun through its atmospheres any one will readily acknowledge who
reflects that there are continual mediations from the First to outmosts,
and that nothing can take form except from what is prior to itself, and
so finally from the First. The First is the sun of the spiritual world,
and the First of that sun is God-Man, or the Lord. Now as atmospheres are
those prior things, whereby the spiritual sun manifests itself in outmosts,
and as these prior things continually decrease in activity and expansion
down to the outmosts, it follows that when their activity and expansion
come to an end in outmosts they become substances, and matters such as are
in lands, which retain within them, from the atmospheres out of which they
originated, an effort and conatus to bring forth uses. Those who do not
evolve the creation of the universe and all things thereof by continuous
mediations from the First [Being], can but hold hypotheses, disjoined and
divorced from their causes, which, when surveyed by a mind with an interior
perception of things, do not appear like a house, but like heaps of
rubbish.
304. From this universal origin of all things in the created universe,
every particular thereof has a similar order; in that these also go forth
from their first to outmosts which are relatively in a state of rest, that
they may terminate and become permanent. Thus in the human body fibers
proceed from their first forms until at last they become tendons; also
fibers with vessels proceed from their first forms until they become
cartilages and bones; upon these they may rest and become permanent.
Because of such a progression of fibers and vessels in man from firsts
to outmosts, there is a similar progression of their states, which are
sensations, thoughts, and affections. These, also, from their firsts,
where they are in light, proceed through to outmosts, where they are in
shade; or from their firsts, where they are in heat, to outmosts where
they are not in heat. With such a progression of these there is also a
like progression of love and of all things thereof, and of wisdom and all
things thereof. In a word, such is the progression of all things in the
created universe. This is the same as was shown above (n. 222-229), that
there are degrees of both kinds in the greatest and least of all created
things. There are degrees of both kinds even in the least things of all,
because the spiritual sun is the sole substance from which all things are
(according to the spiritual ideas of the angels, n. 300).
305. IN THE SUBSTANCES AND MATTERS OF WHICH LANDS ARE FORMED THERE IS
NOTHING OF THE DIVINE IN ITSELF, BUT STILL THEY ARE FROM THE DIVINE IN
ITSELF.
From the origin of lands (treated of in the preceding chapter), it can be
seen, that in their substances and matters there is nothing of the Divine
in itself, but that they are devoid of all-that is Divine in itself. For
they are, as was said, the endings and closings of the atmospheres, whose
heat has died away into cold, whose light into darkness, and whose activity
into inertness. Nevertheless, by continuation from the substance of the
spiritual sun, they have brought with them what there was in that substance
from the Divine, which (as said above, n. 291-298), was the sphere
encompassing God-Man, or the Lord. From that sphere, by continuation from
the sun through the atmospheres as mediums have arisen the substances and
matters of which the lands are formed.
306. The origin of lands from the spiritual sun through the atmospheres,
as mediums, can no otherwise be described by expressions flowing out of
natural ideas, but may by expressions flowing out of spiritual ideas,
because these are apart from space, and for this reason, they do not fall
into any expressions of natural language. That spiritual thoughts, speech,
and writings differ so entirely from natural thoughts, speech, and
writings, that they have nothing in common, and have communication only
by correspondences, may be seen above (n. 295). It may suffice, therefore,
if the origin of lands be perceived in some measure naturally.
307. ALL USES, WHICH ARE ENDS OF CREATION ARE IN FORMS, WHICH FORMS THEY
TAKE FROM SUBSTANCES AND MATTERS SUCH AS ARE IN LANDS.
All things treated of hitherto, as the sun, atmospheres, and lands, are
only means to ends. The ends of creation are those things that are
produced by the Lord as a sun, through the atmospheres, out of lands;
and these ends are called uses. In their whole extent these are all things
of the vegetable kingdom, all things of the animal kingdom, and finally
the human race, and the angelic heaven which is from it. These are called
uses, because they are recipients of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom also
because they have regard to God the Creator from whom they are, and
thereby conjoin Him to His great work; by which conjunction it comes
that, as they spring forth from Him, so do they have unceasing existence
from Him. They are said to have regard to God the Creator from whom they
are, and to conjoin Him to His great work, but this is to speak according
to appearance. It is meant that God the Creator causes them to have regard
and to conjoin themselves to Him as it were of themselves; but how they
have regard and thereby conjoin will be declared in what follows.
Something has been said before on these subjects in their place, as that
Divine Love and Divine Wisdom must necessarily have being and form in
other things created by themselves (n. 37-51); that all things in the
created universe are recipients of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom
(n. 55-60); that the uses of all created things ascend by degrees to man,
and through man to God the Creator from whom they are (n. 65-68).
308. Who does not see clearly that uses are the ends of creation, when
he considers that from God the Creator nothing can have form, and
therefore nothing can be created, except use; and that to be use, it
must be for the sake of others; and that use for the sake of self is
also for the sake of others, since a use for the sake of self looks to
one's being in a state to be of use to others? Whoso considers this is
also able to see, that use which is use cannot spring from man, but must
be in man from that Being from whom everything that comes forth is use,
that is, from the Lord.
309. But as the forms of uses are here treated of, the subject shall be
set forth in the following order:
(1) In lands there is a conatus to produce uses in forms, that is, forms
of uses.
(2) In all forms of uses there is a kind of image of the creation of the
universe.
(3) In all forms of uses there is a kind of image of man.
(4) In all forms of uses there is a kind of image of the Infinite and
the Eternal.
310. (1) In lands there is a conatus to produce uses in forms, that is,
forms of uses. That there is this conatus in lands, is evident from their
source, since the substances and matters of which lands consist are
endings and closings of atmospheres which proceed as uses from the
spiritual sun (as may be seen above, n. 305, 306). And because the
substances and matters of which lands consist are from that source, and
their aggregations are held in connection by the pressure of the
surrounding atmospheres, it follows that they have from that a perpetual
conatus to bring forth forms of uses. The very quality that makes them
capable of bringing forth they derive from their source, as being the
outmosts of atmospheres, with which they are constantly in accord. Such
a conatus and quality are said to be in lands, but it is meant that they
are present in the substances and matters of which lands consist, whether
these are in the lands or in the atmospheres as exhalations from the
lands. That atmospheres are full of such things is well known. That there
is such a conatus and such quality in the substances and matters of lands
is plain from the fact that seeds of all kinds, opened by means of heat
even to their inmost core, are impregnated by the most subtle substances
(which can have no other than a spiritual origin), and through this they
have power to conjoin themselves to use, from which comes their prolific
principle. Then through conjunction with matters from a natural origin
they are able to produce forms of uses, and thereafter to deliver them
as from a womb, that they may come forth into light, and thus sprout up
and grow. This conatus is afterwards continuous from the lands through
the root even to outmosts, and from outmosts to firsts, wherein use itself
is in its origin. Thus uses pass into forms; and forms, in their
progression from firsts to outmosts and from outmosts to firsts, derive
from use (which is like a soul) that each and every thing of the form is
of some use. Use is said to be like a soul, since its form is like a body.
It also follows that there is a conatus more interior, that is, the conatus
to produce uses for the animal kingdom through vegetable growths, since by
these animals of every kind are nourished. It further follows that in all
these there is an inmost conatus, the conatus to perform use to the human
race. From all this these things follow: (1) that there are outmosts, and
in outmosts are all prior things simultaneously in their order, according
to what has been frequently explained above; (2) that as there are degrees
of both kinds in the greatest and least of all things (as was shown above,
n. 222-229), so there are likewise in this conatus; (3) that as all uses
are brought forth by the Lord out of outmosts, so in outmosts there must
be a conatus to uses.
311. Still none of these are living conatus, for they are the conatus of
life's outmost forces; within which forces there exists, from the life
out of which they spring, a striving to return at last to their origin
through the means afforded. In outmosts, atmospheres become such forces;
and by these forces, substances and matters, such as are in the lands,
are molded into forms and held together in forms both within and without.
But the subject is too large to allow a more extended explanation here.
312. The first production from these earthy matters, while they were
still new and in their simple state, was production of seed; the first
conatus therein could not be any other.
313. (2) In all forms of uses there is a kind of image of creation. Forms
of uses are of a threefold kind; forms of uses of the mineral kingdom,
forms of uses of the vegetable kingdom, and forms of uses of the animal
kingdom. The forms of uses of the mineral kingdom cannot be described,
because they are not visible to the eye. The first forms are the substances
and matters of which the lands consist, in their minutest divisions; the
second forms are aggregates of these, and are of infinite variety; the
third forms come from plants that have fallen to dust, and from animal
remains, and from the continual evaporations and exhalations from these,
which are added to lands and make their soil. These forms of the mineral
kingdom in three degrees represent creation in an image in this, that,
made active by the sun through the atmospheres and their heat and light,
they bring forth uses in forms, which uses were creative ends. This image
of creation lies deeply hidden within their conatus (of which see above,
n. 310).
314. In the forms of uses of the vegetable kingdom an image of creation
appears in this, that from their firsts they proceed to their outmosts,
and from outmosts to firsts. Their firsts are seeds, their outmosts are
stalks clothed with bark; and by means of the bark which is the outmost
of the stalk, they tend to seeds which, as was said, are their firsts.
The stalks clothed with layers of bark represent the globe clothed with
lands, out of which come the creation and formation of all uses. That
vegetation is effected through the outer and inner barks and coatings, by
a climbing up, by means of the coverings of the roots (which are continued
around the stalks and branches), into the beginnings of the fruit, and in
like manner through the fruits into the seeds, is known to many. An image
of creation is displayed in forms of uses in the progress of the formation
of uses from firsts to outmosts, and from outmosts to firsts; also in
this, that in the whole progression there lies the end of producing fruit
and seeds, which are uses. From what has been said above it is plain, that
the progression of the creation of the universe was from its First (which
is the Lord encircled by the sun) to outmosts which are lands, and from
these through uses to its First, that is, the Lord; also that the ends of
the whole creation were uses.
315. It should be known that to this image of creation the heat, light,
and atmospheres of the natural world contribute nothing whatever. It is
only the heat, light, and atmospheres of the sun of the spiritual world
that do this, bringing that image with them, and clothing it with the
forms of uses of the vegetable kingdom. The heat, light, and atmospheres
of the natural world simply open the seeds, keep their products in a
state of expansion, and clothe them with the matters that give them
fixedness. And this is done not by any forces from their own sun (which
viewed in themselves are null), but by forces from the spiritual sun, by
which the natural forces are unceasingly impelled to these services.
Natural forces contribute nothing whatever towards forming this image of
creation, for the image of creation is spiritual. But that this image may
be manifest and perform use in the natural world, and may stand fixed and
be permanent, it must be materialized, that is, filled in with the matters
of that world.
316. In the forms of uses of the animal kingdom there is a similar image
of creation, in that the animal body, which is the outmost thereof, is
formed by a seed deposited in a womb or an ovum, and this body, when
mature, brings forth new seed. This progression is similar to the
progression of the forms of uses of the vegetable kingdom: seeds are
the beginnings; the womb or the ovum is like the ground; the state before
birth is like the state of the seed in the ground while it takes root;
the state after birth until the animal becomes prolific is like the growth
of a tree until it reaches its state of fruit-bearing. From this
parallelism it is plain that there is a likeness of creation in the forms
of animals as well as in the forms of plants, in that there is a
progression from firsts to outmosts, and from outmosts to firsts. A like
image of creation exists in every single thing there is in man; for there
is a like progression of love through wisdom into uses, consequently a
like progression of the will through the understanding into acts, and of
charity through faith into deeds. Will and understanding, also charity
and faith, are the firsts as their source; acts and deeds are the
outmosts; from these, by means of the enjoyments of uses, a return is
made to their firsts, which, as was said, are the will and understanding,
or charity and faith. That the return is effected by means of the
enjoyments of uses is very evident from the enjoyments felt in those
acts and deeds which are from any love, in that they flow back to the
first of the love from which they spring and that thereby conjunction
is effected. The enjoyments of acts and deeds are what are called the
enjoyments of uses. A like progression from firsts to outmosts, and from
outmosts to firsts, is exhibited in the forms most purely organic of
affections and thoughts in man. In his brains there are those star-like
forms called the cineritious substances; out of these go forth fibers
through the medullary substance by the neck into the body; passing through
to the outmosts of the body, and from outmosts returning to their firsts.
This return of fibers to their firsts is made through the blood vessels.
There is a like progression of all affections and thoughts, which are
changes and variations of state of those forms or substances, for the
fibers issuing out of those forms or substances are comparatively like
the atmospheres from the spiritual sun, which are containants of heat
and light; while bodily acts are like the things produced from the lands
by means of atmospheres, the enjoyments of their uses returning to the
source from which they sprang. But that the progression of these is such,
and that within this progression there is an image of creation, can hardly
be comprehended fully by the understanding, both because thousands and
myriads of forces operating in act appear as one, and because the
enjoyments of uses do not appear as ideas in the thought, but only affect
without distinct perception. On this subject see what has been declared
and explained above, as follows: The uses of all created things ascend
by degrees of height to man, and through man to God the Creator from whom
they are (n. 65-68). The end of creation takes form in outmosts, which
end is that all things may return to the Creator and that there may be
conjunction (n. 167-172). But these things will appear in still clearer
light in the following Part, where the correspondence of the will and
understanding with the heart and lungs will be treated of.
317. (3) In all forms of uses there is a kind of image of man. This has
been shown above (n. 61-64). That all uses, from firsts to outmosts and
from outmosts to firsts, have relation to all parts of man and have
correspondence with them, consequently that man is, in a kind of image,
a universe, and conversely that the universe viewed as to uses is in
image a man, will be seen in the following chapter.
318. (4) In all forms of uses there is a kind of image of the Infinite
and the Eternal. The image of the Infinite in these forms is plain from
their conatus and power to fill the spaces of the whole world, and even
of many worlds, to infinity. For a single seed produces a tree, shrub,
or plant, which fills its own space; and each tree, shrub, or plant
produces seeds, in some cases thousands of them, which, when sown and
grown up, fill their own spaces; and if from each seed of these there
should proceed as many more, reproduced again and again, in the course
of years the whole world would be filled; and if the production were
still continued many worlds would be filled; and this to infinity.
Estimate a thousand seeds from one, and multiply the thousand by a
thousand ten times, twenty times, even to a hundred times, and you
will see. There is a like image of the Eternal in these forms; seeds
are propagated from year to year, and the propagations never cease; they
have not ceased from the creation of the world till now, and will not
cease to eternity. These two are standing proofs and attesting signs that
all things of the universe have been created by an Infinite and Eternal
God. Beside these images of the Infinite and Eternal, there is another
image of the Infinite and Eternal in varieties, in that there can never
be a substance, state, or thing in the created universe the same as or
identical with any other, neither in atmospheres, nor in lands, nor in
the forms arising out of these. Thus not in any of the things which fill
the universe can any thing the same be produced to eternity. This is
plainly to be seen in the variety of the faces of human beings; no one
face can be found throughout the world which is the same as another, nor
can there be to all eternity, consequently not one mind, for the face is
the type of the mind.
319. ALL THINGS OF THE CREATED UNIVERSE, VIEWED IN REFERENCE TO USES
REPRESENT MAN IN AN IMAGE, AND THIS TESTIFIES THAT GOD IS A MAN
By the ancients man was called a microcosm, from his representing the
macrocosm, that is, the universe in its whole complex; but it is not
known at the present day why man was so called by the ancients, for no
more of the universe or macrocosm is manifest in him than that he derives
nourishment and bodily life from its animal and vegetable kingdoms, and
that he is kept in a living condition by its heat, sees by its light,
and hears and breathes by its atmospheres. Yet these things do not make
man a microcosm, as the universe with all things thereof is a macrocosm.
The ancients called man a microcosm, or little universe, from truth which
they derived from the knowledge of correspondences, in which the most
ancient people were, and from their communication with angels of heaven;
for angels of heaven know from the things which they see about them that
all things of the universe, viewed as to uses, represent man as an image.
320. But the truth that man is a microcosm, or little universe, because
the created universe, viewed as to uses is, in image, a man, cannot come
into the thought and from that into the knowledge of any one on earth from
the idea of the universe as it is viewed in the spiritual world; and
therefore it can be corroborated only by an angel, who is in the spiritual
world, or by some one to whom it has been granted to be in that world,
and to see things which are there. As this has been granted to me, I am
able, from what I have seen there, to disclose this arcanum.
321. It should be known that the spiritual world is in external appearance,
wholly like the natural world. Lands, mountains, hills, valleys, plains,
fields, lakes, rivers, springs of water are to be seen there, as in the
natural world; thus all things belonging to the mineral kingdom. Paradises,
gardens, groves, woods, and in them trees and shrubs of all kinds bearing
fruit and seeds; also plants, flowers, herbs, and grasses are to be seen
there; thus all things pertaining to the vegetable kingdom. There are also
to be seen there, beasts, birds, and fishes of every kind; thus all things
pertaining to the animal kingdom. Man there is an angel or spirit. This is
premised that it may be known that the universe of the spiritual world is
wholly like the universe of the natural world, with this difference only,
that things in the spiritual world are not fixed and settled like those in
the natural world, because in the spiritual world nothing is natural but
every thing is spiritual.
322. That the universe of that world represents man in an image can be
clearly seen from this, that all things just mentioned (n. 321) appear
to the life, and take form about the angel, and about the angelic
societies, as if they were produced or created by them; they are about
them permanently, and do not pass away. That they are as if they were
produced or created by them is seen by their no longer appearing when
the angel goes away, or when the society passes to another place; also
when other angels come in place of these the appearance of all things
about them is changed - in the paradises the trees and fruits are changed,
in the flower gardens the flowers and seeds, in the fields the herbs and
grasses, also the kinds of animals and birds are changed. Such things
take form and are changed in this manner, because all these things take
form according to the affections and consequent thoughts of the angels,
for they are correspondences. And because things that correspond make one
with that to which they correspond they are an image representative of
it. The image itself is not seen when these things are viewed in their
forms, it is seen only when they are viewed in respect to uses. It has
been granted me to perceive that angels, when their eyes were opened by
the Lord, and they saw these things from the correspondence of uses,
recognized and saw themselves therein.
323. Inasmuch as these things which have existence about the angels,
corresponding to their affections and thoughts, represent a universe,
in that there are lands, plants, and animals, and these constitute an
image representative of the angel, it is evident why the ancients called
man a microcosm.
324. That this is so has been abundantly confirmed in the Arcana
Coelestia, also in the work Heaven and Hell, and occasionally in the
preceding pages where correspondence is treated of. It has been there
shown also that nothing is to be found in the created universe which has
not a correspondence with something in man, not only with his affections
and their thoughts, but also with his bodily organs and viscera; not with
these however as substances, but as uses. From this it is that in the
Word, where the church and the man of the church are treated of, such
frequent mention is made of trees, such as "olives," "vines," and
"cedars;" of "gardens," "groves" and "woods;" and of the "beasts of
the earth," "birds of the air," and "fish of the sea." They are there
mentioned because they correspond, and by correspondence make one, as
was said above; consequently, when such things are read in the Word by
man, these objects are not perceived by angels, but the church or the
men of the church in respect to their states are perceived instead.
325. Since all things of the universe have relation in an image to man,
the wisdom and intelligence of Adam are described by the "garden of Eden,"
wherein were all kinds of trees, also rivers, precious stones, and gold,
and animals to which he gave names; by all of which are meant such things
as were in Adam, and constitute that which is called man. Nearly the same
things are said of Ashur, by whom the church in respect to intelligence is
signified (Ezek. 31:3-9); and of Tyre, by which the church in respect to
knowledges of good and truth is signified (Ezek. 28:12, 13).
326. From all this it can be seen that all things in the universe, viewed
from uses, have relation in an image to man, and that this testifies that
God is a man. For such things as have been mentioned above take form about
the angelic man, not from the angels, but from the Lord through the angels.
For they take their form from the influx of the Lord's Divine Love and
Divine Wisdom into the angel, who is a recipient, and before whose eyes
all this is brought forth like the creation of a universe. From this they
know there that God is a Man, and that the created universe, viewed in its
uses, is an image of God.
327. ALL THINGS CREATED BY THE LORD ARE USE; THEY ARE USES IN THE ORDER,
DEGREE, AND RESPECT IN WHICH THEY HAVE RELATION TO MAN, AND THROUGH MAN
TO THE LORD, FROM WHOM [THEY ARE].
In respect to this it has been shown above: That from God the Creator
nothing can take form except uses (n. 308); that the uses of all created
things ascend by degrees from outmost things to man, and through man to
God the Creator, from whom they are (n. 65-68); that the end of creation
takes form in outmosts, which end is, that all things may return to God
the Creator, and that there may be conjunction (n. 167-172); that things
are uses so far as they have regard to the Creator (n. 307); that the
Divine must necessarily have being and form in other things created by
itself (n. 47-51); that all things of the universe are recipients
according to uses, and this according to degrees (n. 58); that the
universe, viewed from uses, is an image of God (n. 59); and many other
things. From all which this- truth is plain, that all things created by
the Lord are uses, and that they are uses in that order, degree, and
respect in which they have relation to man, and through man to the Lord
from whom [they are]. It remains now that some things should be said in
detail respecting uses.
328. By man, to whom uses have relation, is meant not alone an individual
but an assembly of men, also a society smaller or larger, as a
commonwealth, kingdom, or empire, or that largest society, the whole
world, for each of these is a man. Likewise in the heavens, the whole
angelic heaven is as one man before the Lord, and equally every society
of heaven; from this it is that every angel is a man. That this is so
may be seen in the work Heaven and Hell (n. 68-103). This makes clear
what is meant by man in what follows.
329. The end of the creation of the universe clearly shows what use is.
The end of the creation of the universe is the existence of an angelic
heaven; and as the angelic heaven is the end, man also or the human race
is the end, since heaven is from that. From which it follows that all
created things are mediate ends, and that these are uses in that order,
degree, and respect in which they have relation to man, and through man
to the Lord.
330. Inasmuch as the end of creation is an angelic heaven out of the
human race, and thus the human race itself, all other created things are
mediate ends, and these, as having relation to man, with a view to his
conjunction with the Lord, refer themselves to these three things in him,
his body, his rational, and his spiritual. For man cannot be conjoined to
the Lord unless he be spiritual, nor can he be spiritual unless he be
rational, nor can he be rational unless his body is in a sound state.
These three are like a house; the body like the foundation, the rational
like the superstructure, the spiritual like those things which are in the
house, and conjunction with the Lord like dwelling in it. From this can
be seen in what order, degree, and respect uses (which are the mediate
ends of creation) have relation to man, namely, (1) for sustaining his
body, (2) for perfecting his rational, (3) for receiving what is spiritual
from the Lord.
331. Uses for sustaining the body relate to its nourishment, its clothing,
its habitation, its recreation and enjoyment, its protection and the
preservation of its state. The uses created for the nourishment of the
body are all things of the vegetable kingdom suitable for food and drink,
as fruits, grapes, grain, pulse, and herbs; in the animal kingdom all
things which are eaten, as oxen, cows, calves, deer, sheep, kids, goats,
lambs, and the milk they yield; also fowls and fish of many kinds. The
uses created for the clothing of the body are many other products of these
two kingdoms; in like manner, the uses for habitation, also for recreation,
enjoyment, protection, and preservation of state. These are not mentioned
because they are well known, and their mere enumeration would fill pages.
There are many things, to be sure, which are not used by man; but what is
superfluous does not do away with the use, but ensures its continuance.
Misuse of uses is also possible, but misuse does not do away with use,
even as falsification of truth does not do away with truth except with
those who falsify it.
332. Uses for perfecting the rational are all things that give instruction
about the subjects above mentioned, and are called sciences and branches
of study, pertaining to natural, economical, civil and moral affairs,
which are learned either from parents and teachers, or from books, or
from interaction with others, or by reflection on these subjects by
oneself. These things perfect the rational so far as they are uses in a
higher degree, and they are permanent as far as they are applied to life.
Space forbids the enumeration of these uses, by reason both of their
multitude and of their varied relation to the common good.
333. Uses for receiving the spiritual from the Lord, are all things that
belong to religion and to worship therefrom; thus all things that teach
the acknowledgment and knowledge of God and the knowledge and
acknowledgment of good and truth and thus eternal life, which are
acquired in the same way as other learning, from parents, teachers,
discourses, and books, and especially by applying to life what is so
learned; and in the Christian world, by doctrines and discourses from
the Word, and through the Word from the Lord. These uses in their full
extent may be described under the same heads as the uses of the body, as
nourishment, clothing, habitation, recreation and enjoyment, and
preservation of state, if only they are applied to the soul; as nutrition
to goods of love, clothing to truths of wisdom, habitation to heaven,
recreation and enjoyment to felicity of life and heavenly joy, protection
to safety from infesting evils, and preservation of state to eternal life.
All these things are given by the Lord according to the acknowledgment
that all bodily things are also from the Lord, and that a man is only as
a servant and house-steward appointed over the goods of his Lord.
334. That such things have been given to man to use and enjoy, and that
they are free gifts, is clearly evident from the state of angels in the
heavens, who have, like men on earth, a body, a rational, and a spiritual.
They are nourished freely, for food is given them daily; they are clothed
freely, for garments are given them; their dwellings are free, for houses
are given them; nor have they any care about all these things; and so far
as they are rational-spiritual do they have enjoyment, protection, and
preservation of state. The difference is that angels see that these
things, - because created according to the state of their love and
wisdom, - are from the Lord (as was shown in the preceding chapter,
n. 322); but men do not see this, because their harvest returns yearly,
and is not in accord with the state of their love and wisdom, but in
accord with the care bestowed by them.
335. These things are called uses, because through man they have relation
to the Lord; nevertheless, they must not be said to be uses from man for
the Lord's sake, but from the Lord for man's sake, inasmuch as in the
Lord all uses are infinitely one, but in man there are no uses except
from the Lord; for man cannot do good from himself, but only from the
Lord, and good is what is called use. The essence of spiritual love is
doing good to others, not for the sake of self but for the sake of others;
infinitely more is this the essence of Divine Love. It is like the love
of parents for their children, in that parents do good to their children
from love, not for their own sake but for their children's sake. This is
especially manifest in a mothers love for her offspring. Because the Lord
is to be adored, worshiped and glorified, He is supposed to love adoration,
worship, and glory for His own sake; but He loves these for man's sake,
because by means of them man comes into a state in which the Divine can
flow in and be perceived; since by means of them man puts away that which
is his own, which hinders influx and reception, for what is man's own,
which is self-love, hardens the heart and shuts it up. This is removed by
man's acknowledging that from himself comes nothing but evil and from the
Lord nothing but good; from this acknowledgment there is a softening of
the heart and humiliation, out of which flow forth adoration and worship.
From all this it follows, that the use which the Lord performs for Himself
through man is that Man may be able to do good from love, and since this
is the Lord's love, its reception is the enjoyment of His love. Therefore,
let no one believe that the Lord is with those who merely worship Him, He
is with those who do His commandments, thus who perform uses; with such
He has His abode, but not with the former. (See what was said above on
this subject, n. 47-49.)
336. EVIL USES WERE NOT CREATED BY THE LORD, BUT ORIGINATED TOGETHER
WITH HELL.
All good things that take form in act are called uses; and all evil things
that take form in act are also called uses, but evil uses, while the
former are called good uses. Now, since all good things are from the Lord
and all evil things from hell, it follows that none but good uses were
created by the Lord, and that evil uses arose out of hell. By the uses
specially treated of in this chapter are meant all those things which are
to be seen upon the earth, as animals of every kind and plants of every
kind. Such things of both kingdoms as are useful to man are from the Lord,
but those which are harmful to man are from hell. By uses from the Lord
are likewise meant all things that perfect the rational of man, and cause
him to receive the spiritual from the Lord; but by evil uses are meant all
things that destroy the rational, and make man unable to become spiritual.
Those things that are harmful to man are called uses because they are of
use to the evil in doing evil, and also are serviceable in absorbing
malignities and thus also as remedies. "Use" is employed in both senses,
as love is when we speak of good love and evil love; moreover, everything
that love does it calls use.
337. That good uses are from the Lord, and evil uses from hell, will be
shown in the following order.
(1) What is meant by evil uses on the earth.
(2) All things that are evil uses are in hell, and all things that are
good uses are in heaven.
(3) There is unceasing influx from the spiritual world into the natural
world.
(4) Those things that are evil uses are effected by the operation of
influx from hell, wherever there are such things as correspond thereto.
(5) This is done by the lowest spiritual separated from what is above it.
(6) There are two forms into which the operation by influx takes place,
the vegetable and the animal.
(7) Both these forms receive the ability to propagate their kind and the
means of propagation.
338. (1) What is meant by evil uses on the earth. By evil uses on earth
are meant all noxious things in both the animal and vegetable kingdom,
also in the mineral kingdom. It is needless to enumerate all the noxious
things in these kingdoms, for to do so would merely heap up names, and
doing this without indicating the noxious effect that each kind produces
would not contribute to the object which this work has in view. For the
sake of information a few examples will suffice:-In the animal kingdom
there are poisonous serpents, scorpions, crocodiles, great snakes, horned
owls, screech owls, mice, locusts, frogs, spiders; also flies, drones,
moths, lice, mites; in a word, creatures that destroy grasses, leaves,
fruits, seed, food, and drink, and are harmful to beast and man. In the
vegetable kingdom there are all hurtful, virulent, and poisonous herbs,
with leguminous plants and shrubs of like character; and in the mineral
kingdom all poisonous earths. From these few examples it can be seen what
is meant by evil uses on earth; for evil uses are all things that are
opposite to good uses (of which, in the preceding paragraph, n. 336).
339. (2) All things that are evil uses are in hell, and all things that
are good uses are in heaven. Before it can be seen that all evil uses
that take form on earth are not from the Lord but from hell, something
must be premised concerning heaven and hell, without a knowledge of which
evil uses as well as good may be attributed to the Lord, and it may be
believed that they are together from creation; or they may be attributed
to nature, and their origin to the sun of nature. From these two errors
man cannot be delivered, unless he knows that nothing whatever takes form
in the natural world that does not derive its cause and therefore its
origin from the spiritual world, and that good is from the Lord, and evil
from the devil, that is, from hell. By the spiritual world is meant both
heaven and hell. In heaven are to be seen all those things that are good
uses (of which in a preceding article, n. 336). In hell are to be seen all
those that are evil uses (see just above, n. 338, where they are
enumerated). These are wild creatures of every kind, as serpents,
scorpions, great snakes, crocodiles, tigers, wolves, foxes, swine, owls
of different kinds, bats, rats, and mice, frogs, locusts, spiders, and
noxious insects of many kinds; also hemlocks and aconites, and all kinds
of poisons, both of herbs and of earths; in a word, everything hurtful
and deadly to man. Such things appear in the hells to the life precisely
like those on and in the earth. They are said to appear there; yet they
are not there as on earth, for they are mere correspondences of lusts
that swarm out of their evil loves, and present themselves in such forms
before others. Because there are such things in the hells, these abound
in foul smells, cadaverous, stercoraceous, urinous, and putrid, wherein
the diabolical spirits there take delight, as animals do in rank stenches.
From this it can be seen that like things in the natural world did not
derive their origin from the Lord, and were not created from the
beginning, neither did they spring from nature through her sun, but are
from hell. That they are not from nature through her sun is plain, for
the spiritual inflows into the natural, and not the reverse. And that
they are not from the Lord is plain, because hell is not from Him,
therefore nothing in hell corresponding to the evils of its inhabitants
is from Him.
340. (3) There is unceasing influx out of the spiritual world into the
natural world. He who does not know that there is a spiritual world, or
that it is distinct from the natural world, as what is prior is distinct
from what is subsequent, or as cause from the thing caused, can have no
knowledge of this influx. This is the reason why those who have written
on the origin of plants and animals could not do otherwise than ascribe
that origin to nature; or if to God, then in the sense that God had
implanted in nature from the beginning a power to produce such things,
- not knowing that no power has been implanted in nature, since nature,
in herself, is dead, and contributes no more to the production of these
things than a tool does, for instance, to the work of a mechanic, the
tool acting only as it is continually moved. It is the spiritual, deriving
its origin from the sun where the Lord is, and proceeding to the outmosts
of nature, that produces the forms of plants and animals, exhibiting the
marvels that exist in both, and filling the forms with matters from the
earth, that they may become fixed and enduring. But because it is now
known that there is a spiritual world, and that the spiritual is from
the spiritual sun, in which the Lord is and which is from the Lord, and
that the spiritual is what impels nature to act, as what is living impels
what is dead, also that like things exist in the spiritual world as in the
natural world, it can now be seen that plants and animals have had their
existence only from the Lord though that world, and through that world
they have perpetual existence. Thus there is unceasing influx from the
spiritual world into the natural. That this is so will be abundantly
corroborated in the next chapter. Noxious things are produced on earth
through influx from hell, by the same law of permission whereby evils
themselves from hell flow into men. This law will be set forth in the
Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Providence.
341. (4) Those things that are evil uses are effected by the operation of
influx from hell, wherever there are such things as correspond thereto.
The things that correspond to evil uses, that is, to hurtful plants and
noxious animals, are cadaverous, putrid, excrementitious, stercoraceous,
rancid, and urinous matters; consequently, in places where these are, such
herbs and such animalcules spring forth as are mentioned above; and in the
torrid zone, like things of larger size, as serpents, basilisks,
crocodiles, scorpions, rats, and so forth. Every one knows that swamps,
stagnant ponds, dung, fetid bogs, are full of such things; also that
noxious insects fill the atmosphere in clouds, and noxious vermin walk
the earth in armies, and consume its herbs to the very roots. I once
observed in my garden, that in the space of a half yard, nearly all the
dust was turned into minute insects, for when it was stirred with a stick,
they rose in clouds. That cadaverous and putrid matters are in accord with
these noxious and useless little things, and that the two are homogeneous,
is evident from mere observation; and it is still more clearly seen from
the cause, which is, that like stenches and fumes exist in the hells,
where such little things are likewise to be seen. Those hells are therefore
named accordingly; some are called cadaverous, some stercoraceous, some
urinous, and so on. But all these hells are covered over, that those vapors
may not escape from them. For when they are opened a very little, which
happens when novitiate devils enter, they excite vomiting and cause
headache, and such as are also poisonous induce fainting. The very dust
there is also of the same nature, wherefore it is there called damned
dust. From this it is evident that there are such noxious insects wherever
there are such stenches, because the two correspond.
342. It now becomes a matter of inquiry whether such things spring from
eggs conveyed to the spot by means of air, or rain, or water oozing
through the soil, or whether they spring from the damp and stenches
themselves. That these noxious animalcules and insects mentioned above
are hatched from eggs which have been carried to the spot, or which have
lain hidden everywhere in the ground since creation, is opposed to all
observation. For worms spring forth in minute seeds, in the kernels of
nuts, in wood, in stones, and even from leaves, and upon plants and in
plants there are lice and grubs which are accordant with them. Of flying
insects, too, there are such as appear in houses, fields, and woods, which
arise in like manner in summer, with no oviform matters sufficient to
account for them; also such as devour meadows and lawns, and in some hot
localities fill and infest the air; besides those that swim and fly unseen
in filthy waters, wines becoming sour, and pestilential air. These facts
of observation support those who say that the odors, effluvia, and
exhalations emitted from plants, earths, and ponds, are what give the
initiative to such things. That when they have come forth, they are
afterwards propagated either by eggs or offshoots, does not disprove their
immediate generation; since every living creature, along with its minute
viscera, receives organs of generation and means of propagation (see below,
n. 347). In agreement with these phenomena is the fact heretofore unknown
that there are like things also in the hells.
343. That the hells mentioned above have not only communication but
conjunction with such things in the earths may be concluded from this,
that the hells are not distant from men, but are about them, yea, are
within those who are evil; thus they are contiguous to the earth; for man,
in regard to his affections and lusts, and consequent thoughts, and in
regard to his actions springing from these, which are good or evil uses,
is in the midst either of angels of heaven or of spirits of hell; and as
such things as are on the earth are also in the heavens and hells, it
follows that influx therefrom directly produces such things when the
conditions are favorable. All things, in fact, that appear in the
spiritual world, whether in heaven or in hell, are correspondences of
affections or lusts, for they take form there in accordance with these;
consequently when affections or lusts, which in themselves are spiritual,
meet with homogeneous or corresponding things in the earths, there are
present both the spiritual that furnishes a soul, and the material that
furnishes a body. Moreover, within everything spiritual there is a conatus
to clothe itself with a body. The hells are about men, and therefore
contiguous to the earth, because the spiritual world is not in space, but
is where there is a corresponding affection.
344. I heard two presidents of the English Royal Society, Sir Hans Sloane
and Martin Folkes, conversing together in the spiritual world about the
existence of seeds and eggs, and about productions from them in the
earths. The former ascribed them to nature, and contended that nature
was endowed from creation with a power and force to produce such effects
by means of the sun's heat. The other maintained that this force is in
nature unceasingly from God the Creator. To settle the discussion, a
beautiful bird appeared to Sir Hans Sloane, and he was asked to examine
it to see whether it differed in the smallest particle from a similar
bird on earth. He held it in his hand, examined it, and declared that
there was no difference. He knew indeed that it was nothing but an
affection of some angel represented outside of the angel as a bird, and
that it would vanish or cease with its affection. And this came to pass.
By this experience Sir Hans Sloane was convinced that nature contributes
nothing whatever to the production of plants and animals, that they are
produced solely by what flows into the natural world out of the spiritual
world. If that bird, he said, were to be infilled, in its minutest parts,
with corresponding matters from the earth, and thus fixed, it would be a
lasting bird, like the birds on the earth; and that it is the same with
such things as are from hell. To this he added that had he known what he
now knew of the spiritual world, he would have ascribed to nature no more
than this, that it serves the spiritual, which is from God, in fixing the
things which flow in unceasingly into nature.
345. (5) This is effected by the lowest spiritual separated from what is
above it. It was shown in Part Third that the spiritual flows down from
its sun even to the outmosts of nature through three degrees, which are
called the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural; that these three
degrees are in man from creation, consequently from birth; that they are
opened according to man's life; that if the celestial degree which is the
highest and inmost is opened, man becomes celestial; if the spiritual
degree which is the middle is opened, he becomes spiritual; but if only
the natural degree which is the lowest and outermost is opened, he becomes
natural; that if man becomes natural only, he loves only corporeal and
worldly things; and that so far as he loves these, so far he does not love
celestial and spiritual things, and does not look to God, and so far he
becomes evil. From all this it is evident that the lowest spiritual, which
is called the spiritual-natural, can be separated from its higher degrees,
and is separated in such men as hell consists of. This lowest spiritual
can separate itself from its higher parts, and look to hell, in men only;
it cannot be so separated in beasts, or in soils. From which it follows
that these evil uses mentioned above are effected on the earth by this
lowest spiritual separated from what is above it, such as it is in those
who are in hell. That the noxious things on the earth have their origin
in man, thus from hell, may be shown by the state of the land of Canaan,
as described in the Word; in that when the children of Israel lived
according to the commandments, the earth yielded its increase, likewise
the flocks and herds; but when they lived contrary to the commandments the
ground was barren, and as it is said, accursed; instead of harvests it
yielded thorns and briars, the flocks and herds miscarried, and wild
beasts broke in. The same may be inferred from the locusts, frogs, and
lice in Egypt.
346. (6) There are two forms into which the operation by influx takes
place, the vegetable and the animal form. That there are only two
universal forms produced out of the earth is known from the two kingdoms
of nature, called the animal and the vegetable kingdoms, also that all
the subjects of either kingdom possess many things in common. Thus the
subjects of the animal kingdom have organs of sense and organs of motion
and members and viscera that are actuated by brains, hearts, and lungs.
So the subjects of the vegetable kingdom send down a root into the ground,
and bring forth stem, branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds. Both
the animal and the vegetable kingdoms, as regards the production of their
forms, derive their origin from spiritual influx and operation out of the
sun of heaven where the Lord is, and not from the influx and operation of
nature out of her sun; from this they derive nothing except their fixation,
as was said above. All animals, great and small, derive their origin from
the spiritual in the outmost degree, which is called the natural; man
alone from all three degrees, called the celestial, spiritual, and natural.
As each degree of height or discrete degree decreases from its perfection
to its imperfection, as light to shade, by continuity, so do animals;
there are therefore perfect, less perfect, and imperfect animals. The
perfect animals are elephants, camels, horses, mules, oxen, sheep, goats,
and others which are of the herd or the flock; the less perfect are birds;
and the imperfect are fish and shell-fish; these, as being the lowest of
that degree, are as it were in shade, while the former are in light. Yet
animals, since they live only from the lowest spiritual degree, which is
called the natural, can look nowhere else than towards the earth and to
food there, and to their own kind for the sake of propagation; the soul
of all these is natural affection and appetite. The subjects of the
vegetable kingdom comprise, in like manner, the perfect, less perfect,
and imperfect; the perfect are fruit trees, the less perfect are vines
and shrubs, and the imperfect are grasses. But plants derive from the
spiritual out of which they spring that they are uses, while animals
derive from the spiritual out of which they spring that they are
affections and appetites, as was shown above.
347. (7) Each of these forms receives with its existence the means of
propagation. In all products of the earth, which pertain, as was said
above, either to the vegetable or to the animal kingdom, there is a kind
of image of creation, and a kind of image of man, and also a kind of image
of the infinite and the eternal; this was shown above (n. 313-318); also
that the image of the infinite and the eternal is clearly manifest in the
capacity of all these for infinite and eternal propagation. They all,
therefore, receive means of propagation; the subjects of the animal
kingdom through seed, in the egg or in the womb or by spawning; and the
subjects of the vegetable kingdom through seeds in the ground. From which
it can be seen that although the more imperfect and the noxious animals
and plants originate through immediate influx out of hell, yet afterwards
they are propagated mediately by seeds, eggs, or grafts; consequently,
the one position does not annul the other.
348. That all uses, both good and evil, are from a spiritual origin,
thus from the sun where the Lord is, may be illustrated by this
experience. I have heard that goods and truths have been sent down
through the heavens by the Lord to the hells, and that these same,
received by degrees to the lowest deep, were there turned into evils and
falsities, which are the opposite of the goods and truths sent down. This
took place because recipient subjects turn all things that inflow into
such things as are in agreement with their own forms, just as the white
light of the sun is turned into ugly colors or into black in those objects
whose substances are interiorly of such a form as to suffocate and
extinguish the light, and as stagnant ponds, dung-hills, and dead bodies
turn the heat of the sun into stenches. From all this it can be seen that
even evil uses are from the spiritual sun, but that good uses are changed
in hell into evil uses. It is evident, therefore, that the Lord has not
created and does not create any except good uses, but that hell produces
evil uses.
349. THE VISIBLE THINGS IN THE CREATED UNIVERSE BEAR WITNESS THAT NATURE
HAS PRODUCED AND DOES PRODUCE NOTHING, BUT THAT THE DIVINE OUT OF ITSELF,
AND THROUGH THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, HAS PRODUCED AND DOES PRODUCE ALL THINGS.
Speaking from appearances, most men say that the sun by heat and light
produces whatever is to be seen in plains, fields, gardens, and forests;
also that the sun by its heat hatches worms from eggs, and makes prolific
the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the air; and that it even gives
life to man. Those who speak from appearances only may speak in this way
without ascribing these things to nature, because they are not thinking
about the matter; as there are those who speak of the sun as rising and
setting, and causing days and years, and being now at this or that
altitude; such persons speak from appearances, and in doing so, do not
ascribe such effects to the sun, because they are not thinking of the
sun's fixity or the earth's revolution. But those who confirm themselves
in the idea that the sun produces the things that appear upon the earth
by means of its heat and light, end by ascribing all things to nature,
even the creation of the universe, and become naturalists and, at last,
atheists. These may continue to say that God created nature and endowed
her with the power of producing such things, but this they say from fear
of losing their good name; and by God the Creator they still mean nature,
and some mean the innermost of nature, and then the Divine things taught
by the church they regard as of no account.
350. There are some who are excusable for ascribing certain visible things
to nature, for two reasons. First, because they have had no knowledge of
the sun of heaven, where the Lord is, or of influx therefrom, or of the
spiritual world and its state, or even of its presence with man, and
therefore had no other idea than that the spiritual is a purer natural;
consequently, that angels are in the ether or in the stars; and that the
devil is either man's evil or if an actual existence, that he is in the
air or the abyss; also that the souls of men, after death, are either in
the interior of the earth, or in an undetermined somewhere till the day
of judgment; and other like things deduced by fancy out of ignorance of
the spiritual world and its sun.
Secondly, they are excusable, because they are unable to see how the
Divine could produce everything that appears on the earth, where there
are not only good things but also evil things; and they are afraid to
confirm themselves in such an idea, lest they ascribe the evil things
also to God, and form a material conception of God, and make God and
nature one, and thus confound the two.
For these two reasons those are excusable who have believed that nature
produces the visible world by a power implanted in her by creation. But
those who have made themselves atheists by confirmations in favor of
nature are not excusable, because they might have confirmed themselves
in favor of the Divine. Ignorance indeed excuses, but does not remove,
falsity - which has been confirmed, for such falsity coheres with evil,
thus with hell. Consequently, those same persons who have confirmed
themselves in favor of nature to such an extent as to separate the Divine
from nature, regard nothing as sin, because all sin is against the Divine,
and this they have separated, and thus have rejected it; and those who in
spirit regard nothing as sin, after death when they become spirits, since
they are in bonds to hell, rush into wickednesses which are in accord
with the lusts to which they have given rein.
351. Those who believe in a Divine operation in all the details of nature,
are able by very many things they see in nature to confirm themselves in
favor of the Divine, as fully as others confirm themselves in favor of
nature, yea, more fully. For those who confirm themselves in favor of
the Divine give attention to the wonders which are displayed in the
production both of plants and animals. In the production of plants, how
out of a little seed cast into the ground there goes forth a root, and
by means of the root a stem, and branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits
in succession, even to new seeds; just as if the seed knew the order of
succession, or the process by which it is to renew itself. Can any
reasonable person think that the sun, which is mere fire, has this
knowledge, or that it is able to empower its heat and light to effect
these results, or is able to fashion these wonderful things in plants,
and to contemplate use? Any man of elevated reason who sees and weighs
these things, cannot think otherwise than that they come from Him who has
infinite reason, that is, from God. Those who acknowledge the Divine also
see and think this, but those who do not acknowledge the Divine do not see
or think this because they do not wish to; thus they sink their rational
into the sensual, which draws all its ideas from the lumen which is proper
to the bodily senses and which confirms their illusions, saying, Do you
not see the sun effecting these things by its heat and light? What is a
thing that you do not see? Is it anything?
Those who confirm themselves in favor of the Divine give attention to the
wonders which are displayed in the production of animals; to mention here
only, in reference to eggs, how the chick in its seed or beginning lies
hidden therein, with everything requisite till it is hatched, also with
everything pertaining to its subsequent development, until it becomes a
bird or winged thing of the same form as its parent. And if one observes
the living form, it is such as to fill any one with astonishment who
thinks deeply, seeing that in the minutest as in the largest living
creatures, even in the invisible, as in the visible, there are the organs
of sense, namely, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch; and organs of
motion which are muscles, for they fly and walk; also viscera surrounding
the heart and lungs, which are set in action by brains. That even the
commonest insects enjoy such organisms is shown in their anatomy as
described by some writers, and especially by Swammerdam, in his Biblia
Naturae. Those who ascribe everything to nature, see all these things,
but they merely perceive that they exist, and say that nature produces
them. They say this because they have turned their minds away from
thinking about the Divine; and those who have done this are unable, when
they see the wonderful things in nature, to think rationally, still less
spiritually; but they think sensually and materially; and then they think
in nature from nature, and not above nature, just as those do who are in
hell. They differ from beasts only in having the power to think
rationally, that is, in being able to understand, and therefore to think
otherwise, if they choose.
352. Those who have averted themselves from thinking about the Divine
when observing the wonderful things in nature, and who thereby become
sensual, do not reflect that the sight of the eye is so gross as to see
many little insects as an obscure speck, when yet each one of these is
organized to feel and to move, and is accordingly furnished with fibers
and vessels, also with a minute heart, pulmonary tubes, viscera, and
brains; also that these organs are woven out of the purest substances
in nature, their tissues corresponding to that somewhat of life by which
their minutest parts are separately moved. When the sight of the eye is
so gross that many such creatures, with innumerable particulars in each,
appear to it as an obscure speck, and yet those who are sensual think and
judge by that sight, it is clear how dulled their minds are, and therefore
what thick darkness they are in concerning spiritual things.
353. Any one who chooses may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from
things seen in nature, and whoever thinks about God in reference to life
does so confirm himself; as when he observes the birds of the air, how
each species knows its food and where to find it, recognizes its kind by
sound and sight, and which among other kinds are its friends and which
its enemies; how also they mate, have knowledge of the sexual relation,
skillfully build nests, lay eggs therein, sit upon these, know the period
of incubation, and this having elapsed, bring forth their young, love
them most tenderly, cherish them under their wings, bring them food and
feed them, until they can do for themselves, perform the same offices,
and bring forth a family to perpetuate their kind. Any one who is willing
to reflect on the Divine influx through the spiritual world into the
natural can see such influx in these things, and if he will, can say from
his heart, Such knowledges cannot flow into these creatures out of the sun
through its rays of light, for the sun, from which nature derives its
origin and essence, is mere fire, consequently its rays of light are
wholly dead; and thus he may conclude that such things are from the
influx of Divine Wisdom into the outmosts of nature.
354. Any one may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from things
visible in nature, when he sees larvae, from the delight of some impulse,
desiring and longing to change their terrestrial state to a certain
likeness of the heavenly state, and for this purpose creeping into
corners, and putting themselves as it were into a womb in order to be
born again, and there becoming chrysalises, aurelias, caterpillars,
nymphs, and at length butterflies; and having undergone this
metamorphosis, and each after its kind been decked with beautiful wings,
they ascend into the air as into their heaven, and there disport
themselves joyfully, form marriage unions, lay eggs, and provide for
themselves a posterity, nourished meanwhile with pleasant and sweet food
from flowers. Who that confirms himself in favor of the Divine from the
visible things in nature can help seeing a kind of image of man's earthly
state in these as larvae, and in them as butterflies an image of the
heavenly state? Those who confirm themselves in favor of nature see the
same things, but because in heart they have rejected the heavenly state
of man they call them merely natural instincts.
355. Any one may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from things seen
in nature by giving attention to what is known about bees: that they know
how to collect wax and suck honey from herbs and flowers, and to build
cells like little houses, and set them in the form of a city, with
streets through which to come in and go out; that they scent at long
distances the flowers and herbs from which they collect wax for their
houses and honey for food, and laden with these fly back in a direct line
to their hive; thus providing themselves with food and habitation for the
coming winter, as if they had foresight and knowledge of it. They also
set over them a mistress as queen, out of whom a posterity may be
propagated; and for her they build a sort of a palace over themselves
with guards around it; and when her time of bringing forth is at hand,
she goes attended by her guards from cell to cell, and lays her eggs,
which the crowd of followers smear over to protect them from the air,
from which a new progeny springs forth for them. When this progeny becomes
mature enough to do the same, it is driven from the hive. The expelled
swarm first collects, and then in a close body, to preserve its integrity,
flies away in quest of a home for itself. Moreover, in the autumn the
useless drones are led out and are deprived of their wings to prevent
their returning and consuming the food for which they have not labored;
not to mention other particulars. From all this it can be seen that bees,
because of their use to the human race, have from influx from the
spiritual world, a form of government similar to that among men on earth,
and even like that of angels in heaven. Can any man of unimpaired reason
fail to see that these doings of the bees are not from the natural world?
What has that sun, from which nature springs, in common with a government
that vies with and resembles the government of heaven? From these things
and others very similar to them in the brute creation, the confessor and
worshiper of nature confirms himself in favor of nature, while the
confessor and worshiper of God confirms himself from the same things in
favor of the Divine; for the spiritual man sees in them spiritual things
and the natural man natural things, thus each according to his character.
As for myself, such things have been proofs to me of an influx of the
spiritual into the natural, that is, of the spiritual world into the
natural world, thus of an influx from the Lord's Divine Wisdom. Consider,
moreover, whether you can think analytically concerning any form of
government, or any civil law, or moral virtue, or spiritual truth, unless
the Divine out of His wisdom flows in through the spiritual world ? For
myself, I could not and cannot. For having now observed that influx
perceptibly and sensibly for about nineteen years continually, I speak
as an eye-witness.
356. Can anything natural regard use as an end and dispose uses into
series and forms? No one can do this unless he be wise; and no one but
God, whose wisdom is infinite, can so give order and form to the universe.
Who else or what else is able to foresee and provide all things needful
for the food and clothing of man, - food from the fruits of earth and
from animals, and clothing from the same? How marvelous that so
insignificant a creature as the silk-worm should clothe in silk and
splendidly adorn both women and men, from queens and kings to
maidservants and menservants, and that insignificant insects like the
bees should supply wax for the candles by which temples and palaces are
made brilliant. These and many other things are manifest proofs that the
Lord from Himself by means of the spiritual world, brings about
everything that comes into existence in nature.
357. To this must be added that those who have confirmed themselves in
favor of nature, from the visible things of the world, until they have
become atheists, have been seen by me in the spiritual world; and in the
spiritual light their understanding appeared open below, but closed above,
because in thought they had looked downward toward the earth, and not
upward toward heaven. Above their sensual, which is the bottom of the
understanding, appeared something like a veil; which in some flashed with
hellish fire, in some was black like soot, and in some livid like a corpse.
Therefore let every one beware of confirmations in favor of nature; let
him confirm himself in favor of the Divine; there is no lack of material.
358. PART FIFTH.
TWO RECEPTACLES AND ABODES FOR HIMSELF, CALLED WILL AND UNDERSTANDING,
HAVE BEEN CREATED AND FORMED BY THE LORD IN MAN; THE WILL FOR HIS DIVINE
LOVE, AND THE UNDERSTANDING FOR HIS DIVINE WISDOM.
The Divine Love and Divine Wisdom of God the Creator, who is the Lord
from eternity, and also the creation of the universe, have been treated
of; something shall now be said of the creation of man. We read
(in Gen. 1:26) that man was created "in the image of God, after His
likeness." By "image of God" is there meant the Divine Wisdom, and by
"likeness" of God the Divine Love; since wisdom is nothing but an image
of love, for in wisdom love presents itself to be seen and recognized,
and because it is seen and recognized in wisdom, wisdom is an image of
it. Moreover love is the esse of life, and wisdom is the existere of life
therefrom. In angels the likeness and image of God clearly appear, since
love from within shines forth in their faces, and wisdom in their beauty,
and their beauty is a form of their love. I have seen and know.
359. Man cannot be an image of God, after His likeness, unless God is in
him and is his life from the inmost. That God is in man and, from the
inmost, is his life, follows from what has been shown above (n. 4-6),
that God alone is life, and that men and angels are recipients of life
from Him. Moreover, that God is in man and that He makes His abode with
him, is known from the Word; for which reason it is customary for
preachers to declare that men ought to prepare themselves to receive God,
that He may enter into them, and be in their hearts, that they may be His
dwelling-place. The devout man says the same in his prayers, and some
speak more openly respecting the Holy Spirit, which they believe to be in
them when they are in holy zeal, and from that zeal they think, speak, and
preach. That the Holy Spirit is the Lord, and not a God who is a person by
Himself, has been shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning
the Lord (n. 51-53). For the Lord declares:
In that day ye shall know that ye are in Me, and I in you
(John 14:20; so also in chap. 15:4, 5; and chap. 17:23).
360. Now because the Lord is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and these
two essentially are Himself, it is necessary, in order that He may abide
in man and give life to man, that He should create and form in man
receptacles and abodes for Himself; the one for love and the other for
wisdom. These receptacles and abodes in man are called will and
understanding; the receptacle and abode of love is called the will, and
the receptacle and abode of wisdom is called the understanding. That
these two are the Lord's in man, and that from these two man has all his
life, will be seen in what follows.
361. That every man has these two, will and understanding, and that they
are distinct from each other, as love and wisdom are distinct, is known
and is not known in the world. It is known from common perception, but it
is not known from thought and still less from thought when written out;
for who does not know from common perception that the will and the
understanding are two distinct things in man? For every one perceives
this when he hears it stated, and may himself say to another, This man
means well, but does not understand clearly; while that one's understanding
is good, but his will is not; I like the man whose understanding and will
are both good; but I do not like him whose understanding is good and his
will bad. Yet when he thinks about the will and the understanding he does
not make them two and distinguish them, but confounds them, since his
thought then acts in common with the bodily sight. When writing he
apprehends still less that will and understanding are two distinct things,
because his thought then acts in common with the sensual, that is, with
what is the man's own. From this it is that some can think and speak well,
but cannot write well. This is common with women. It is the same with many
other things. Is it not known by everyone from common perception that a
man whose life is good is saved, but that a man whose life is bad is
condemned? Also that one whose life is good will enter the society of
angels, and will there see, hear, and speak like a man? Also that one who
from justice does what is just and from what is right does right, has a
conscience? But if one lapses from common perception, and submits these
things to thought, he does not know what conscience is; or that the soul
can see, hear, and speak like a man; or that the good of life is anything
except giving to the poor. And if from thought you write about these
things, you confirm them by appearances and fallacies, and by words of
sound but of no substance. For this reason many of the learned who have
thought much, and especially who have written much, have weakened and
obscured, yea, have destroyed their common perception; while the simple
see more clearly what is good and true than those who think themselves
their superiors in wisdom. This common perception comes by influx from
heaven, and descends into thought even to sight; but thought separated
from common perception falls into imagination from the sight and from
what is man's own. You may observe that this is so. Tell some truth to
any one that is in common perception, and he will see it; tell him that
from God and in God we are and live and are moved, and he will see it;
tell him that God dwells with man in love and in wisdom, and he will see
it; tell him further that the will is the receptacle of love, and the
understanding of wisdom, and explain it a little, and he will see it;
tell him that God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, and he will see it;
ask him what conscience is, and he will tell you. But say the same things
to one of the learned, who has not thought from common perception, but
from principles or from ideas obtained from the world through sight, and
he will not see. Then consider which is the wiser.
362. WILL AND UNDERSTANDING, WHICH ARE THE RECEPTACLES OF LOVE AND WISDOM,
ARE IN THE BRAINS, IN THE WHOLE AND IN EVERY PART OF THEM, AND THEREFROM
IN THE BODY, IN THE WHOLE AND IN EVERY PART OF IT.
This shall be shown in the following order:
(1) Love and wisdom, and will and understanding therefrom, make the very
life of man.
(2) The life of man in its first principles is in the brains, and in its
derivatives in the body.
(3) Such as life is in its first principles, such it is in the whole and
in every part.
(4) By means of first principles life is in the whole from every part,
and in every part from the whole.
(5) Such as the love is, such is the wisdom, consequently such is the man.
363. (1) Love and wisdom, and will and understanding therefrom, make the
very life of man. Scarcely any one knows what life is. When one thinks
about life, it seems as if it were a fleeting something, of which no
distinct idea is possible. It so seems because it is not known that God
alone is life, and that His life is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. From
this it is evident that in man life is nothing else than love and wisdom,
and that there is life in man in the degree in which he receives these.
It is known that heat and light go forth from the sun, and that all things
in the universe are recipients and grow warm and bright in the degree in
which they receive. So do heat and light go forth from the sun where the
Lord is; the heat going forth therefrom is love, and the light wisdom (as
shown in Part Second). Life, therefore, is from these two which go forth
from the Lord as a sun. That love and wisdom from the Lord is life can be
seen also from this, that man grows torpid as love recedes from him, and
stupid as wisdom recedes from him, and that were they to recede altogether
he would become extinct. There are many things pertaining to love which
have received other names because they are derivatives, such as affections,
desires, appetites, and their pleasures and enjoyments; and there are many
things pertaining to wisdom, such as perception, reflection, recollection,
thought, intention to an end; and there are many pertaining to both love
and wisdom, such as consent, conclusion, and determination to action;
besides others. All of these, in fact, pertain to both, but they are
designated from the more prominent and nearer of the two. From these two
are derived ultimately sensations, those of sight, hearing, smell, taste,
and touch, with their enjoyments and pleasures. It is according to
appearance that the eye sees; but it is the understanding that sees
through the eye; consequently seeing is predicated also of the
understanding. The appearance is that the ear hears; but it is the
understanding that hears through the ear; consequently hearing is
predicated also of attention and giving heed, which pertain to the
understanding. The appearance is that the nose smells, and the tongue
tastes but it is the understanding that smells and also tastes by virtue
of its perception; therefore smelling and tasting are predicated also of
perception. So in other cases. The sources of all these are love and
wisdom; from which it can be seen that these two make the life of man.
364. Everyone sees that the understanding is the receptacle of wisdom,
but few see that the will is the receptacle of love. This is because the
will does not act at all by itself, but only through the understanding;
also because the love of the will, in passing over into the wisdom of the
understanding, is first changed into affection, and thus passes over; and
affection is not perceived except by something pleasant in thinking,
speaking, and acting, which is not noticed. Still it is evident that love
is from the will, for the reason that everyone wills what he loves, and
does not will what he does not love.
365. (2) The life of man in its first principles is in the brains, and in
its derivatives in the body. In first principles means in its firsts, and
in derivatives means in what is brought forth and formed from its firsts.
By life in first principles is meant will and understanding. These two are
what are in their first principles in the brains, and in their derivatives
in the body. It is evident that the first principles or firsts of life are
in the brains:
(1) From the feeling itself; since man perceives, when he exerts his mind
and thinks, that he thinks in the brain. He draws in as it were the sight
of the eye, contracts the forehead, and perceives the mental process to be
within, especially inside the forehead and somewhat above it.
(2) From man's formation in the womb; in that the brain or head is first
developed, and continues for some time larger than the body.
(3) In that the head is above and the body below; and it is according to
order for the higher to act upon the lower, and not the reverse.
(4) In that, when the brain is injured in the womb or by a wound or by
disease, or by excessive application, thought is weakened and sometimes
the mind becomes deranged.
(5) In that all the external senses of the body sight, hearing, smell, and
taste, with touch (the universal sense) as also speech, are in the front
part of the head, which is called the face, and communicate immediately
through fibers with the brains, and derive therefrom their sensitive and
active life.
(6) It is from this that affections, which are of love, appear imaged
forth in the face, and that thoughts, which are of wisdom, are revealed
in a kind of sparkle of the eyes.
(7) Anatomy teaches that all fibers descend from the brains through the
neck into the body, and that none ascend from the body through the neck
into the brains. And where the fibers are in their first principles or
firsts, there life is in its first principles or firsts. Will any one
venture to deny that life has its origin where the fibers have their
origin?
(8) Ask any one of common perception where his thought resides or where
he thinks, and he will say, In the head. Then appeal to some one who has
assigned the seat of the soul to some gland or to the heart or somewhere
else, and ask him where affection and thought therefrom are in their
firsts, whether they are not in the brain? and he will answer, No, or
that he does not know. The cause of this ignorance may be seen above
(n. 361).
366. (3) Such as life is in its first principles, such it is in the whole
and in every part. That this may be perceived, it shall now be told where
in the brains these first principles are, and how they become derivative.
Anatomy shows where in the brains these first principles are; it teaches
that there are two brains; that these are continued from the head into
the spinal column; that they consist of two substances, called cortical
substance and medullary substance; that cortical substance consists of
innumerable gland-like forms, and medullary substance of innumerable
fiber-like forms. Now as these little glands are heads of fibrils, they
are also their first principles. For from these, fibers begin and
thereupon go forth, gradually bundling themselves into nerves. These
bundles or nerves, when formed, descend to the organs of sense in the
face, and to the organs of motion in the body, and form them. Consult
any one skilled in the science of anatomy, and you will be convinced.
This cortical or glandular substance constitutes the surface of the
cerebrum, and also the surface of the corpora striata, from which
proceeds the medulla oblongata; it also constitutes the middle of the
cerebellum, and the middle of the spinal marrow. But medullary or
fibrillary substance everywhere begins in and proceeds from the cortical;
out of it nerves arise, and from them all things of the body. That this
is true is proved by dissection. They who know these things, either from
the study of anatomical science or from the testimony of those who are
skilled in the science, can see that the first principles of life are in
the same place as the beginnings of the fibers, and that fibers cannot
go forth from themselves, but must go forth from first principles. These
first principles, that is, beginnings, which appear as little glands,
are almost countless; their multitude may be compared to the multitude
of stars in the universe; and the multitude of fibrils coming out of them
may be compared to the multitude of rays going forth from the stars and
bearing their heat and light to the earth. The multitude of these little
glands may also be compared to the multitude of angelic societies in the
heavens, which also are countless, and, I have been told, are in like
order as the glands. Also the multitude of fibrils going out from these
little glands may be compared to the spiritual truths and goods which in
like manner flow down from the angelic societies like rays. From this it
is that man is like a universe, and like a heaven in least form (as has
been frequently said and shown above). From all which it can now be seen
that such as life is in first principles, such it is in derivatives; or
such as it is in its firsts in the brains, such it is in the things
arising therefrom in the body.
367. (4) By means of first principles life is in the whole from every
part, and in every part from the whole. This is because the whole, which
is the brain and the body together, is originally made up of nothing but
fibers proceeding from their first principles in the brains. It has no
other origin, as is evident from what has been shown just above (n. 366);
consequently, the whole is from every part; and by means of these first
principles life is in every part from the whole, because the whole
dispenses to each part its task and needs, thereby making it to be a part
in the whole. In a word, the whole has existence from the parts, and the
parts have permanent existence from the whole. That there is such
reciprocal communion, and conjunction thereby, is clear from many things
in the body. For the same order prevails there as in a state, commonwealth,
or kingdom; the community has its existence from the individuals which are
its parts, and the parts or individuals have permanent existence from the
community. It is the same with every thing that has form, most of all in
man.
368. (5) Such as the love is, such is the wisdom, consequently such is
the man. For such as the love and wisdom are, such are the will and
understanding, since the will is the receptacle of love, and the
understanding of wisdom, as has been shown above; and these two make
the man and his character. Love is manifold, so manifold that its
varieties are limitless; as can be seen from the human race on the
earths and in the heavens. There is no man or angel so like another that
there is no difference. Love is what distinguishes; for every man is his
own love. It is supposed that wisdom distinguishes; but wisdom is from
love; it is the form of love; love is the esse of life, and wisdom is
the existere of life from that esse. In the world it is believed that
the understanding makes the man; but this is believed because the
understanding can be elevated, as was shown above, into the light of
heaven, giving man the appearance of being wise; yet so much of the
understanding as transcends, that is to say, so much as is not of the
love, although it appears to be man's and therefore to determine man's
character, is only an appearance. For so much of the understanding as
transcends is, indeed, from the love of knowing and being wise, but not
at the same time from the love of applying to life what man knows and is
wise in. Consequently, in the world it either in time passes away or
lingers outside of the things of memory in its mere borders as something
ready to drop off; and therefore after death it is separated, no more of
it remaining than is in accord with the spirit's own love. Inasmuch as
love makes the life of man, and thus the man himself, all societies of
heaven, and all angels in societies, are arranged according to affections
belonging to love, and no society nor any angel in a society according to
anything of the understanding separate from love. So likewise in the hells
and their societies, but in accordance with loves opposite to the heavenly
loves. From all this it can be seen that such as the love is such is the
wisdom, and consequently such is the man.
369. It is acknowledged, indeed, that man is such as his reigning love
is, but only in respect to his mind and disposition, not in respect to
his body, thus not wholly. But it has been made known to me by much
experience in the spiritual world, that man from head to foot, that is,
from things primary in the head to the outmosts in the body, is such as
his love is. For all in the spiritual world are forms of their own love;
the angels forms of heavenly love, the devils of hellish love; the devils
deformed in face and body, but the angels beautiful in face and body.
Moreover, when their love is assailed their faces are changed, and if much
assailed they wholly disappear. This is peculiar to that world, and so
happens because their bodies make one with their minds. The reason is
evident from what has been said above, that all things of the body are
derivatives, that is, are things woven together by means of fibers out of
first principles, which are receptacles of love and wisdom. Howsoever
these first principles may be, their derivatives cannot be different;
therefore wherever first principles go their derivatives follow, and
cannot be separated. For this reason he who raises his mind to the Lord
is wholly raised up to Him, and he who casts his mind down to hell is
wholly cast down thither; consequently the whole man, in conformity to his
life's love, comes either into heaven or into hell. That man's mind is a
man because God is a Man, and that the body is the mind's external, which
feels and acts, and that they are thus one and not two, is a matter of
angelic wisdom.
370. It is to be observed that the very forms of man's members, organs,
and viscera, as regards the structure itself, are from fibers that arise
out of their first principles in the brains; but these become fixed by
means of such substances and matters as are in earths, and from earths
in air and in ether. This is effected by means of the blood. Consequently,
in order that all parts of the body may be maintained in their formation
and rendered permanent in their functions, man requires to be nourished
by material food, and to be continually renewed.
371. THERE IS A CORRESPONDENCE OF THE WILL WITH THE HEART, AND OF THE
UNDERSTANDING WITH THE LUNGS.
This shall be shown in the following series:
(1) All things of the mind have relation to the will and understanding,
and all things of the body to the heart and lungs.
(2) There is a correspondence of the will and understanding with the
heart and lungs, consequently a correspondence of all things of the
mind with all things of the body.
(3) The will corresponds to the heart.
(4) The understanding corresponds to the lungs.
(5) By means of this correspondence many arcana relating to the will and
understanding, thus also to love and wisdom, may be disclosed.
(6) Man's mind is his spirit, and the spirit is the man, while the body
is the external by means of which the mind or spirit feels and acts in
its world.
(7) The conjunction of man's spirit with his body is by means of the
correspondence of his will and understanding with his heart and lungs,
and their separation is from non-correspondence.
372. (1) All things of the mind have relation to the will and
understanding, and all things of the body to the heart and lungs. By the
mind nothing else is meant than the will and understanding, which in
their complex are all things that affect man and all that he thinks, thus
all things of man's affection and thought. The things that affect man
are of his will, and the things that he thinks are of his understanding.
That all things of man's thought are of his understanding is known, since
he thinks from the understanding; but it is not so well known that all
things of man's affection are of his will, this is not so well known
because when man is thinking he pays no attention to the affection, but
only to what he is thinking; just as when he hears a person speaking, he
pays no attention to the tone of the voice but only to the language. Yet
affection is related to thought as the tone of the voice is to the
language; consequently the affection of the one speaking is known by the
tone, and his thought by the language. Affection is of the will, because
all affection is of love, and the will is the receptacle of love, as was
shown above. He that is not aware that affection is of the will confounds
affection with understanding, for he declares it to be one with thought,
yet they are not one but act as one. That they are confounded is evident
from the common expression, I think I will do this, meaning, I will to do
it. But that they are two is also evident from a common expression, I wish
to think about this matter; and when one thinks about it, the affection of
the will is present in the thought of the understanding, like the tone in
speech, as was said before. That all parts of the body have relation to
the heart and lungs is known, but that there is a correspondence of the
heart and lungs with the will and understanding is not known. This subject
will therefore be treated in what follows.
373. Because the will and understanding are the receptacles of love and
wisdom, these two are organic forms, or forms organized out of the purest
substances; for such they must be to be receptacles. It is no objection
that their organization is imperceptible to the eye; it lies beyond the
reach of vision, even when this is increased by the microscope. The
smallest insects are also too small to be seen, yet they have organs of
sense and motion, for they feel, walk, and fly. That they have brains,
hearts, pulmonary pipes, and viscera, acute observers have discovered from
their anatomy by means of the microscope. Since minute insects themselves
are not visible, and still less so their component viscera, and since it
is not denied that they are organized even to each single particle in
them, how can it be said that the two receptacles of love and wisdom,
called will and understanding, are not organic forms? How can love and
wisdom, which are life from the Lord, act upon what is not a subject, or
upon what has no substantial existence? Without organic forms, how can
thought inhere; and from thought inherent in nothing can one speak? Is
not the brain, where thought comes forth, complete and organized in every
part? The organic forms themselves are there visible even to the naked
eye; and the receptacles of the will and understanding, in their first
principles, are plainly to be seen in the cortical substance, where they
are perceptible as minute glands (On which see above, n. 366). Do not,
I pray, think of these things from an idea of vacuum. Vacuum is nothing,
and in nothing nothing takes place, and from nothing nothing comes forth.
(On the idea of vacuum, see above, n. 82.)
374. (2) There is a correspondence of the will and understanding with the
heart and lungs, consequently a correspondence of all things of the mind
with all things of the body. This is new: it has hitherto been unknown
because it has not been known what the spiritual is, and how it differs
from the natural; therefore it has not been known what correspondence is;
for there is a correspondence between things spiritual and things natural,
and by means of correspondence they are conjoined. It is said that
heretofore there has been no knowledge of what the spiritual is, or of
what its correspondence with the natural is and therefore what
correspondence is; yet these might have been known. Who does not know
that affection and thought are spiritual, therefore that all things of
affection and thought are spiritual? Who does not know that action and
speech are natural, therefore that all things of action and speech are
natural: who does not know that affection and thought, which are
spiritual, cause man to act and to speak? From this who cannot see what
correspondence is between things spiritual and things natural? Does not
thought make the tongue speak, and affection together with thought make
the body act? There are two distinct things: I can think without speaking,
and I can will without acting; and the body, it is known, neither thinks
nor wills, but thought falls into speech, and will descends into action.
Does not affection also beam forth from the face, and there exhibit a
type of itself? This everyone knows. Is not affection, regarded in itself,
spiritual, and the change of countenance, called the expression, natural?
From this who might not conclude that there is correspondence; and
further, a correspondence of all things of the mind with all things of
the body; and since all things of the mind have relation to affection
and thought, or what is the same, to the will and understanding, and all
things of the body to the heart and lungs, - that there is a correspondence
of the will with the heart and of the understanding with the lungs? Such
things have remained unknown, though they might have been known, because
man has become so external as to be unwilling to acknowledge anything
except the natural. This has become the joy of his love, and from that
the joy of his understanding; consequently it has become distasteful to
him to raise his thought above the natural to anything spiritual separate
from the natural; therefore, from his natural love and its delights, he
can think of the spiritual only as a purer natural, and of correspondence
only as a something flowing in by continuity; yea, the merely natural man
cannot think of anything separate from the natural; any such thing to him
is nothing. Again, these things have not heretofore been seen and known,
because everything of religion, that is, everything called spiritual, has
been banished from the sight of man by the dogma of the whole Christian
world, that matters theological, that is, spiritual, which councils and
certain leaders have decreed, are to be believed blindly because (as they
say) they transcend the understanding. Some, therefore, have imagined the
spiritual to be like a bird flying above the air in an ether to which the
sight of the eye does not reach; when yet it is like a bird of paradise,
which flies near the eye, even touching the pupil with its beautiful
wings and longing to be seen. By the sight of the eye intellectual vision
is meant.
375. The correspondence of the will and understanding with the heart and
lungs cannot be abstractly proved, that is, by mere reasonings, but it
may be proved by effects. It is much the same as it is with the causes of
things which can be seen rationally, yet not clearly except by means of
effects; for causes are in effects, and by means of effects make
themselves visible; and until causes are thus made visible, the mind is
not assured respecting them. In what follows, the effects of this
correspondence will be described. But lest any one should fall into ideas
of this correspondence imbibed from hypotheses about the soul, let him
first read over carefully the propositions in the preceding chapter, as
follows: Love and wisdom, and the will and understanding therefrom, make
the very life of man (n. 363, 365). The life of man is in first principles
in the brains, and in derivatives in the body (n. 365). Such as life is
in first principles, such it is in the whole and in every part (n. 366).
By means of these first principles life is in the whole from every part,
and in every part from the whole (n. 367). Such as the love is, such is
the wisdom, consequently such is the man (n. 368).
376. It is permitted to introduce here, in the way of evidence, a
representation of the correspondence of the will and understanding with
the heart and lungs which was seen in heaven among the angels. By a
wonderful flowing into spiral movements, such as no words can express,
the angels formed the likeness of a heart and the likeness of lungs, with
all the interior structures therein; and in this they were falling in with
the flow of heaven, for heaven from the inflowing of love and wisdom from
the Lord strives to come into such forms. They thus represented the
conjunction of the heart and lungs, and at the same time the correspondence
of these with the love of the will and with the wisdom of the
understanding. This correspondence and union they called the heavenly
marriage; saying that in the whole body, and in its several members,
organs, and viscera, it is the same as in the things belonging to the
heart and lungs; also that where the heart and lungs do not act, each in
its turn, there can be no motion of life from any voluntary principle, and
no sensation of life from any intellectual principle.
377. Inasmuch as the correspondence of the heart and lungs With the will
and understanding is treated of in what now follows, and upon this
correspondence is based that of all parts of the body, namely, the members,
the organs of the senses, and the viscera throughout the body, and inasmuch
as the correspondence of natural things with spiritual has been heretofore
unknown, and yet is amply shown in two works, one of which treats of Heaven
and Hell and the other, the Arcana Coelestia, of the spiritual sense of the
Word in Genesis and Exodus, I will here point out what has been written and
shown in those two works respecting correspondence. In the work on Heaven
and Hell: The correspondence of all things of heaven with all things of man
(n. 87-102). The correspondence of all things of heaven with all things on
earth (n. 103-115). In the Arcana Coelestia, the work on the spiritual
sense of the Word in Genesis and Exodus: The correspondence of the face and
its expressions with the affections of the mind (n. 1568, 2988, 2989, 3631,
4796, 4797, 4800, 5165, 5168, 5695, 9306). The correspondence of the body,
its gestures and actions, with things intellectual and things voluntary
(n. 2988, 3632, 4215). The correspondence of the senses in general (n.
4318-4330). The correspondence of the eyes and of their sight (n. 4403-
4420). The correspondence of the nostrils and of smell (n. 4624-4634).
The correspondence of the ear, and of hearing (n. 4652-4660). The
correspondence of the tongue and of taste (n. 4791-4805). The
correspondence of the hands, arms, shoulders and feet (n. 4931-4953).
The correspondence of the loins and organs of generation (n. 5050-5062).
Thy correspondence of the internal viscera of the body, especially of
the stomach, thymus gland, the receptacle and ducts of the chyle and
lacteals, and of the mesentery (n. 5171-5180, 5181, 5189). The
correspondence of the spleen (n. 9698). The correspondence of the
peritonaeum, kidneys and bladder (n. 5377-5385). The correspondence of
the liver, and of the hepatic, cystic and pancreatic ducts (n. 5183-5185).
The correspondence of the intestines (n. 5392-5395, 5379). The
correspondence of the bones (n. 5560-5564). The correspondence of the
skin (n. 5552-5559). The correspondence of heaven with man (n. 911, 1900,
1982, 2996-2998, 3624-3649, 3741-3745, 3884, 4051, 4279, 4403, 4423, 4524,
4525, 6013, 6057, 9279, 9632). All things that exist in the natural world
and in its three kingdoms correspond to all things which appear in the
spiritual world (n. 1632, 1831, 1881, 2758, 2990-3003, 3213-3227, 3483,
3624-3649, 4044, 4053, 4116, 4366, 4939, 5116, 5377, 5428, 5477, 8211,
9280). All things that appear in the heavens are correspondences (n. 1521,
1532, 1619-1625, 1807, 1808, 1971, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1981, 2299, 2601,
3213-3226, 3349, 3350, 3475-3585, 3748, 9481, 9570, 9576, 9577). The
correspondence of the sense of the letter of the Word and of its
spiritual sense is treated of in the Arcana Coelestia throughout; and
on this subject see also the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning
the Sacred Scripture (n. 5-26, 27-65).
378. (3) The will corresponds to the heart. This can not be seen so
clearly taken by itself as when the will is considered in its effects
(as was said above). Taken by itself it can be seen by this, that all
affections, which are of love, induce changes in the heart's pulsations,
as is evident from the pulse of the arteries, which act synchronously
with the heart. The heart's changes and pulsations in accordance with
the love's affections are innumerable. Those felt by the finger are only
that the beats are slow or quick, high or low, weak or strong, regular or
irregular, and so on; thus that there is a difference in joy and in
sorrow, in tranquillity of mind and in wrath, in fearlessness and in
fear, in hot diseases and in cold, and so on. Because the two motions of
the heart, systolic and diastolic, change and vary in this manner
according to the affections of each one's love, many of the ancient and
after them some modern writers have assigned the affections to the heart,
and have made the heart their dwelling-place. From this have come into
common language such expressions as a stout heart, a timid heart, a joyful
heart, a sad heart, a soft heart, a hard heart, a great heart, a weak
heart, a whole heart, a broken heart, a heart of flesh, a heart of stone;
likewise being gross, or soft, or tender in heart; giving the heart to a
thing, giving a single heart, giving a new heart, laying up in the heart,
receiving in the heart, not reaching the heart, hardening one's heart, a
friend at heart; also the terms concord, discord, folly [vecordia], and
other similar terms expressive of love and its affections. There are like
expressions in the Word, because the Word was written by correspondences.
Whether you say love or will it is the same, because the will is the
receptacle of love, as was explained above.
379. It is known that there is vital heat in man and in every living
creature; but its origin is not known. Every one speaks of it from
conjecture, consequently such as have known nothing of the correspondence
of natural things with spiritual have ascribed its origin, some to the
sun's heat, some to the activity of the parts, some to life itself; but
as they have not known what life is, they have been content with the mere
phrase. But any one who knows that there is a correspondence of love and
its affections with the heart and its derivations may know that the
origin of vital heat is love. For love goes forth as heat from the
spiritual sun where the Lord is, and moreover is felt as heat by the
angels. This spiritual heat which in its essence is love, is what inflows
by correspondence into the heart and its blood, and imparts heat to it,
and at the same time vivifies it. That a man grows hot, and, as it were,
is fired, according to his love and the degree of it, and grows torpid
and cold according to its decrease, is known, for it is felt and seen;
it is felt by the heat throughout the body, and seen by the flushing of
the face; and on the other hand, extinction of love is felt by coldness
in the body, and is seen by paleness in the face. Because love is the
life of man, the heart is the first and the last of his life; and because
love is the life of man, and the soul maintains its life in the body by
means of the blood, in the Word blood is called the soul (Gen. 9:4;
Levit. 17:14). The various meanings of soul will be explained in what
follows.
380. The redness, also, of the blood is from the correspondence of the
heart and the blood with love and its affection; for in the spiritual
world there are all kinds of colors, of which red and white are the
fundamental, the rest deriving their varieties from these and from their
opposites, which are a dusky fire color and black. Red there corresponds
to love, and white to wisdom. Red corresponds to love because it
originates in the fire of the spiritual sun, and white corresponds to
wisdom because it originates in the light of that sun. And because there
is a correspondence of love with the heart, the blood must needs be red,
and reveal its origin. For this reason in the heavens where love to the
Lord reigns the light is flame-colored, and the angels there are clothed
in purple garments; and in the heavens where wisdom reigns the light is
white, and the angels there are clothed in white linen garments.
381. The heavens are divided into two kingdoms, one called celestial, the
other spiritual; in the celestial kingdom love to the Lord reigns, and in
the spiritual kingdom wisdom from that love. The kingdom where love reigns
is called heaven's cardiac kingdom, the one where wisdom reigns is called
its pulmonic kingdom. Be it known, that the whole angelic heaven in its
aggregate represents a single man, and before the Lord appears as a single
man; consequently its heart makes one kingdom and its lungs another. For
there is a general cardiac and pulmonic movement throughout heaven, and a
particular movement therefrom in each angel. The general cardiac and
pulmonic movement is from the Lord alone, because love and wisdom are from
Him alone. For these two movements are in the sun where the Lord is and
which is from the Lord, and from that in the angelic heavens and in the
universe. Banish spaces and think of omnipresence, and you will be
convinced that it is so. That the heavens are divided into two kingdoms,
celestial and spiritual, see the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 20-28); and
that the whole angelic heaven in the aggregate represents a single man
(n. 59-67).
382. (4) The understanding corresponds to the lungs. This follows from
what has been said of the correspondence of the will with the heart; for
there are two things, will and understanding, which reign in the spiritual
man, that is, in the mind, and there are two things, heart and lungs, which
reign in the natural man, that is, in the body; and there is correspondence
(as was said above) of all things of the mind with all thinks of the body;
from which it follows that as the will corresponds to the heart, so the
understanding corresponds to the lungs. Moreover, that the understanding
corresponds to the lungs any one may observe in himself, both from his
thought and from his speech. (1) From thought: No one is able to think
except with the concurrence and concordance of the pulmonary respiration;
consequently, when he thinks tacitly he breathes tacitly, if he thinks
deeply he breathes deeply; he draws in the breath and lets it out,
contracts and expands the lungs, slowly or quickly, eagerly, gently, or
intently, all in conformity to his thought, thus to the influx of affection
from love; yea, if he hold the breath entirely he is unable to think,
except in his spirit by its respiration, which is not manifestly perceived.
(2) From speech: Since not the least vocal sound flows forth from the mouth
without the concurrent aid of the lungs, - for the sound, which is
articulated into words, all comes forth from the lungs through the trachea
and epiglottis, - therefore, according to the inflation of these bellows
and the opening of the passage the voice is raised even to a shout, and
according to their contraction it is lowered; and if the passage is
entirely closed speech ceases and thought with it.
383. Since the understanding corresponds to the lungs and thought
therefrom to the respiration of the lungs, in the Word, "soul" and "spirit"
signify the understanding; for example:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all
thy soul (Matt. 22:37).
God will give a new heart and a new spirit (Ezek. 36:26; Psalm 51:10).
That "heart" signifies the love of the will was shown above; therefore
"soul" and "spirit" signify the wisdom of the understanding. That the
spirit of God, also called the Holy Spirit, means Divine Wisdom, and
therefore Divine Truth which is the light of men, may be seen in The
Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord (n. 50, 51), therefore,
The Lord breathed on His disciples, and said, Receive ye the Holy
Spirit (John 20:22);
for the same reason it is said that:
Jehovah God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of lives,
and he was made into a living soul (Gen. 2:7);
also He said to the prophet:
Prophesy upon the breath, and say unto the wind, Come from the four
winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live
(Ezek. 37:9);
likewise in other places; therefore the Lord is called "the breath of the
nostrils," and "the breath of life." Because respiration passes through
the nostrils, perception is signified by them; and an intelligent man is
said to be keen-scented, and an unintelligent man to be dull-scented. For
the same reason, spirit and wind in the Hebrew, and in some other
languages, are the same word; for the word spirit is derived from a word
that means breathing; and therefore when a man dies he is said to give
up the ghost [anima]. It is for the same reason that men believe the
spirit to be wind, or an airy something like breath breathed out from the
lungs, and the soul to be of like nature. From all this it can be seen
that to "love God with all the heart and all the soul" means to love Him
with all the love and with all the understanding, and to "give a new heart
and a new spirit" means to give a new will and a new understanding.
Because "spirit" signifies understanding, it is said of Bezaleel:
That he was filled with the spirit of wisdom, of intelligence, and
of knowledge (Exod. 31:3);
and of Joshua:
That he was filled with the spirit of wisdom (Deut. 34:9);
and Nebuchadnezzar says of Daniel:
That an excellent spirit of knowledge, of intelligence, and of
wisdom, was in him (Dan. 5:11, 12, 14);
and it is said in Isaiah:
They that err in spirit shall learn intelligence (29:24);
likewise in many other places.
384. Since all things of the mind have relation to the will and
understanding, and all things of the body to the heart and lungs, there
are in the head two brains, distinct from each other as will and
understanding are distinct. The cerebellum is especially the organ of
the will, and the cerebrum of the understanding. Likewise the heart and
lungs in the body are distinct from the remaining parts there. They are
separated by the diaphragm, and are enveloped by their own covering,
called the pleura, and form that part of the body called the chest. In
the other parts of the body, called members, organs, and viscera, there
is a joining together of the two, and thus there are pairs; for instance,
the arms, hands, loins, feet, eyes, and nostrils; and within the body
the kidneys, ureters, and testicles; and the viscera which are not in
pairs are divided into right and left. Moreover, the brain itself is
divided into two hemispheres, the heart into two ventricles, and the
lungs into two lobes; the right of all these having relation to the good
of truth, and the left to the truth of good, or, what is the same, the
right having relation to the good of love from which is the truth of
wisdom, and the left having relation to the truth of wisdom which is
from the good of love. And because the conjunction of good and truth is
reciprocal, and by means of that conjunction the two become as it were
one, therefore the pairs in man act together and conjointly in functions,
motions, and senses.
385. (5) By means of this correspondence many arcana relating to the will
and understanding, thus also to love and wisdom, may be disclosed. In the
world it is scarcely known what the will is or what love is, for the
reason that man is not able, by himself, to love, and from love to will,
although he is able as it were by himself to exercise intelligence and
thought; just as he is not able of himself to cause the heart to beat,
although he is able of himself to cause the lungs to respire. Now because
it is scarcely known in the world what the will is or what love is, but
it is known what the heart and the lungs are, - for these are objects of
sight and can be examined, and have been examined and described by
anatomists, while the will and the understanding are not objects of sight,
and cannot be so examined - therefore when it is known that these
correspond, and by correspondence act as one, many arcana relating to
the will and understanding may be disclosed that could not otherwise be
disclosed; those for instance relating to the conjunction of the will
with the understanding, and the reciprocal conjunction of the
understanding with the will; those relating to the conjunction of love
with wisdom, and the reciprocal conjunction of wisdom with love; also
those relating to the derivation of love into affections, and to the
consociation of affections, to their influx into perceptions and
thoughts, and finally their influx according to correspondence into the
bodily acts and senses. These and many other arcana may be both disclosed
and illustrated by the conjunction of the heart and lungs, and by the
influx of the blood from the heart into the lungs, and reciprocally from
the lungs into the heart, and therefrom through the arteries into all the
members, organs and viscera of the body.
386. (6) Man's mind is his spirit, and the spirit is the man, while the
body is an external by means of which the mind or spirit feels and acts
in its world. That man's mind is his spirit, and that the spirit is the
man, can hardly enter the faith of those who have supposed the spirit to
be wind, and the soul to be an airy something like breath breathed out
from the lungs. For they say, How can the spirit, when it is spirit, be
the man, and how can the soul, when it is soul, be the man? They think
in the same way of God because He is called a Spirit. This idea of the
spirit and the soul has come from the fact that spirit and wind in some
languages are the same word; also, that when a man dies, he is said to
give up the ghost or spirit; also, that life returns, after suffocation
or swooning, when the spirit or breath of the lungs comes back. Because
in these cases nothing but the breath or air is perceived, it is concluded
from the eye and bodily sense that the spirit and soul of man after death
is not the man. From this corporeal conclusion about the spirit and soul,
various hypotheses have arisen, and these have given birth to a belief
that man after death does not become a man until the day of the last
judgment, and that meanwhile his spirit remains somewhere or other
awaiting reunion with the body, according to what has been shown in the
Continuation concerning the Last Judgment (n. 32-38). Because man's mind
is his spirit, the angels, who also are spirits, are called minds.
387. Man's mind is his spirit, and the spirit is the man, because by the
mind all things of man's will and understanding are meant, which things
are in first principles in the brains and in derivatives in the body;
therefore in respect to their forms they are all things of man. This
being so, the mind (that is, the will and understanding) impels the body
and all its belongings at will. Does not the body do whatever the mind
thinks and wills? Does not the mind incite the ear to hear, and direct
the eye to see, move the tongue and the lips to speak, impel the hands
and fingers to do whatever it pleases, and the feet to walk whither it
will? Is the body, then, anything but obedience to its mind; and can the
body be such unless the mind is in its derivatives in the body? Is it
consistent with reason to think that the body acts from obedience simply
because the mind so wills? in which case they should be two, the one above
and the other below, one commanding, the other obeying. As this is in no
way consistent with reason, it follows that man's life is in its first
principles in the brains, and in its derivatives in the body (according
to what has been said above, n. 365); also that such as life is in first
principles, such it is in the whole and in every part (n. 366); and by
means of these first principles life is in the whole from every part, and
in every part from the whole (n. 367). That all things of the mind have
relation to the will and understanding, and that the will and understanding
are the receptacles of love and wisdom from the Lord, and that these two
make the life of man, has been shown in the preceding pages.
388. From what has now been said it can also be seen that man's mind is
the man himself. For the primary texture of the human form, that is, the
human form itself with each and every thing thereof, is from first
principles continued from the brain through the nerves, in the manner
described above. It is this form into which man comes after death, who
is then called a spirit or an angel, and who is in all completeness a man,
but a spiritual man. The material form that is added and superinduced in
the world, is not a human form by itself, but only by virtue of the
spiritual form, to which it is added and superinduced that man may be
enabled to perform uses in the natural world, and also to draw to himself
out of the purer substances of the world a fixed containant of spiritual
things, and thus continue and perpetuate life. It is a truth of angelic
wisdom that man's mind, not alone in general, but in every particular, is
in a perpetual conatus toward the human form, for the reason that God is
a Man.
389. That man may be man there must be no part lacking, either in head or
in body, that has existence in the complete man; since there is nothing
therein that does not enter into the human form and constitute it; for it
is the form of love and wisdom, and this, in itself considered, is Divine.
In it are all terminations of love and wisdom, which in God-Man are
infinite, but in His image, that is, in man, angel, or spirit, are finite.
If any part that has existence in man were lacking, there would be lacking
something of termination from the love and wisdom corresponding to it,
whereby the Lord might be from firsts in outmosts with man, and might from
His Divine Love through His Divine Wisdom provide uses in the created
world.
390. (7) The conjunction of man's spirit with his body is by means of the
correspondence of his will and understanding with his heart and lungs, and
their separation is from non- correspondence. As it has heretofore been
unknown that man's mind, by which is meant the will and understanding, is
his spirit, and that the spirit is a man; and as it has been unknown that
man's spirit, as well as his body, has a pulse and respiration, it could
not be known that the pulse and respiration of the spirit in man flow into
the pulse and respiration of his body and produce them. Since, then, man's
spirit, as well as his body, enjoys a pulse and respiration, it follows
that there is a like correspondence of the pulse and respiration of man's
spirit with the pulse and respiration of his body, - for, as was said, his
mind is his spirit, - consequently, when the two pairs of motions cease to
correspond, separation takes place, which is death. Separation or death
ensues when from any kind of disease or accident the body comes into such
a state as to be unable to act in unison with its spirit, for thus
correspondence perishes, and with it conjunction; not, however, when
respiration alone ceases, but when the heart's pulsation ceases. For so
long as the heart is moved, love with its vital heat remains and preserves
life, as is evident in cases of swoon and suffocation, and in the condition
of fetal life in the womb. In a word, man's bodily life depends on the
correspondence of its pulse and respiration with the pulse and respiration
of his spirit; and when that correspondence ceases, the bodily life ceases,
and his spirit departs and continues its life in the spiritual world,
which is so similar to his life in the natural world that he does not know
that he has died. Men generally enter the spiritual world two days after
the death of the body. For I have spoken with some after two days.
391. That a spirit, as well as a man on earth in the body enjoys a pulse
and a respiration, can only be proved by spirits and angels themselves,
when privilege is granted to speak with them. This privilege has been
granted to me. When questioned about the matter they declared that they
are just as much men as those in the world are, and possess a body as well
as they, but a spiritual body, and feel the beat of the heart in the
chest, and the beat of the arteries in the wrist, just as men do in the
natural world. I have questioned many about the matter, and they all gave
like answer. That man's spirit respires within his body has been granted
me to learn by personal experience. On one occasion angels were allowed to
control my respiration, and to diminish it at pleasure, and at length to
withdraw it, until only the respiration of my spirit remained, which I
then perceived by sense. A like experience was granted me when permitted
to learn the state of the dying (as may be seen in the work on Heaven and
Hell, n. 449). I have sometimes been brought into the respiration of my
spirit only, which I have then sensibly perceived to be in accord with
the common respiration of heaven. Also many times I have been in a state
like that of angels, and also raised up into heaven to them, and being
then out of the body in spirit, I talked with angels with a respiration
in like manner as in the world. From this and other personal evidence it
has been made clear to me that man's spirit respires, not only in the body
but also after it has left the body; that the respiration of the spirit is
so silent as not to be perceptible to man; and that it inflows into the
manifest respiration of the body almost as cause flows into effect, or
thought into the lungs and through the lungs into speech. From all this
it is also evident that conjunction of spirit and body in man is by means
of the correspondence of the cardiac and pulmonic movement in both.
392. These two movements, the cardiac and the pulmonic, derive their
origin and persistence from this, that the whole angelic heaven, in
general and in particular, is in these two movements of life; and the
whole angelic heaven is in these movements because the Lord pours them
in from the sun, where He is, and which is from Him; for these two
movements are maintained by that sun from the Lord. It is evident that
such is their origin since all things of heaven and all things of the
world depend on the Lord through that sun in a connection, by virtue of
form, like a chain-work from the first to outmosts, also since the life
of love and wisdom is from the Lord, and all the forces of the universe
are from life. That the variation of these movements is according to the
reception of love and wisdom, also follows.
393. More will be said in what follows of the correspondence of these
movements, as what the nature of that correspondence is in those who
respire with heaven, and what it is in those who respire with hell; also
what it is in those who speak with heaven, but think with hell, thus what
it is with hypocrites, flatterers, deceivers, and others.
394. FROM THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE HEART WITH THE WILL AND OF THE LUNGS
WITH THE UNDERSTANDING, EVERYTHING MAY BE KNOWN THAT CAN BE KNOWN ABOUT
THE WILL AND UNDERSTANDING, OR ABOUT LOVE AND WISDOM, THEREFORE ABOUT THE
SOUL OF MAN.
Many in the learned world have wearied themselves with inquiries
respecting the soul; but as they knew nothing of the spiritual world,
or of man's state after death, they could only frame theories, not about
the nature of the soul, but about its operation on the body. Of the
nature of the soul they could have no idea except as something most pure
in the ether, and of its containing form they could have no idea except
as being ethereal. But knowing that the soul is spiritual, they dared not
say much about the matter openly, for fear of ascribing to the soul
something natural. With this conception of the soul, and yet knowing that
the soul operates on the body, and produces all things in it that relate
to its sensation and motion, they have wearied themselves, as was said,
with inquiries respecting the operation of the soul on the body. This
has been held by some to be effected by influx, and by some to be effected
by harmony. But as this investigation has disclosed nothing in which the
mind anxious to see the real truth can acquiesce, it has been granted me
to speak with angels, and to be enlightened on the subject by their wisdom;
the fruits of which are as follows: Man's soul, which lives after death,
is his spirit, and is in complete form a man; the soul of this form is the
will and understanding, and the soul of these is love and wisdom from the
Lord; these two are what constitute man's life, which is from the Lord
above; yet for the sake of man's reception of Him, He causes life to appear
as if it were man's; but that man may not claim life for himself as his,
and thus withdraw himself from this reception of the Lord, the Lord has
also taught that everything of love, which is called good, and everything
of wisdom, which is called truth, is from Him, and nothing of these from
man; and as these two are life, that everything of life which is life is
from Him.
395. Since the soul in its very esse is love and wisdom, and these two in
man are from the Lord, there are created in man two receptacles, which are
also the abodes of the Lord in man; one for love, the other for wisdom,
the one for love called the will, the other for wisdom called the
understanding. Now since Love and Wisdom in the Lord are one distinctly
(as may be seen above, n. 17-22), and Divine Love is of His Divine Wisdom,
and Divine Wisdom is of His Divine Love (n. 34-39), and since these so go
forth from God-Man, that is, from the Lord, therefore these two
receptacles and abodes of the Lord in man, the will and understanding, are
so created by the Lord as to be distinctly two, and yet make one in every
operation and every sensation; for in these the will and understanding
cannot be separated. Nevertheless, to enable man to become a receptacle
and an abode of the Lord, it is provided, as necessary to this end, that
man's understanding can be raised above his proper love into some light of
wisdom in the love of which the man is not, and that he can thereby see
and be taught how he must live if he would come also into that higher
love, and thus enjoy eternal happiness. But by the misuse of this power
to elevate the understanding above his proper love, man has subverted in
himself that which might have been the receptacle and abode of the Lord
(that is, of love and wisdom from the Lord), by making the will an abode
for the love of self and the world, and the understanding an abode for
whatever confirms those loves. From this it has come that these two abodes,
the will and understanding, have become abodes of infernal love, and by
confirmations in favor of these loves, abodes of infernal thought, which
in hell is esteemed as wisdom.
396. The reason why the love of self and love of the world are infernal
loves, and yet man has been able to come into them and thus subvert the
will and understanding within him, is as follows: the love of self and
the love of the world by creation are heavenly loves; for they are loves
of the natural man serviceable to spiritual loves, as a foundation is to
a house. For man, from the love of self and the world, seeks the welfare
of his body, desires food, clothing, and habitation, is solicitous for
the welfare of his family, and to secure employment for the sake of use,
and even, in the interest of obedience, to be honored according to the
dignity of the affairs which he administers, and to find delight and
refreshment in worldly enjoyment; yet all this for the sake of the end,
which must be use For through these things man is in a state to serve the
Lord and to serve the neighbor. When, however, there is no love of serving
the Lord and serving the neighbor, but only a love of serving himself by
means of the world, then from being heavenly that love becomes hellish,
for it causes a man to sink his mind and disposition in what is his own,
and that in itself is wholly evil.
397. Now that man may not by the understanding be in heaven while by the
will he is in hell, as is possible, and may thereby have a divided mind,
after death everything of the understanding which transcends its own love
is removed; whereby it comes that in everyone the will and understanding
finally make one. With those in heaven the will loves good and the
understanding thinks truth; but with those in hell the will loves evil
and the understanding thinks falsity. The same is true of man in this
world when he is thinking from his spirit, as he does when alone; yet
many, so long as they are in the body, when they are not alone think
otherwise. They then think otherwise because they raise their
understanding above the proper love of their will, that is, of their
spirit. These things have been said, to make known that the will and
understanding are two distinct things, although created to act as one,
and that they are made to act as one after death, if not before.
398. Now since love and wisdom, and therefore will and understanding, are
what are called the soul, and how the soul acts upon the body, and effects
all its operations, is to be shown in what follows, and since this may be
known from the correspondence of the heart with the will, and of the lungs
with the understanding, by means of that correspondence what follows has
been disclosed:
(1) Love or the will is man's very life.
(2) Love or the will strives unceasingly towards the human form and all
things of that form.
(3) Love or the will is unable to effect anything by its human form
without a marriage with wisdom or the understanding.
(4) Love or the will prepares a house or bridal chamber for its future
wife, which is wisdom or the understanding.
(5) Love or the will also prepares all things in its human form, that it
may act conjointly with wisdom or the understanding.
(6) After the nuptials, the first conjunction is through affection for
knowing, from which springs affection for truth.
(7) The second conjunction is through affection for understanding, from
which springs perception of truth.
(8) The third conjunction is through affection for seeing truth, from
which springs thought.
(9) Through these three conjunctions love or the will is in its sensitive
life and in its active life.
(10) Love or the will introduces wisdom or the understanding into all
things of its house.
(11) Love or the will does nothing except in conjunction with wisdom or
the understanding.
(12) Love or the will conjoins itself to wisdom or the understanding,
and causes wisdom or the understanding to be reciprocally conjoined to it.
(13) Wisdom or the understanding, from the potency given to it by love
or the will, can be elevated, and can receive such things as are of light
out of heaven, and perceive them.
(14) Love or the will can in like manner be elevated and can perceive such
things as are of heat out of heaven, provided it loves its consort in that
degree.
(15) Otherwise love or the will draws down wisdom or the understanding
from its elevation, that it may act as one with itself.
(16) Love or the will is purified by wisdom in the understanding, if they
are elevated together.
(17) Love or the will is defiled in the understanding and by it, if they
are not elevated together.
(18) Love, when purified by wisdom in the understanding, becomes spiritual
and celestial.
(19) Love, when defiled in the understanding and by it, becomes natural
and sensual.
(20) The capacity to understand called rationality, and the capacity to
act called freedom, still remain.
(21) Spiritual and celestial love is love towards the neighbor and love
to the Lord; and natural and sensual love is love of the world and love
of self.
(22) It is the same with charity and faith and their conjunction as with
the will and understanding and their conjunction.
399. (1) Love or the will is man's very life. This follows from the
correspondence of the heart with the will (considered above, n. 378-381).
For as the heart acts in the body, so does the will act in the mind; and
as all things of the body depend for existence and motion upon the heart,
so do all things of the mind depend for existence and life upon the will.
It is said, upon the will, but this means upon the love, because the will
is the receptacle of love, and love is life itself (see above, n. 1-3),
and love, which is life itself, is from the Lord alone. By the heart and
its extension into the body through the arteries and veins it can be seen
that love or the will is the life of man, for the reason that things that
correspond to each other act in a like manner, except that one is natural
and the other spiritual. How the heart acts in the body is evident from
anatomy, which shows that wherever the heart acts by means of the vessels
put forth from it, everything is alive or subservient to life; but where
the heart by means of its vessels does not act, everything is lifeless.
Moreover, the heart is the first and last thing to act in the body. That
it is the first is evident from the fetus, and that it is the last is
evident from the dying, and that it may act without the cooperation of
the lungs is evident from cases of suffocation and swooning; from which
it can be seen that the life of the mind depends solely upon the will,
in the same way as the substitute life of the body depends on the heart
alone; and that the will lives when thought ceases, in the same way as
the heart lives when breathing ceases. This also is evident from the
fetus, from the dying, and from cases of suffocation and swooning. From
which it follows that love or the will is man's very life.
400. (2) Love or the will strives unceasingly towards the human form and
all things of that form. This is evident from the correspondence of heart
and will. For it is known that all things of the body are formed in the
womb, and that they are formed by means of fibers from the brains and
blood vessels from the heart, and that out of these two the tissues of
all organs and viscera are made; from which it is evident that all things
of man have their existence from the life of the will, which is love, from
their first principles, out of the brains, through the fibers; and all
things of his body out of the heart through the arteries and veins. From
this it is clearly evident that life (which is love and the will
therefrom), strives unceasingly towards the human form. And as the human
form is made up of all the things there are in man, it follows that love
or the will is in a continual conatus and effort to form all these. There
is such a conatus and effort towards the human form, because God is a Man,
and Divine Love and Divine Wisdom is His life, and from His life is
everything of life. Any one can see that unless Life which is very Man
acted into that which in itself is not life, the formation of anything
such as exists in man would be impossible, in whom are thousands of
thousands of things that make a one, and that unanimously aspire to an
image of the Life from which they spring, that man may become a receptacle
and abode of that Life. From all this it can be seen that love, and out
of the love the will, and out of the will the heart, strive unceasingly
towards the human form.
401. (3) Love or the will is unable to effect anything by its human form
without a marriage with wisdom or the understanding. This also is evident
from the correspondence of the heart with the will. The embryo man lives
by the heart, not by the lungs. For in the fetus the blood does not flow
from the heart into the lungs, giving it the ability to respire; but it
flows through the foramen ovale into the left ventricle of the heart;
consequently the fetus is unable to move any part of its body, but lies
enswathed, neither has it sensation, for its organs of sense are closed.
So is it with love or the will, from which the fetus lives indeed, though
obscurely, that is, without sensation or action. But as soon as the lungs
are opened, which is the case after birth, he begins to feel and act, and
likewise to will and think. From all this it can be seen, that love or the
will is unable to effect anything by means of its human form without a
marriage with wisdom or the understanding.
402. (4) Love or the will prepares a house or bridal chamber for its
future wife, which is wisdom or the understanding. In the created universe
and in each of its particulars there is a marriage of good and truth; and
this is so because good is of love and truth is of wisdom, and these two
are in the Lord, and out of Him all things are created. How this marriage
has existence in man can be seen mirrored in the conjunction of the heart
with the lungs; since the heart corresponds to love or good, and the lungs
to wisdom or truth (see above, n. 378-381, 382-385). From that conjunction
it can be seen how love or the will betroths to itself wisdom or the
understanding, and afterwards weds it, that is, enters into a kind of
marriage with it. Love betroths to itself wisdom by preparing for it a
house or bridal chamber, and marries it by conjoining it to itself by
affections, and afterwards lives wisely with it in that house. How this is
cannot be fully described except in spiritual language, because love and
wisdom, consequently will and understanding, are spiritual; and spiritual
things can, indeed, be expressed in natural language, but can be perceived
only obscurely, from a lack of knowledge of what love is, what wisdom is,
what affections for good are, and what affections for wisdom, that is,
affections for truth, are. Yet the nature of the betrothal and of the
marriage of love with wisdom, or of will with understanding, can be seen
by the parallel that is furnished by their correspondence with the heart
and lungs. What is true of these is true of love and wisdom, so entirely
that there is no difference whatever except that one is natural and the
other spiritual. Thus it is evident from the heart and lungs, that the
heart first forms the lungs, and afterwards joins itself to them; it forms
the lungs in the fetus, and joins itself to them after birth. This the
heart does in its abode which is called the breast, where the two are
encamped together, separated from the other parts of the body by a
partition called the diaphragm and by a covering called the pleura. So it
is with love and wisdom or with will and understanding.
403. (5) Love or the will prepares all things in its own human form, that
it may act conjointly with wisdom or the understanding. We say, will and
understanding, but it is to be carefully borne in mind that the will is
the entire man; for it is the will that, with the understanding, is in
first principles in the brains, and in derivatives in the body,
consequently in the whole and in every part (see above, n. 365-367). From
this it can be seen that the will is the entire man as regards his very
form, both the general form and the particular form of all parts; and that
the understanding is its partner, as the lungs are the partner of the
heart. Beware of cherishing an idea of the will as something separate from
the human form, for it is that same form. From this it can be seen not
only how the will prepares a bridal chamber for the understanding, but
also how it prepares all things in its house (which is the whole body)
that it may act conjointly with the understanding. This it prepares in
such a way that as each and every thing of the body is conjoined to the
will, so is it conjoined to the understanding; in other words, that as
each and everything of the body is submissive to the will, so is it
submissive to the understanding. How each and every thing of the body is
prepared for conjunction with the understanding as well as with the will,
can be seen in the body only as in a mirror or image, by the aid of
anatomical knowledge, which shows how all things in the body are so
connected, that when the lungs respire each and every thing in the entire
body is moved by the respiration of the lungs, and at the same time from
the beating of the heart. Anatomy shows that the heart is joined to the
lungs through the auricles, which are continued into the interiors of the
lungs; also that all the viscera of the entire body are joined through
ligaments to the chamber of the breast; and so joined that when the lungs
respire, each and all things, in general and in particular, partake of
the respiratory motion. Thus when the lungs are inflated, the ribs expand
the thorax, the pleura is dilated, and the diaphragm is stretched wide,
and with these all the lower parts of the body, which are connected with
them by ligaments therefrom, receive some action through the pulmonic
action; not to mention further facts, lest those who have no knowledge
of anatomy, on account of their ignorance of its terms should be confused
in regard to the subject. Consult any skillful and discerning anatomist
whether all things in the entire body, from the breast down be not so
bound together, that when the lungs expand by respiration, each and all
of them are moved to action synchronous with the pulmonic action. From
all this the nature of the conjunction prepared by the will between the
understanding and each and every thing of the human form is now evident.
Only explore the connections well and scan them with an anatomical eye;
then, following the connections, consider their cooperation with the
breathing lungs and with the heart; and finally, in thought, substitute
for the lungs the understanding, and for the heart the will, and you will
see.
404. (6) After the nuptials, the first conjunction is through affection
for knowing, from which springs affection for truth. By the nuptials is
meant man's state after birth, from a state of ignorance to a state of
intelligence, and from this to a state of wisdom. The first state which
is one of pure ignorance, is not meant here by nuptials, because there
is then no thought from the understanding, and only an obscure affection
from the love or will. This state is initiatory to the nuptials. In the
second state, which belongs to man in childhood, there is, as we know, an
affection for knowing, by means of which the infant child learns to speak
and to read, and afterwards gradually learns such things as belong to the
understanding. That it is love, belonging to the will, that effects this,
cannot be doubted; for unless it were effected by love or the will it
would not be done. That every man has, after birth, an affection for
knowing, and through that acquires the knowledge by which his
understanding is gradually formed, enlarged, and perfected, is
acknowledged by every one who thoughtfully takes counsel of experience.
It is also evident that from this comes affection for truth; for when man,
from affection for knowing, has become intelligent, he is led not so much
by affection for knowing as by affection for reasoning and forming
conclusions on subjects which he loves, whether economical or civil or
moral. When this affection is raised to spiritual things, it becomes
affection for spiritual truth. That its first initiatory state was
affection for knowing, may be seen from the fact that affection for truth
is an exalted affection for knowing; for to be affected by truths is the
same as to wish from affection to know them, and when found, to drink
them in from the joy of affection.
(7) The second conjunction is through affection for understanding, from
which springs perception of truth. This is evident to any one who is
willing by rational insight to examine the matter. From rational insight
it is clear that affection for truth and perception of truth are two
powers of the understanding, which in some persons harmonize as one, and
in others do not. They harmonize as one in those who wish to perceive
truths with the understanding, but do not in those who only wish to know
truths. It is also clear that every one is in perception of truth so far
as he is in an affection for understanding; for if you take away affection
for understanding truth, there will be no perception of truth; but give
the affection for understanding truth, and there will be perception of
truth according to the degree of affection for it. No man of sound reason
ever lacks perception of truth, so long as he has affection for
understanding truth. That every man has a capacity to understand truth,
which is called rationality, has been shown above.
(8) The third conjunction is through affection for seeing truth, from
which springs thought. That affection for knowing is one thing, affection
for understanding another, and affection for seeing truth another, or that
affection for truth is one thing, perception of truth another, and thought
another, is seen but obscurely by those who cannot perceive the operations
of the mind as distinct, but is seen clearly by those who can. This is
obscurely seen by those who do not perceive the operations of the mind as
distinct, because with those who are in affection for truth and in
perception of truth, these operations are simultaneous in the thought, and
when simultaneous they cannot be distinguished. Man is in manifest thought
when his spirit thinks in the body, which is especially the case when he
is in company with others; but when he is in affection for understanding,
and through that comes into perception of truth, he is then in the thought
of his spirit, which is meditation. This passes, indeed, into the thought
of the body, but into silent thought; for it is above bodily thought, and
looks upon what belongs to thought from the memory as below itself,
drawing therefrom either conclusions or confirmations. But real affection
for truth is perceived only as a pressure of will from something
pleasurable which is interiorly in meditation as its life, and is little
noticed. From all this it can now be seen that these three, affection for
truth, perception of truth, and thought, follow in order from love, and
that they have existence only in the understanding. For when love enters
into the understanding, which it does when their conjunction is
accomplished, it first brings forth affection for truth, then affection
for understanding that which it knows, and lastly, affection for seeing
in the bodily thought that which it understands; for thought is nothing
but internal sight. It is true that thought is the first to be manifest,
because it is of the natural mind; but thought from perception of truth
which is from affection for truth is the last to be manifest; this thought
is the thought of wisdom, but the other is thought from the memory through
the sight of the natural mind. All operations of love or the will not
within the understanding have relation not to affections for truth, but
to affections for good.
405. That these three from the will's love follow in order in the
understanding can, indeed, be comprehended by the rational man but yet
cannot be clearly seen and thus so proved as to command belief. But as
love that is of the will acts as one with the heart by correspondence,
and wisdom that is of the understanding acts as one with the lungs (as
has been shown above) therefore what has been said (in n. 404) about
affection for truth, perception of truth, and thought, can nowhere be
more clearly seen and proved than in the lungs and the mechanism thereof.
These, therefore, shall be briefly described. After birth, the heart
discharges the blood from its right ventricle into the lungs; and after
passing through these it is emptied into the left ventricle: thus the
heart opens the lungs. This it does through the pulmonary arteries and
veins. The lungs have bronchial tubes which ramify, and at length end in
air-cells, into which the lungs admit the air, and thus respire. Around
the bronchial tubes and their ramifications there are also arteries and
veins called the bronchial, arising from the vena azygos or vena cava,
and from the aorta. These arteries and veins are distinct from the
pulmonary arteries and veins. From this it is evident that the blood
flows into the lungs by two ways, and flows out from them by two ways.
This enables the lungs to respire non-synchronously with the heart. That
the alternate movements of the heart and the alternate movements of the
lungs do not act as one is well known. Now, inasmuch as there is a
correspondence of the heart and lungs with the will and understanding
(as shown above), and inasmuch as conjunction by correspondence is of
such a nature that as one acts so does the other, it can be seen by the
flow of the blood out of the heart into the lungs how the will flows into
the understanding, and produces the results mentioned just above (n. 404)
respecting affection for and perception of truth, and respecting thought.
By correspondence this and many other things relating to the subject,
which cannot be explained in a few words, have been disclosed to me.
Whereas love or the will corresponds to the heart, and wisdom or the
understanding to the lungs, it follows that the blood vessels of the
heart in the lungs correspond to affections for truth, and the
ramifications of the bronchia of the lungs to perceptions and thoughts
from those affections. Whoever will trace out all the tissues of the
lungs from these origins, and disclose the analogy with the love of the
will and the wisdom of the understanding, will be able to see in a kind
of image the things mentioned above (n. 404), and thereby attain to a
confirmed belief. But since a few only are familiar with the anatomical
details respecting the heart and lungs, and since confirming a thing by
what is unfamiliar induces obscurity, I omit further demonstration of
the analogy.
406. (9) Through these three conjunctions love or the will is in its
sensitive life and in its active life. Love without the understanding,
or affection which is of love without thought, which is of the
understanding, can neither feel nor act in the body; since love without
the understanding is as it were blind, and affection without thought is
as it were in thick darkness, for the understanding is the light by which
love sees. The wisdom of the understanding, moreover, is from the light
that proceeds from the Lord as a sun. Since, then, the will's love,
without the light of the understanding, sees nothing and is blind, it
follows that without the light of the understanding even the bodily
senses would be blind and blunted, not only sight and hearing, but the
other senses also, - the other senses, because all perception of truth
is a property of love in the understanding (as was shown above), and all
the bodily senses derive their perception from their mind's perception.
The same is true of every bodily act; for action from love without
understanding is like man's action in the dark, when he does not know what
he is doing; consequently in such action there would be nothing of
intelligence and wisdom. Such action cannot be called living action, for
action derives its esse from love and its quality from intelligence.
Moreover, the whole power of good is by means of truth; consequently good
acts in truth, and thus by means of truth; and good is of love, and truth
is of the understanding. From all this it can be seen that love or the
will through these three conjunctions (see above, n. 404) is in its
sensitive life and in its active life.
407. That this is so can be proved to the life by the conjunction of the
heart with the lungs, because the correspondence between the will and
the heart, and between the understanding and the lungs, is such that just
as the love acts with the understanding spiritually, so does the heart
act with the lungs naturally: from this, what has been said above can be
seen as in an image presented to the eye. That man has neither any
sensitive life nor any active life, so long as the heart and the lungs
do not act together, is evident from the state of the fetus or the infant
in the womb, and from its state after birth. So long as man is a fetus,
that is, in the womb, the lungs are closed, wherefore he has no feeling
nor any action; the organs of sense are closed up, the hands are bound,
likewise the feet; but after birth the lungs are opened, and as they are
opened man feels and acts; the lungs are opened by means of the blood
sent into them from the heart. That man has neither sensitive life nor
active life without the co-operation of the heart and the lungs, is
evident also in swoons, when the heart alone acts, and not the lungs,
for respiration then ceases; in this case there is no sensation and no
action, as is well known. It is the same with persons suffocated, either
by water or by anything obstructing the larynx and closing the respiratory
passage; it is well-known that the man then appears to be dead, he feels
nothing and does nothing; and yet he is alive in the heart; for he returns
to both his sensitive and his active life as soon as the obstructions to
the lungs are removed. The blood, it is true, circulates in the meantime
through the lungs, but through the pulmonary arteries and veins, not
through the bronchial arteries and veins, and these last are what give
man the power of breathing. It is the same with the influx of love into
the understanding.
408. (10) Love or the will introduces wisdom or the understanding into
all things of its house. By the house of love or the will is meant the
whole man as to all things of his mind; and as these correspond to all
things of the body (as shown above), by the house is meant also the whole
man as to all things of his body, called members, organs, and viscera.
That the lungs are introduced into all these things just as the
understanding is introduced into all things of the mind, can be seen from
what has been shown above, namely, that love or the will prepares a house
or bridal chamber for its future wife, which is wisdom or the understanding
(n. 402); and that love or the will prepares all things in its own human
form, that is, in its house, that it may act conjointly with wisdom or the
understanding (n. 403). From what is there said, it is evident that each
and all things in the whole body are so connected by ligaments issuing
from the ribs, vertebrae, sternum, and diaphragm, and from the peritonaeum
which depends on these, that when the lungs respire all are likewise drawn
and borne along in alternate movements. Anatomy shows that the alternate
waves of respiration even enter into the very viscera to their inmost
recesses; for the ligaments above mentioned cleave to the sheaths of the
viscera, and these sheaths, by their extensions, penetrate to their
innermost parts, as do the arteries and veins also by their ramifications.
From this it is evident that the respiration of the lungs is in entire
conjunction with the heart in each and every thing of the body; and in
order that the conjunction may be complete in every respect, even the
heart itself is in pulmonic motion, for it lies in the bosom of the lungs
and is connected with them by the auricles, and reclines upon the
diaphragm, whereby its arteries also participate in the pulmonic motion.
The stomach, too, is in similar conjunction with the lungs, by the
coherence of its oesophagus with the trachea. These anatomical facts are
adduced to show what kind of a conjunction there is of love or the will
with wisdom or the understanding, and how the two in consort are conjoined
with all things of the mind; for the spiritual and the bodily conjunction
are similar.
409. (11) Love or the will does nothing except in conjunction with wisdom
or the understanding. For as love has no sensitive nor any active life
apart from the understanding; and as love introduces the understanding
into all things of the mind (as was shown above, n. 407, 408), it follows
that love or the will does nothing except in conjunction with the
understanding. For what is it to act from love without the understanding?
Such action can only be called irrational; for the understanding teaches
what ought to be done and how it ought to be done. Apart from the
understanding love does not know this; consequently such is the marriage
between love and the understanding, that although they are two, they act
as one. There is a like marriage between good and truth, for good is of
love and truth is of the understanding. In every particular thing of the
universe as created by the Lord there is such a marriage, their use
having relation to good, and the form of their use to truth. From this
marriage it is that in each and every thing of the body there is a right
and a left, the right having relation to the good from which truth
proceeds, and the left to truth from good, thus to their conjunction.
From this it is that there are pairs in man; there are two brains, two
hemispheres of the brain, two ventricles of the heart, two lobes of the
lungs, two eyes, ears, nostrils, arms, hands, loins, feet, kidneys,
testicles, etc.; and where there are not pairs, there is a right and a
left side, all this for the reason that good looks to truth that it may
take form, and truth looks to good that it may have being. It is the same
in the angelic heavens and in their several societies. On this subject
more may be seen above (n. 401), where it is shown that love or the will
is unable to effect anything by its human form without a marriage with
wisdom or the understanding. Conjunction of evil and falsity, which is
opposite to the conjunction of good and truth, will be spoken of elsewhere.
410. (12) Love or the will conjoins itself to wisdom or the understanding,
and causes wisdom or the understanding to be reciprocally conjoined to it.
That love or the will conjoins itself to wisdom or the understanding is
plain from their correspondence with the heart and lungs. Anatomical
observation shows that the heart is in its life's motion when the lungs
are not yet in motion; this it shows by cases of swooning and of
suffocation, also by the fetus in the womb and the chick in the egg.
Anatomical observation shows also that the heart, while acting alone,
forms the lungs and so adjusts them that it may carry on respiration in
them; also that it so forms the other viscera and organs that it may
carry on various uses in them, the organs of the face that it may have
sensation, the organs of motion that it may act, and the remaining parts
of the body that it may exhibit uses corresponding to the affections of
love. From all this it can now for the first time be shown that as the
heart produces such things for the sake of the various functions which it
is afterwards to discharge in the body, so love, in its receptacle called
the will, produces like things for the sake of the various affections that
constitute its form, which is the human form (as was shown above). Now as
the first and nearest of love's affections are affection for knowing,
affection for understanding, and affection for seeing what it knows and
understands, it follows, that for these affections love forms the
understanding and actually enters into them when it begins to feel and
to act and to think. To this the understanding contributes nothing, as
is evident from the analogy of the heart and lungs (of which above). From
all this it can be seen, that love or the will conjoins itself to wisdom
or the understanding, and not wisdom or the understanding to love or the
will; also from this it is evident that knowledge, which love acquires to
itself by the affection for knowing, and perception of truth, which it
acquires by the affection for understanding, and thought which it acquires
by the affection for seeing what it knows and understands, are not of the
understanding but of love. Thoughts, perceptions, and knowledges therefrom,
flow in, it is true, out of the spiritual world, yet they are received not
by the understanding but by love, according to its affections in the
understanding. It appears as if the understanding received them, and not
love or the will, but this is an illusion. It appears also as if the
understanding conjoined itself to love or the will, but this too, is an
illusion; love or the will conjoins itself to the understanding, and
causes the understanding to be reciprocally conjoined to it. This
reciprocal conjunction is from love's marriage with wisdom, wherefrom
a conjunction seemingly reciprocal, from the life and consequent power
of love, is effected. It is the same with the marriage of good and truth;
for good is of love and truth is of the understanding. Good does everything
and it receives truth into its house and conjoins itself with it so far as
the truth is accordant. Good can also admit truths which are not accordant;
but this it does from an affection for knowing, for understanding, and for
thinking its own things, whilst it has not as yet determined itself to
uses, which are its ends and are called its goods. Of reciprocal
conjunction, that is, the conjunction of truth with good, there is none
whatever. That truth is reciprocally conjoined is from the life belonging
to good. From this it is that every man and every spirit and angel is
regarded by the Lord according to his love or good, and no one according
to his intellect, or his truth separate from love or good. For man's life
is his love (as was shown above), and his life is qualified according as
he has exalted his affections by means of truth, that is, according as he
has perfected his affections by wisdom. For the affections of love are
exalted and perfected by means of truths, thus by means of wisdom. Then
love acts conjointly with its wisdom, as though from it; but it acts from
itself through wisdom, as through its own form, and this derives nothing
whatever from the understanding, but everything from a kind of
determination of love called affection.
411. All things that favor it love calls its goods, and all things that
as means lead to goods it calls its truths; and because these are means
they are loved and come to be of its affection and thus become affections
in form; therefore truth is nothing else than a form of the affection that
is of love. The human form is nothing else than the form of all the
affections of love; beauty is its intelligence, which it procures for
itself through truths received either by sight or by hearing, external
and internal. These are what love disposes into the form of its affections;
and these forms exist in great variety; but all derive a likeness from
their general form, which is the human. To the love all such forms are
beautiful and lovely, but others are unbeautiful and unlovely. From this,
again, it is evident that love conjoins itself to the understanding, and
not the reverse, and that the reciprocal conjunction is also from love.
This is what is meant by love or the will causing wisdom or the
understanding to be reciprocally conjoined to it.
412. What has been said may be seen in a kind of image and thus
corroborated by the correspondence of the heart with love and of the
lungs with the understanding (of which above). For if the heart
corresponds to love, its determinations, which are arteries and veins,
correspond to affections, and in the lungs to affections for truth; and
as there are also other vessels in the lungs called air vessels, whereby
respiration is carried on, these vessels correspond to perceptions. It
must be distinctly understood that the arteries and veins in the lungs
are not affections, and that respirations are not perceptions and thoughts,
but that they are correspondences, that is, they act correspondently or
synchronously; likewise that the heart and the lungs are not the love and
understanding, but correspondences: and inasmuch as they are
correspondences the one can be seen in the other. Whoever from anatomy
has come to understand the whole structure of the lungs can see clearly,
when he compares it with the understanding, that the understanding does
not act at all by itself, does not perceive nor think by itself, but acts
wholly by affections which are of love. These, in the understanding, are
called affection for knowing, for understanding, and for seeing truth
(which have been treated of above). For all states of the lungs depend
on the blood from the heart and from the vena cava and aorta; and
respirations, which take place in the bronchial branches, proceed in
accordance with the state of those vessels; for when the flow of the blood
stops, respiration stops. Much more may be disclosed by comparing the
structure of the lungs with the understanding, to which the lungs
correspond; but as few are familiar with anatomical science, and to try
to demonstrate or prove anything by what is unknown renders it obscure,
it is not well to say more on this subject. By what I know of the structure
of the lungs I am fully convinced that love through its affections conjoins
itself to the understanding, and that the understanding does not conjoin
itself to any affection of love, but that it is reciprocally conjoined by
love, to the end that love may have sensitive life and active life. But
it must not be forgotten that man has a twofold respiration, one of the
spirit and another of the body; and that the respiration of the spirit
depends on the fibers from the brains, and the respiration of the body
on the blood-vessels from the heart, and from the vena cava and aorta. It
is evident, moreover, that thought produces respiration; it is evident,
also, that affection, which is of love, produces thought, for thought
without affection is precisely like respiration without a heart, a thing
impossible. From this it is clear that affection, which is of love,
conjoins itself to thought, which is of the understanding (as was said
above), in like manner as the heart does in the lungs.
413. (13) Wisdom or the understanding, from the potency given to it by
love, can be elevated and can receive such things as are of light out
of heaven, and perceive them. That man has the ability to perceive arcana
of wisdom when he hears them, has been shown above in many places. This
capacity of man is called rationality. It belongs to every man by creation.
It is the capacity to understand things interiorly, and to decide what is
just and right, and what is good and true; and by it man is distinguished
from beasts. This, then, is what is meant when it is said, that the
understanding can be elevated and receive things that are of light out of
heaven, and perceive them. That this is so can also be seen in a kind of
image in the lungs, for the reason that the lungs correspond to the
understanding. In the lungs it can be seen from their cellular substance,
which consists of bronchial tubes continued down to the minutest air-cells,
which are receptacles of air in respirations; these are what the thoughts
make one with by correspondence. This cell-like substance is such that it
can be expanded and contracted in a twofold mode, in one mode with the
heart, in the other almost separate from the heart. In the former, it is
expanded and contracted through the pulmonary arteries and veins, which
are from the heart alone; in the latter, through the bronchial arteries
and veins, which are from the vena cava and aorta, and these vessels are
outside of the heart. This takes place in the lungs for the reason that
the understanding is capable of being raised above its proper love, which
corresponds to the heart, and to receive light from heaven. Still, when
the understanding is raised above its proper love, it does not withdraw
from it, but derives from it what is called the affection for knowing and
understanding, with a view to somewhat of honor, glory, or gain in the
world; this clings to every love as a surface, and by it the love shines
on the surface; but with the wise, the love shines through. These things
respecting the lungs are brought forward to prove that the understanding
can be elevated and can receive and perceive things that are of the light
of heaven; for the correspondence is plenary. To see from correspondence
is to see the lungs from the understanding, and the understanding from
the lungs, and thus from both together to perceive proof.
414. (14) Love or the will can in like manner be elevated and can receive
such things as are of heat out of heaven provided it loves wisdom, its
consort, in that degree. That the understanding can be elevated into the
light of heaven, and from that light draw forth wisdom, has been shown in
the preceding chapter and in many places above; also that love or the will
can be elevated as well, provided it loves those things that are of the
light of heaven or that are of wisdom, has also been shown in many places.
Yet love or the will cannot be thus elevated through anything of honor,
glory, or gain as an end, but only through a love of use, thus not for
the sake of self, but for the sake of the neighbor; and because this love
is given only by the Lord out of heaven, and is given by the Lord when
man flees from evils as sins, therefore it is that love or the will can
be elevated by these means, and cannot without these means. But love or
the will is elevated into heaven's heat, while the understanding is
elevated into its light. When both are elevated, a marriage of the two
takes place there, which is called celestial marriage, because it is a
marriage of celestial love and wisdom; consequently it is said that love
also is elevated if it loves wisdom, its consort, in that degree. The
love of wisdom, that is, the genuine love of the human understanding is
love towards the neighbor from the Lord. It is the same with light and
heat in the world. Light exists without heat and with heat; light is
without heat in winter time, and with heat in summer time; and when heat
is with light all things flourish. The light with man that corresponds
to the light of winter is wisdom without its love; and the light with man
that corresponds to the light of summer is wisdom with its love.
415. This conjunction and disjunction of wisdom and love can be seen
effigied, as it were, in the conjunction of the lungs with the heart.
For the heart can be conjoined to the clustering vesicles of the bronchia
by blood sent out from itself, and also by blood sent out not from itself
but from the vena cava and the aorta. Thereby the respiration of the body
can be separated from the respiration of the spirit; but when blood from
the heart alone acts the respirations cannot be separated. Now since
thoughts act as one with respirations by correspondence it is plain, from
the twofold state of the lungs in respirations, that man is able to think
and from thoughts to speak and act in one way when in company with others,
and to think and from thought to speak and act in another way when not in
company, that is, when he has no fear of loss of reputation; for he can
then think and speak against God, the neighbor, the spiritual things of
the church, and against moral and civil laws; and he can also act contrary
to them, by stealing, by being revengeful, by blaspheming, by committing
adultery. But in company with others, where he is afraid of losing
reputation, he can talk, preach and act precisely like a spiritual,
moral and civil man. From all this it can be seen that love or the will
as well as the understanding can be elevated and can receive such things
as are of the heat or love of heaven, provided it loves wisdom in that
degree, and if it does not love wisdom, that it can as it were be
separated.
416. (15) Otherwise love or the will draws down wisdom, or the
understanding, from its elevation, that it may act as one with itself.
There is natural love and there is spiritual love. A man who is in natural
and in spiritual love both at once, is a rational man; but one who is in
natural love alone, although able to think rationally, precisely like a
spiritual man, is not a rational man; for although he elevates his
understanding even to heavenly light, thus to wisdom, yet the things of
wisdom, that is, of heavenly light, do not belong to his love. His love,
it is true, effects the elevation, but from desire for honor, glory and
gain. But when he perceives that he gains nothing of the kind from that
elevation (as is the case when he thinks with himself from his own natural
love), then he does not love the things of heavenly light or wisdom;
consequently he then draws down the understanding from its height, that
it may act as one with himself. For example: when the understanding by
its elevation is in wisdom, then the love sees what justice is, what
sincerity is, what chastity is, even what genuine love is. This the
natural love can see by its capacity to understand and contemplate things
in heavenly light; it can even talk and preach about these and explain
them as at once moral and spiritual virtues. But when the understanding
is not elevated, the love, if it is merely natural, does not see these
virtues, but instead of justice it sees injustice, instead of sincerity
deceit, instead of chastity lewdness, and so on. If it then thinks of the
things it spoke of when its understanding was in elevation, it can laugh
at them and speak of them merely as serviceable to it in captivating the
souls of men. From all this it can be seen how it is to be understood that
love, unless it loves wisdom, its consort, in that degree, draws wisdom
down from its elevation, that it may act as one with itself. That love is
capable of elevation if it loves wisdom in that degree, can be seen above
(n. 414).
417. Now as love corresponds to the heart, and the understanding to the
lungs, the foregoing statements may be corroborated by their
correspondence; as, for instance, how the understanding can be elevated
above its own love even into wisdom; and how, if that love is merely
natural, the understanding is drawn down by it from that elevation. Man
has a twofold respiration; one of the body, the other of the spirit. These
two respirations may be separated and they may be conjoined; with men
merely natural, especially with hypocrites, they are separated, but rarely
with men who are spiritual and sincere. Consequently a merely natural man
and hypocrite, whose understanding has been elevated, and in whose memory
therefore various things of wisdom remain, can talk wisely in company by
thought from the memory; but when not in company, he does not think from
the memory, but from his spirit, thus from his love. He also respires in
like manner, inasmuch as thought and respiration act correspondently. That
the structure of the lungs is such that they can respire both by blood
from the heart and by blood from outside of the heart has been shown above.
418. It is the common opinion that wisdom makes the man; therefore when any
one is heard to talk and teach wisely he is believed to be wise; yea, he
himself believes it at the time, because when he talks or teaches in
company he thinks from the memory, and if he is a merely natural man,
from the surface of his love, which is a desire for honor, glory, and
gain; but when the same man is alone he thinks from the more inward love
of his spirit, and then not wisely, but sometimes insanely. From all this
it can be seen that no one is to be judged of by wise speaking, but by his
life; that is, not by wise speaking separate from life, but by wise
speaking conjoined to life. By life is meant love. That love is the life
has been shown above.
419. (16) Love or the will is purified in the understanding, if they are
elevated together. From birth man loves nothing but self and the world,
for nothing else appears before his eyes, consequently nothing else
occupies his mind. This love is corporeal-natural, and may be called
material love. Moreover, this love has become impure by reason of the
separation of heavenly love from it in parents. This love could not be
separated from its impurity unless man had a power to raise his
understanding into the light of heaven, and to see how he ought to live
in order that his love, as well as his understanding, may be elevated
into wisdom. By means of the understanding, love, that is, the man, sees
what the evils are that defile and corrupt the love; he also sees that if
he flees from those evils as sins and turns away from them, he loves the
things that are opposite to those evils; all of which are heavenly. Then
also he perceives the means by which he is enabled to flee from and turn
away from those evils as sins. This the love, that is, the man, sees, by
the exercise of his power to elevate his understanding into the light of
heaven, which is the source of wisdom. Then so far as love gives heaven
the first place and the world the second, and at the same time gives the
Lord the first place and self the second, so far love is purged of its
uncleanness and is purified; in other words, is raised into the heat of
heaven, and conjoined with the light of heaven in which the understanding
is; and the marriage takes place that is called the marriage of good and
truth, that is, of love and wisdom. Any one can comprehend intellectually
and see rationally, that so far as he flees from and turns away from theft
and cheating, so far he loves sincerity, rectitude and justice; so far as
he flees and turns away from revenge and hatred, so far he loves the
neighbor; and so far as he flees and turns away from adulteries, so far
he loves chastity; and so on. And yet scarcely any one knows what there
is of heaven and the Lord in sincerity, rectitude, justice, love towards
the neighbor, chastity, and other affections of heavenly love, until he
has removed their opposites. When he has removed the opposites, then he
is in those affections, and therefrom recognizes and sees them. Previously
there is a kind of veil interposed, that does, indeed, transmit to love
the light of heaven; yet inasmuch as the love does not in that degree love
its consort, wisdom, it does not receive it, yea, may even contradict and
rebuke it when it returns from its elevation. Still man flatters himself
that the wisdom of his understanding may be made serviceable as a means
to honor, glory, or gain. Then man gives self and the world the first
place, and the Lord and heaven the second, and what has the second place
is loved only so far as it is serviceable, and if it is not serviceable
it is disowned and rejected; if not before death, then after it. From
all this the truth is now evident, that love or the will is purified in
the understanding if they are elevated together.
420. The same thing is imaged in the lungs, whose arteries and veins
correspond to the affections of love, and whose respirations correspond
to the perceptions and thoughts of the understanding, as has been said
above. That the heart's blood is purified of undigested matters in the
lungs, and nourishes itself with suitable food from the inhaled air, is
evident from much observation. (1) That the blood is purified of undigested
matter in the lungs, is evident not only from the influent blood, which
is venous, and therefore filled with the chyle collected from food and
drink, but also from the moisture of the outgoing breath and from its
odor as perceived by others, as well as from the diminished quantity of
the blood flowing back into the left ventricle of the heart. (2) That the
blood nourishes itself with suitable food from the inhaled air is evident
from the immense volumes of odors and exhalations continually flowing
forth from fields, gardens, and woods; from the immense supply of salts
of various kinds in the water that rises from the ground and from rivers
and ponds, and from the immense quantity of exhalations and effluvia from
human beings and animals with which the air is impregnated. That these
things flow into the lungs with the inhaled air is undeniable: it is
therefore undeniable also that from them the blood draws such things as
are useful to it; and such things are useful as correspond to the
affections of its love. For this reason there are, in the vesicles or
innermost recesses of the lungs, little veins in great abundance with
tiny mouths that absorb these suitable matters; consequently, the blood
that flows back into the left ventricle of the heart is changed into
arterial blood of brilliant hue. These facts prove that the blood purifies
itself of heterogeneous things and nourishes itself with homogeneous
things. That the blood in the lungs purifies and nourishes itself
correspondently to the affections of the mind is as yet unknown; but in
the spiritual world it is very well known, for angels in the heavens find
delight only in the odors that correspond to the love of their wisdom,
while the spirits in hell find delight only in the odors that correspond
to a love opposed to wisdom; these are foul odors, but the former are
fragrant. It follows that men in the world impregnate their blood with
similar things according to correspondence with the affections of their
love; for what the spirit of a man loves, his blood according to
correspondence craves and by respiration attracts. From this
correspondence it results that man as regards his love is purified if he
loves wisdom, and is defiled if he does not love it. Moreover, all
purification of man is effected by means of the truths of wisdom, and all
pollution of man is effected by means of falsities that are opposite to
the truths of wisdom.
421. (17) Love or the will is defiled in the understanding and by it, if
they are not elevated together. This is because love, if not elevated,
remains impure (as stated above, n. 419, 420); and while it remains impure
it loves what is impure, such as revenges, hatreds, deceits, blasphemes,
adulteries, for these are then its affections that are called lusts, and
it rejects what belongs to charity, justice, sincerity, truth, and
chastity. Love is said to be defiled in the understanding, and by it; in
the understanding, when love is affected by these impure things; by the
understanding, when love makes the things of wisdom to become its servants,
and still more when it perverts, falsifies, and adulterates them. Of the
corresponding state of the heart, or of its blood in the lungs, there is
no need to say more than has been said above (n. 420), except that instead
of the purification of the blood its defilement takes place; and instead
of the nutrition of the blood by fragrant odors its nutrition is effected
by stenches, precisely as it is respectively in heaven and in hell.
422. (18) Love, when purified by wisdom in the understanding, becomes
spiritual and celestial. Man is born natural, but in the measure in which
his understanding is raised into the light of heaven, and his love
conjointly is raised into the heat of heaven, he becomes spiritual and
celestial; he then becomes like a garden of Eden, which is at once in
vernal light and vernal heat. It is not the understanding that becomes
spiritual and celestial, but the love; and when the love has so become,
it makes its consort, the understanding, spiritual and celestial. Love
becomes spiritual and celestial by a life according to the truths of
wisdom which the understanding teaches and requires. Love imbibes these
truths by means of its understanding, and not from itself; for love cannot
elevate itself unless it knows truths, and these it can learn only by means
of an elevated and enlightened understanding; and then so far as it loves
truths in the practice of them so far it is elevated; for to understand is
one thing and to will is another; or to say is one thing and to do is
another. There are those who understand and talk about the truths of
wisdom, yet neither will nor practise them. When, therefore, love puts
in practice the truths of light which it understands and speaks, it is
elevated. This one can see from reason alone; for what kind of a man is
he who understands the truths of wisdom and talks about them while he
lives contrary to them, that is, while his will and conduct are opposed
to them? Love purified by wisdom becomes spiritual and celestial, for the
reason that man has three degrees of life, called natural, spiritual, and
celestial (of which in the Third Part of this work), and he is capable of
elevation from one degree into another. Yet he is not elevated by wisdom
alone, but by a life according to wisdom, for a man's life is his love.
Consequently, so far as his life is according to wisdom, so far he loves
wisdom; and his life is so far according to wisdom as he purifies himself
from uncleannesses, which are sins; and so far as he does this does he
love wisdom.
423. That love purified by the wisdom in the understanding becomes
spiritual and celestial cannot be seen so clearly by their correspondence
with the heart and lungs, because no one can see the quality of the blood
by which the lungs are kept in their state of respiration. The blood may
abound in impurities, and yet not be distinguishable from pure blood.
Moreover, the respiration of a merely natural man appears the same as the
respiration of a spiritual man. But the difference is clearly discerned
in heaven, for there every one respires according to the marriage of love
and wisdom; therefore as angels are recognized according to that marriage,
so are they recognized according to their respiration. For this reason it
is that when one who is not in that marriage enters heaven, he is seized
with anguish in the breast, and struggles for breath like a man in the
agonies of death; such persons, therefore throw themselves headlong from
the place, nor do they find rest until they are among those who are in a
respiration similar to their own; for then by correspondence they are in
similar affection, and therefore in similar thought. From all this it can
be seen that with the spiritual man it is the purer blood, called by some
the animal spirit, which is purified; and that it is purified so far as
the man is in the marriage of love and wisdom. It is this purer blood
which corresponds most nearly to that marriage; and because this blood
inflows into the blood of the body, it follows that the latter blood is
also purified by means of it. The reverse is true of those in whom love
is defiled in the understanding. But, as was said, no one can test this
by any experiment on the blood; but he can by observing the affections of
love, since these correspond to the blood.
424. (19) Love, when defiled in the understanding and by it, becomes
natural, sensual, and corporeal. Natural love separated from spiritual
love is the opposite of spiritual love; because natural love is love of
self and of the world, and spiritual love is love to the Lord and love to
the neighbor; and love of self and the world looks downward and outward,
and love to the Lord looks upward and inward. Consequently when natural
love is separated from spiritual love it cannot be elevated above what is
man's own, but remains immersed in it, and so far as it loves it, is glued
to it. Then if the understanding ascends, and sees by the light of heaven
such things as are of wisdom, this natural love draws down such wisdom,
and joins her to itself in what is its own; and there either rejects the
things of wisdom or falsifies them or encircles itself with them, that it
may talk about them for reputation's sake. As natural love can ascend by
degrees and become spiritual and celestial, in the same way it can descend
by degrees and become sensual and corporeal, and it does descend so far as
it loves dominion from no love of use, but solely from love of self. It is
this love which is called the devil. Those who are in this love are able
to speak and act in the same manner as those who are in spiritual love;
but they do this either from memory or from the understanding elevated by
itself into the light of heaven. Nevertheless, what they say and do is
comparatively like fruit that appears beautiful on the surface but is
wholly rotten within; or like almonds which from the shell appear sound
but are wholly worm-eaten within. These things in the spiritual world are
called fantasies, and by means of them harlots, there called sirens, make
themselves appear handsome, and adorn themselves with beautiful garments;
but when the fantasy is dissipated the sirens appear like ghosts, and are
like devils who make themselves angels of light. For when that corporeal
love draws its understanding down from its elevation, as it does when
man is alone and thinks from his own love, then he thinks against God in
favor of nature, against heaven in favor of the world, and against the
truths and goods of the church in favor of the falsities and evils of hell;
thus against wisdom. From this the character of those who are called
corporeal men can be seen: for they are not corporeal in understanding,
but corporeal in love; that is, they are not corporeal in understanding
when they converse in company, but are so when they hold converse with
themselves in spirit; and being such in spirit, therefore after death they
become, both in love and in understanding, spirits that are called
corporeal. Those who in the world had been in a supreme love of ruling
from the love of self, and had also surpassed others in elevation of
understanding, then appear in body like Egyptian mummies, and in mind
gross and silly. Who in the world at the present day is aware that this
love in itself is of such a nature? Yet a love of ruling from love of use
is possible, but only from love of use for the sake of the common good,
not for the sake of self. It is difficult, however, for man to distinguish
the one love from the other, although the difference between them is like
that between heaven and hell. The differences between these two loves of
ruling may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 551-565).
425. (20) The capacity to understand called rationality and the capacity
to act called freedom, still remain. These two capacities belonging to
man have been treated of above (n. 264-267). Man has these two capacities
that he may from being natural become spiritual, that is, may be
regenerated. For, as was said above, it is man's love that becomes
spiritual, and is regenerated; and it cannot become spiritual or be
regenerated unless it knows, by means of its understanding, what evil is
and what good is, and therefore what truth is and what falsity is. When
it knows this it can choose either one or the other; and if it chooses
good it can, by means of its understanding, be instructed about the means
by which to attain to good. All the means by which man is enabled to
attain good are provided. It is by rationality that man is able to know
and understand these means, and by freedom that he is able to will and
to do them. There is also a freedom to will to know, to understand, and
to think these means. Those who hold from church doctrine that things
spiritual or theological transcend the understanding, and are therefore
to be believed apart from the understanding know nothing of these
capacities called rationality and freedom. These cannot do otherwise
than deny that there is a capacity called rationality. Those, too, who
hold from church doctrine that no one is able to do good from himself,
and consequently that good is not to be done from any will to be saved,
cannot do otherwise than deny, from a principle of religion, the existence
of both these capacities which belong to man. Therefore, those who have
confirmed themselves in these things, after death, in agreement with their
faith, are deprived of both these capacities; and in place of heavenly
freedom, in which they might have been, are in infernal freedom, and in
place of angelic wisdom from rationality, in which they might have been,
are in infernal insanity; and what is wonderful, they claim that both
these capacities have place in doing what is evil and thinking what is
false, not knowing that the exercise of freedom in doing what is evil
is slavery, and that the exercise of the reason to think what is false
is irrational. But it is to be carefully noted that these capacities,
freedom and rationality, are neither of them man's, but are of the Lord
in man, and that they cannot be appropriated to man as his; nor indeed,
can they be given to man as his, but are continually of the Lord in man,
and yet are never taken away from man; and this because without them man
cannot be saved, for without them he cannot be regenerated (as has been
said above). For this reason man is instructed by the church that from
himself he can neither think what is true nor do what is good. But
inasmuch as man perceives no otherwise than that he thinks from himself
what is true and does from himself what is good, it is very evident that
he ought to believe that he thinks as if from himself what is true, and
does as if from himself what is good. For if he does not believe this,
either he does not think what is true nor do what is good, and therefore
has no religion, or he thinks what is true and does what is good from
himself, and thus ascribes to himself that which is Divine. That man
ought to think what is true and do good as if from himself, may be seen
in the Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, from beginning to end.
426. (21) Spiritual and celestial love is love toward the neighbor and
love to the Lord; and natural and sensual love is love of the world and
love of self. By love toward the neighbor is meant the love of uses, and
by love to the Lord is meant the love of doing uses (as has been shown
before). These loves are spiritual and celestial, because loving uses and
doing them from a love of them, is distinct from the love of what is man's
own; for whoever loves uses spiritually looks not to self, but to others
outside of self for whose good he is moved. Opposed to these loves are the
loves of self and of the world, for these look to uses not for the sake of
others but for the sake of self; and those who do this invert Divine
order, and put self in the Lord's place, and the world in the place of
heaven; as a consequence they look backward, away from the Lord and away
from heaven, and looking backward away from these is looking to hell.
(More about these loves may be seen above, n. 424.) Yet man does not feel
and perceive the love of performing uses for the sake of uses as he feels
and perceives the love of performing uses for the sake of self;
consequently when he is performing uses he does not know whether he is
doing them for the sake of uses or for the sake of self. But let him know
that he is performing uses for the sake of uses in the measure in which
he flees from evils; for so far as he flees from evils, he performs uses
not for himself, but from the Lord. For evil and good are opposites; so
far as one is not in evil he is in good. No one can be in evil and in good
at the same time, because no one can serve two masters at the same time.
All this has been said to show that although man does not sensibly
perceive whether the uses which he performs are for the sake of use or
for the sake of self, that is, whether the uses are spiritual or merely
natural, still he can know it by this, whether or not he considers evils
to be sins. If he regards them as sins, and for that reason abstains from
doing them, the uses which he does are spiritual. And when one who does
this flees from sins from a feeling of aversion, he then begins to have
a sensible perception of the love of uses for the sake of uses, and this
from spiritual enjoyment in them.
427. (22) It is the same with charity and faith and their conjunction as
with the will and understanding and their conjunction. There are two
loves, according to which the heavens are distinct, celestial love and
spiritual love. Celestial love is love to the Lord, and spiritual love
is love towards the neighbor. These loves are distinguished by this, that
celestial love is the love of good, and spiritual love the love of truth;
for those who are in celestial love perform uses from love of good, and
those in spiritual love from love of truth. The marriage of celestial love
is with wisdom, and the marriage of spiritual love with intelligence; for
it is of wisdom to do good from good, and it is of intelligence to do good
from truth, consequently celestial love does what is good, and spiritual
love does what is true. The difference between these two loves can be
defined only in this way, that those who are in celestial love have wisdom
inscribed on their life, and not on the memory, for which reason they do
not talk about Divine truths, but do them; while those who are in spiritual
love have wisdom inscribed on their memory, therefore they talk about
Divine truths, and do them from principles in the memory. Because those
who are in celestial love have wisdom inscribed on their life, they
perceive instantly whether whatever they hear is true or not; and when
asked whether it is true, they answer only, It is, or It is not. These are
they who are meant by the words of the Lord:
Let your speech be Yea, yea, Nay, nay (Matt. 5:37).
And because they are such, they are unwilling to hear anything about
faith, saying, What is faith? is it not wisdom? and what is charity? is
it not doing ? And when told that faith is believing what is not
understood, they turn away, saying, The man is crazy. These are they who
are in the third heaven, and who are the wisest of all. Such have they
become who in the world have applied the Divine truths which they have
heard immediately to the life by turning away from evils as infernal, and
worshiping the Lord alone. These, since they are in innocence, appear to
others as infants; and since they never talk about the truths of wisdom
and there is nothing of pride in their discourse, they also appear simple.
Nevertheless, when they hear any one speaking, they perceive from the tone
all things of his love, and from the speech all things of his intelligence.
These are they who are in the marriage of love and wisdom from the Lord;
and who represent the heart region of heaven, mentioned above.
428. Those, however, who are in spiritual love, which is love towards the
neighbor, do not have wisdom inscribed on their life, but intelligence;
for it is of wisdom to do good from affection for good, while it is of
intelligence to do good from affection for truth (as has been said above).
Neither do these know what faith is. When faith is mentioned they
understand truth, and when charity is mentioned they understand doing the
truth; and when told that they must believe, they call it empty talk, and
ask, Who does not believe what is true? This they say because they see
truth in the light of their own heaven; therefore, to believe what they do
not see they call either simplicity or foolishness. These are they who
constitute the lung region of heaven, also mentioned above.
429. But those who are in spiritual-natural love have neither wisdom nor
intelligence inscribed on their life, but only something of faith out of
the Word, so far as this has been conjoined with charity. Inasmuch as
these do not know what charity is, or whether faith be truth, they cannot
be among those in the heavens who are in wisdom and intelligence, but
among those who are in knowledge only. Yet such of them as have fled from
evil as sins are in the outmost heaven, and are in a light there like the
light of the moon by night; while those who have not confirmed themselves
in a faith in what is unknown, but have cherished a kind of affection for
truth are instructed by angels, and according to their reception of truths
and a life in agreement therewith, are raised into the societies of those
who are in spiritual love and therefore in intelligence. Those become
spiritual, the rest becoming spiritual-natural. But those who have lived
in faith separate from charity are removed, and sent away into deserts,
because they are not in any good, thus not in any marriage of good and
truth, in which all are who are in the heavens.
430. All that has been said of love and wisdom in this Part may be said
of charity and faith, if by charity spiritual love is understood, and by
faith the truth whereby there is intelligence. It is the same whether the
terms will and understanding, or love and intelligence be used, since the
will is the receptacle of love, and the understanding of intelligence.
431. To this I will add the following notable experience:-In heaven all
who perform uses from affection for use, because of the communion in which
they live are wiser and happier than others; and with them performing uses
is acting sincerely, uprightly, justly, and faithfully in the work proper
to the calling of each. This they call charity; and observances pertaining
to worship they call signs of charity, and other things they call
obligations and favors; saying that when one performs the duties of his
calling sincerely, uprightly, justly, and faithfully, the good of the
community is maintained and perpetuated, and that this is to "be in the
Lord," because all that flows in from the Lord is use, and it flows in
from the parts into the community, and flows out from the community to
the parts. The parts there are angels, and the community is a society of
them.
432. WHAT MAN'S BEGINNING IS FROM CONCEPTION.
What man's beginning or primitive form is in the womb after conception no
one can know, because it cannot be seen; moreover, it is made up of
spiritual substance, which is not visible by natural light. Now because
there are some in the world who are eager to investigate even the primitive
form of man, which is seed from the father, from which conception is
effected, and because many of these have fallen into the error of thinking
that man is in his fullness from his first, which is the rudiment, and is
afterwards perfected by growth, it has been disclosed to me what that
rudiment or first is in its form. It has been disclosed to me by angels,
to whom it was revealed by the Lord; and because they had made it a part
of their wisdom, and it is the joy of their wisdom to communicate to others
what they know, permission having been granted, they presented before my
eyes in the light of heaven a type of man's initial form, which was as
follows: There appeared as it were a tiny image of a brain with a delicate
delineation of something like a face in front, with no appendage. This
primitive form in the upper convex part was a structure of contiguous
globules or spherules, and each spherule was a joining together of those
more minute, and each of these in like manner of those most minute. It was
thus of three degrees. In front, in the flat part, a kind of delineation
appeared for a face. The convex part was covered round about with a very
delicate skin or membrane which was transparent. The convex part, which
was a type of the brain in least forms, was also divided into two beds,
as it were, just as the brain in its larger form is divided into
hemispheres. It was told me that the right bed was the receptacle of love,
and the left the receptacle of wisdom; and that by wonderful interweavings
these were like consorts and partners. It was further shown in the light
of heaven, which fell brightly on it, that the structure of this little
brain within, as to position and movement, was in the order and form of
heaven, and that its outer structure was in direct opposition to that
order and form. After these things were seen and pointed out, the angels
said that the two interior degrees, which were in the order and form of
heaven, were the receptacles of love and wisdom from the Lord; and that
the exterior degree, which was in direct opposition to the order and form
of heaven, was the receptacle of hellish love and insanity; for the reason
that man, by hereditary corruption, is born into evils of every kind, and
these evils reside there in the outermosts; and that this corruption is
not removed unless the higher degrees are opened, which, as was said, are
the receptacles of love and wisdom from the Lord. And as love and wisdom
are very man, for love and wisdom in their essence are the Lord, and this
primitive form of man is a receptacle, it follows that in that primitive
form there is a continual effort towards the human form, which also it
gradually assumes.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine
Love and the Divine Wisdom, by Emanuel Swedenborg
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANGELIC WISDOM ***
***** This file should be named 16627.txt or 16627.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/2/16627/
Produced by E-text donated by the Kempton Project, submitted
by William Rotella
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
https://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that
- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License. You must require such a user to return or
destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
Project Gutenberg-tm works.
- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
of receipt of the work.
- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
[email protected]. Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at https://pglaf.org
For additional contact information:
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
Chief Executive and Director
[email protected]
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit https://pglaf.org
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
https://www.gutenberg.org
This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
