REMOTE STORAGE L I B RARY OF THE U N I VLR.S1TY OF 1LLI NOIS Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation and underlining of book* are reo$on$ for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. University of Illinois Library L161 O-1096 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING r, v The Divine Love and the Y * Divine Wisdom EMANUEL SWEDENBORG OKIiilNAlJ.V rUBLlSHKD IN LATIN AT AMSTERDAM 1763 NEW YORK AMERICAN SWEDENBORG PRINTING AND PUBLISHING SOCIETY 3 WEST TWENTY-NINTH STREET 1912 5 \ "^c- e ~- JJart JFitst. LOVE IS THE LIFE OF MAN (n. l). GOD ALONE, CONSEQUENTLY THE LORD, IS LOVE ITSELF; BECAUSE HB IS LOT ITSELF, AND ANGELS AND MEN ARE RECIPIENTS OF LIFE (n. 4). THE DIVINE is NOT IN SPACE (n. 7). GOD is VERY MAN (n. n). IN GOD-MAN JEsss AND EXISTBRB ARE ONE DISTINCTLY (n. 14). IN GOD-MAN INFINITE THINGS ARE ONE DISTINCTLY (n. 17). THERE is ONE GOD-MAN, FROM WHOM ALL THINGS ARE (n. 23). ESSENCE ITSELF is LOVE AND WISDOM (n. 28). DIVINE LOVE is OF DIVINE WISDOM, AND DIVINE WISDOM is OF DIVINI LOVE (n. 34). ^ DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM ARE SUBSTANCE AND ARE FORM (n. 40). ui v ir THUS THE VERY AND THE ONLY (n. 44). -J5 DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM MUST NECESSARILY BE AND HAVE EX- 3 ISTENCE IN OTHERS CREATED BY ITSELF (n. 47). O Aj.T. THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE ARE CREATIONS FROM THE DIVINE LOVE P$ AND THE DIVINE WISDOM OF GOD-MAN (n. 52). ,-ALL THINGS IN THE CREATED UNIVERSE ARE RECIPIENTS OF THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE DIVINE WISDOM OF GOD-MAN (n. 55). ALL CREATED THINGS HAVE RELATION IN AN IMAGE TO MAN (n. 6l). IEXTHE USES OF AIJL CREATED THINGS ASCEND BY DEGREES FROM OUTMOST \. THINGS Tf MAN, AND THROUGH MAN TO GOD THE CREATOR, FROM WHOM TBSY ARE (n. 65). J THE DIVINE, APART FROM SPACE, FILLS ALL SPACES OF THE UNIVERSE (n. 69). - THE DIVINE is IN ALL TIME, APART FROM TIME (n. 73). DIVINE IN THINGS GREATEST AND LEAST IS THE SAME (n. 77). Q DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM ARE SUBSTANCE AND FORM IN ITSELF, flart Qetoritt. ' DlVINF LOV AND DIVINE WISDOM APPEAR IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD AS A SUN (n. 83). OF THE SUN THAT HAS EXISTENCE FROM DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM, HEAT AND LIGHT GO FORTH (n. 89). THE SUN OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD IS NOT GOD, IT 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). SPIRITUAL HEAT AND LIGHT, BY THEIR PROCEEDING FROM THE LORD AS A SUN, MAKE ONE, JUST AS HIS DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM MAKE ONE (n. 99). 258696 IV CONTENTS 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 (n. 103). 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 (n. 108). ANGELS ARE IN THE LORD, AND THE LORD IN THEM; AND BECAUSE ANGELS ARE RECIPIENTS, THE LORD ALONE IS HEAVEN (n. 113). IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD THE EAST IS WHERE THE LORD APPEARS AS A SUN, AND FROM THAT THE OTHER QUARTERS ARE DETERMINED (n. 119). THE QUARTERS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD ARE NOT FROM THE LORD AS A SUN, BUT FROM THE ANGELS ACCORDING TO RECEPTION (n. 124). 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 (n. 129). ALL INTERIOR THINGS OF THE ANGELS, BOTH OF MIND AND BODY, ARE TURNED TO THE LORD AS A SUN (n. 135). EVERY SPIRIT, WHATEVER HIS QUALITY, TURNS IN LIKE MANNER TO HIS RULING LOVE (n. 140). DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM PROCEEDING FROM THE LORD AS A SUN, AND PRODUCING HEAT AND LIGHT IN HEAVEN, ARE THE PRO- CEEDING DIVINE, WHICH is THE HOLY SPIRIT (n. 146). 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). THE SUN OF THE NATURAL WORLD IS PURE FIRE, CONSEQUENTLY DEAD; NATURE ALSO IS DEAD, BECAUSE IT DERIVES ITS ORIGIN FROM THAI SUN (n. 157). WITHOUT A DOUBLE SUN, ONE LIVING AND THE OTHER DEAD, NO CREATION is POSSIBLE (n. 163). THE END OF CREATION HAS EXISTENCE IN OUTMOSTS, WHICH END IS THAT ALL THINGS MAY RETURN TO THE CREATOR AND THAT THERE MAY BE CONJUNCTION (n. 167). |Jart IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD THERE ARE ATMOSPHERES, WATERS, AND EARTHS, JUST AS IN THE NATURAL WORLD; ONLY THE FORMER ARE SPIRIT- UAL, WHILE THE LATTER ARE NATURAL (n. 173). THERE ARE DEGREES OF LOVE AND WISDOM, CONSEQUENTLY DEGREES OF HEAT AND LIGHT, ALSO DEGREES OF ATMOSPHERES (n. 179). DEGREES ARE OF A TWO-FOLD KIND, DEGREES OF HEIGHT AND DEGREES OF BREADTH (n. 184). DEGREES OF HEIGHT ARE HOMOGENEOUS, AND ONE is FROM THE OTHER IN SUCCESSION, LIKE END, CAUSE, AND EFFECT (n. 189). THE FIRST DEGREE IS THE ALL IN EVERY THING OF THE SUBSEQUENT DEGREES (n 195). ALL PERFECTIONS INCRFASE AND ASCEND ALONG WITH DEGREES AND ACCORDING TO THKM (n. 199). 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 (n. 205). THK OUTMOST DEGREE is THE COMPLEX, CONTAINANT AND BASE OF THE PRIOR DEGREES (n. 209). CONTENTS. 1 THE DEGREES OF HEIGHT ARE IN FULNESS AND IN POWER IN THEIR OUT- MOST DEGREE (n. 217). THERE ARE DEGREES OF BOTH KINDS IN THE GREATEST AND IN THE LEAST OF ALL CREATED THINGS (n. 222). (N THE LORD THE THREE DEGREES OF HEIGHT ARE INFINITE AND UN- CREATE, BUT IN MAN THEY ARE FINITE AND CREATED (n. 230). FHESE 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 (n. 236). SPIRITUAL LIGHT FLOWS IN WITH MAN THROUGH THREE DEGREES, BUT NOT SPIRITUAL HEAT, EXCEPT SO FAR AS ONE SHUNS EVILS AS SINS AND LOOKS TO THE LORD (n. 242). UNLESS THE HIGHER DEGREE, WHICH is THE SPIRITUAL, is OPENED IN MAN, HE BECOMES NATURAL AND SENSUAL (n. 248). (i.) What the natural man is, and what the spiritual man (n. 251). (ii.) The character of the natural man in whom the spiritual degree it opened (n. 252). (iii.) The character of the natural man in whom the spiritual degree is not opened and yet not closed (n. 253). (iv.) The character of the natural man in whom the spiritual degret is wholly closed (n. 254). (v.) Lastly, The nature of the difference between the life of a man merely natural and the life of a beast (n. 255). fHE NATURAL DEGREE OF THE HUMAN MIND REGARDED lr* '-^TI-T.F is CON- TINUOUS, BUT BY CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE TWO H DEGREES IT APPEARS WHEN IT IS ELEVATED AS IF IT WERE DlSCiv^x^ (n. 256). 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 (n. 260). fHE ORIGIN OF EVIL IS FROM THE ABUSE OF THE CAPACITIES PROPER TO MAN, THAT ARE CALLED RATIONALITY AND FREEDOM (n. 264). (i.) A bad man equally with a good man enjoys these two capacities (n. 266). (ii.) A bad man misuses these capacities to confirm evils and falsities, but a good man uses them to confirm goods and truths (n. 267). (iii.) Evils and falsities confirmed in man are permanent, and come to be of his love and life (n. 268). (iv.) Such things as have come to be of the love, and consequently of the life, are engendered in offspring (n. 269). ( v.) All evils and their falsities, both engendered and acquired, have their seat in the natural mind (n. 270). EVILS AND FALSITIES ARE IN EVERY RESPECT OPPOSED TO GOODS AND TRUTHS, BECAUSE EVILS AND FALSITIES ARE DIABOLICAL AND INFER- NAL, WHILE GOODS AND TRUTHS ARE DIVINE AND HEAVENLY (n. 271) (i.) The natural mind that is in evils and their falsities is a form ana image of hell (n. 273). (ii.) The natural mind that is a form or image of hell descends through three degrees (n. 274). (iii.) The three degrees of the natural mind that is a form and image oj hell, are opposite to the three degrees of the spiritual mind that is a form and image of heaven (n. 275). (iv.) The natural mind that is a hell is in complete opposition to tkt spiritual mind that is a heaven (n. 276). \LL THINGS OF THE THREE DEGREES OF THE NATURAL MIND ARE IN- CLUDED IN THE DEEDS THAT ARE DONE BY THE ACTS OF THE BODY (n. 277). CONTENTS. JJarl iFonrtl). THE LORD FROM ETERNITY, WHO is JEHOVAII, CREATED THE UNIVERSE AND ALL THINGS THEREOF FROM HIMSELF, AND NOT FROM NOTHING (n. 282). THE LORD FROM ETERNITY, THAT is, JEHOVAH, COULD NOT HAVE CREATED THE UNIVERSE AND ALL THINGS THEREOF UNLESS HE WERE A MAN (n. 285). 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 (n. 290). THERE ARE IN THE LORD THREE THINGS THAT ARE THE LORD, -HE 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 (n. 296). THE ATMOSPHERES, OF WHICH THERE ARE THREE BOTH IN THE SPIRITUAL AND IN THE NATURAL WORLD, IN THEIR OUTMOSTS CLOSE INTO SUCH SUBSTANCES AND MATTERS AS ARE ON THE EARTH (n. 302). IN THE SUBSTANCES AND MATTERS OF WHICH THE EARTH IS FORMED THERE IS NOTHING OF THE DIVINE IN ITSELF, BUT STILL THEY ARE FROM THE DIVINE IN ITSELF (n. 305). ALL USES, WHICH ARE ENDS OF CREATION, ARE IN FORMS, WHICH FORMS THEY TAKE FROM SUCH SUBSTANCES AND MATTERS AS ARE ON THE EARTH (n. 307). (i.) In earths there is a conatus to produce uses in forms, that is, forms of uses (n. 310.) (ii.) In all forms of uses there is an image of creation (n. 313). (iii.) In all forms of uses there is an image of man (n. 317). (ir.) In all forms of uses there is an image of the Infinite and the Etcr* not (n. 318). ALL THINGS OF THE CREATED UNIVERSE, VIEWED IN REFERENCE TO USES, REPRESENT MAN IN AN IMAGE ; AND THIS PROVES THAT GOD IS MAN (n. 319). ALL THINGS CREATED FROM THE LORD ARE USES ; 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] (n. 327). Uses for sustaining the body (n. 331). Uses for perfecting the rational (n. 332). Uses for receiving the spiritual from the Lord (n. 333). EVIL USES WERE NOT CREATED BY THE LORD, BUT ORIGINATED TOGETHER WITH HELL (n. 336). (L) What is meant by evil uses on the earth (n. 338). (ii.) All things that are evil uses are in hell, and all things that art good uses are in heaven (n. 339). (Hi.) There is unceasing influx out of the spiritual world into the nat- ural -world (n. 340). (tv.) Those things that are evil uses are effected by the operation of in- flux from hell, wherever there are such things as correspond thereto (n. 341). (r.) This is effected by the lowest spiritual separated from what is above * ( n - 345). (n.) There are two forms into which the operation by influx place, the vegetable and the animal form (n. 346). CONTENTS. V11 Each of these forms is endowed, while it exists, vnth means J propagation (n. 347). THB VISIBLE THINGS IN THE CREATED UNIVERSE BEAK WITNESS THAT NATURE HAS PRODUCED AND DOES PRODUCE NOTHING, BUT THAT THE DIVINE, OUT OF ITSELF AND THROUGH THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, PRO- DUCES ALL THINGS (n. 349). JJart ifttj. TWO RECEPTACLES AND HABITATIONS FO* HIMSELF, CALLED WILL AND UNDERSTANDING, ARE CREATED AND FORMED BY THE LORD IN MAN ; THE WILL FOR His DIVINE LOVE, AND THE UNDERSTANDING FOR His DIVINE WISDOM (n. 358). 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 (n. 362). (i.) Love and wisdom, and will and understanding therefrom, make the very life of man (n. 363). (ii.) The life of man in its first principles it in the brains, and in its derivatives in the body (n. 365). (iii.) Such as life is in its first principles, such it is in the whole and in every part (n. 366). (ir.) By means of first principles life is in the whole from every part, and in every part from the whole (n. 367). (v.) Such as the love is, such is the wisdom, consequently such is the man (n. 368). FHM.E IS A CORRESPONDENCE OF THE WILL WITH THE HEART, AND OF THE UNDERSTANDING WITH THE LUNGS (n. 371). (i.) All things of the mind have relation to the will and understanding, and all things of the body to the heart and lungs (n. 372). (ii.) 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 (n. 374). fiiU The will corresponds to the heart (n. 378). (iv.i The understanding corresponds to the lungs (n. 382). (v.) By means of this correspondence many arcana relating to the will and understanding, as well as to love and wisdom, may be disclosed (n. 385). (vi.) 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 acls in the world (n. 386). (Tii.) 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 (n. 390). F&OM THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE HEART WITH THE WILL AND OK THE LUNGS WITH THE UNDERSTANDING, EVERYTHING MAY BE KNOWN THAI CAN BE KNOWN ABOUT THE WILL AND UNDERSTANDING, OR ABOUT LOVE AND WISDOM, THEREFORE ABOUT THE SOUL OF MAN (n. 394). (I.) Love or the will is man's very life (n. 399). (ii.) Love or the will strives unceasingly toward the human form in all things of that form (n. 400). ' (Hi.) Ltve or the will is unable to effect anything by its human form without a marriage with wisdom or the understanding (n. 401). (Jr.) Lrve or the -will prepares a house or bridal bed for its future wife, which is wisdom or the understanding (n. 402). V1U CONTENTS. (v.) Love or the will prepares all things in its own human form, that it may aft conjointly with wisdom or the understanding (n. 43)- (ri.) After the nuptials, the first conjunction is through an affection for knowing, from which springs an affeftionfor truth (n. 404). (vil.) The second conjunction is through an affection for understanding, from which springs perception of truth (n. 404). (Tiii.) The third conjunction is through an affection for seeing truth, from which springs thought (n. 404). (ix.) Through these three conjunctions love or the will is in its sensitive life and in its active life (n. 406). (x.) Love or the will introduces wisdom or the understanding into all things of its house (n. 408). (xl.) Love or the will does nothing except in conjunction with wisdom or the understanding (n. 409). (xti.) Love or the will conjoins itself to wisdom or the understanding, and causes wisdom or the understanding to be reciprocally conjoined to it (n. 410). (xtii.) Wisdom or the understanding, from the potency given to it by love or the will, can be elevated and can receive such things as art of light out of heaven, and perceive them (n. 413). (zir.) 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 (n. 414). (XT.) Othemoise love or the will draws down wisdom, or the understand- ing, from its elevation, that it may act as one with itself (n. 416). (xvi.) Love or the will is purified in the understanding, if they art elevated together (n. 419). (xrfl.) Love or the will is defiled in the understanding and ty it, if they are not elevated together (n. 421). (xviii.) Love, when purified by wisdom in the understanding, become* spiritual and celestial (n. 422). (xix.) Love, when defiled in the understanding and by it, becomes natural, sensual, and corporeal (n. 424). (xx.) The capacity to understand called rationality, and the capacity U act called freedom still remain (n. 425). (xxi.) 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 (a. 426). (xxii.) It is the same with charity and faith and their conjunction as with the will and understanding and their conjunction (n. 437). WHAT HAN'S BEGINNING is FROM CONCEPTION (n. 432). f LOVE IS THE LIFE OF MAN. I. 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 hus- band 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 intercourse with others, and thus affect- ing him. He is wholly unaware that love is his very life ; not only the common life of his whole body, and the common 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 any- thing, 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 affe<5lion grows warm? But this a man of dis- cernment perceives simply by observing that such is the case, and not from any knowledge that love is the life of man. 2* Also, 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 only feeling and acling, and another that it is only thinking ; when yet the first effecl: of life is thought, and the second effecl: of life is sensation and action. 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 effe6l of life is inmost thought, which 2 ANCF.LIC WISDOM is the perception of ends. But of ibese things 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 vege- tations 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. GOD ALONE, CONSEQUENTLY THE LORD, IS LOVE ITSELF, BECAUSE HE is LIFE ITSELF, AND ANGELS AND MEN ARE RECIPIENTS OF LIFE. 4. This will be fully shown in treatises on Divine Provi- dence and on Life; it is sufficient here to say that the Lord, who is God of the universe, is uncreate and infinite, whereas a man or an angel is created and finite. And because the Lord is uncreate and infinite, He is Esse itself, which is called "Jehovah," and Life itself, or Life in Himself. From the uncreate, the infinite, Esse itself and Life itself, none can be created immediately, because the Divine is one and indivisi- ble ; but their creation must be from things created and finited, and so formed that the Divine can be in them. Since 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 instru- mental cause otherwise than as one with it. That the Lord is Life in Himself, He teaches in John, "As the Father hath life in Himself, so also hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself" (v. 26). He declares also that He is "life itself" (John xi. 25 ; xiv. 6). Now since life and love are one (as is apparent from what has been said above, n. i, 2), it follows that the Lord, because He is Life itself, is Love itself. CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 3-7. J 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 proceed heat and light; the heat which proceeds therefrom being in its essence love, and the light which proceeds therefrom being in its essence wisdom ; and that angels so far as they are recipients of that spiritual heat and of that spiritual light, are loves and wis- doms ; not loves and wisdoms from self, but from the Lord. This spiritual heat and this spiritual light not only flow into angels and affedl them, but they also flow into men and affect them precisely as they become recipients ; they become recipi- ents according to their love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor. This sun itself, or 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 mat- ters so formed as to be capable of receiving the very heat and the very light ; comparatively as the sun of the world cannot by heat and light produce germinations on the earth imme- diately, 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 a recipient of life, it fol- lows 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. To this, as to a nucleus or starting-point in the womb, are successively added substances and matters adapted in form, according to their order and degree, to the reception of life. THE DIVINE is NOT IN SPACE. 7 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 ; for it is formed out of such things as are in the world, and in each and all of these. 4 ANGELIC WISDOM 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. Spi- ritual 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 ol 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 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 ; for they are not fixed and constant, as spaces are on earth. 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 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 which 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, CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 8-1 1. 5 of which subjects this volume treats; and hence little, if any- thing, about Divine Providence, Omnipresence, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Infinity and Eternity, which will be treated of in succession. io 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, that is, of good and truth. From this it is that the Lord, although everywhere in the heavens with the angels, nevertheless appears high above them as a sun. Furthermore, since reception of love and wis- dom causes affinity with Him, those heavens appear nearer to Him in which the angels are, from reception, in closer affinity with 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 accord- ing to their rejection of love and wisdom. The same is true of men, in whom and with whom the Lord is present through- out the whole earth ; and this solely for the reason that the Lord is not in space. GOD is VERY MAN. II. In all the heavens there is no other idea of God than that He is Man, because heaven as a whole and in part is in form like man, and because the Divine which is with the angels constitutes heaven, and because thought proceeds according to the form of heaven ; consequently it is impossible for the angels to think of God in any other way. And 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 fa<5t that God is 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 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 Gen- esis (i. 26, 27), that men were created after the image and fikeness 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 6 ANGELIC WISDOM at length they began to worship a plurality of gods, as at Athens and Rome, they worshipped 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 cloudlike 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 ia.fl 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 to be different 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 nations, and sucessively 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 con- cerning God was communicated to him, and he observed that they had no other idea of God than that He is Man, which is the same as the idea of a Human Divine." 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 esteemed wiser 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 could have filled 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, how- ever, who approach the Lord alone think of a Human Divine, thus of God as 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 communi- cation with the heavens is possible. From this it is that in the spiritual world every nation has its place allotted in accord- ance with its idea of God as Man ; for in this idea, and in no other, is the idea of the Lord. That man's state of life after CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 12-15. 7 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. IN GOD-MAN *SSE AND EXISTERE ARE foNE DISTINCTLY. 14. Where Esse is Existere is ; 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 which does not Exist, 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 ex- cept 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 dis- tinguished 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 exercise thought and wisdom, is an error springing from falla- cies; 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. 15. Esse is not Esse unless it Exists, because before this 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 * 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. t For the meaning of this phrase, "distinfte unum," see below in this paragraph, also n. 17, 22, 34, 223, and Div. Prov., n. 4. t It should be noticed, that in Latin, distinctly is the adverb of the verb distin- guish. If translated distinguishably , this would appear. 8 ANGELIC WISDOM this each is the other's mutually and interchangeably, and each is wholly in all things of the other as it is in itself. 16. From this it can be seen that God is Man, and conse- quently He is God-Existing ; not existing from Himself but in Himself. He who has existence in Himself, He is God from whom all things are. IN GOD-MAN INFINITE THINGS ARE ONE DISTINCTLY. 17. 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, or infinitely all, because of the natural idea of many and of all ; for the natural idea of infinitely many is limited, and of infi- nitely all, though not limited, is derived from limited things in the universe. And because man's ideas are natural, he can- not, by any refinement or approximation, come into a perception of the infinite things in God ; and though an angel is able by refinement and approximation, because he is in spiritual ideas, to rise above the degree of man, still he cannot attain to that perception. 18. That in God there are infinite things, any one may convince himself who believes that God is Man ; for, being 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 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 connections, all of which, taken together, make man to be man. In a created man these parts are many, and regarded in their combinations are numberless ; but in God-Man they are infinite, nothing whatever is lacking, and from this He has infinite perfection. This comparison holds between created man and the uncreated Man who is God, because God is Man ; and He Himself says that the man of this world was created after His image and into His likeness (Gen. i. 26, 27). 19* That in God there are infinite things, is still more evi- dent 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 CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. l6-22. 9 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 On 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 the angels receive ; for in the measure in which an angel receives from the Divine is he a man in a perfected form. 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. 2O From the created universe a like conclusion may be drawn when it is regarded from uses and their correspond- ences. But before this can be understood some preliminary explanations 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 does not know about these things, he is to him- self as 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 seem- ing one, in Very Man who is God, are one distinctly, yea, most distinctly. IO ANGELIC WISDOM THERE is ONE GOD-MAN, FROM WHOM ALL THINGS ARE, 23* All things of human reason join, and as it were cen- tre on 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 join and centre on this, that God is one. There are two reasons for this. First, the very capacity to think rationally, in itself considered, 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 him- self that God is one. Secondly, by means of that capacity man either is in the light of heaven, or he derives the general nature of his thought therefrom ; and it is a universal of the light oi 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 that he gives to these lower parts, he turns it contrariwise, and thereby his reason becomes unsound. 24. Every man, even if unconsciously, thinks of a company 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 sub- jedls are the body, also that this or that person has such a place in the general body, that is, the kingdom. As it is with the body politic, so is it with the body spiritual. The body spi- ritual is the church ; its head is God-Man ; and from this it is plain what sort of a man the church thus viewed would appear to be, if one God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, were not thought of, but instead of one, several. 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 mak- ing the church, viewed as a whole, appear deformed. But in truth, the one God is the head, and the church is the body, which a<5ls under the command of the head, and not from it- self; as is also the case in man ; and from this it is that there CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 23-27. 11 can be only one king in a kingdom, for several kings would rend it asunder, but one is able to hold it together. 25. So would it be with the church scattered throughout the whole globe, which is called a communion, because it is like one body under one head. It is known that the head rules the body under it at will ; for understanding and wil have their seat in the head ; and in conformity to the under- standing 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 a<5l 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 fa<5t, they do not in the slightest degree a6l of themselves, but only from an affedlion of the will and the consequent thought of the under- standing in the head. Suppose, now, one body to have more than one head, and each head to be independent, from its own understanding and its own will, could such a body continue to exist ? For among several heads, singleness of mind 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 plu- rality 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 of such a nature 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 will not perceive that the Divine is not divisible? also that a plurality of Infinites, of Uncreates, of Omnipotents, and of Gods, is impossible? Sup- pose one destitute of reason were to declare that a plurality of Infinites, of Uncreates, of Omnipotents, and of Gods is possi- ble, if only they have one identical essence (for this would make one Infinite, Uncreate, Omnipotent, and God), would not the one identical essence be one identity? And one iden- tity is not possible to several. If it should be said that one is 12 ANGELIC WISDOM from the other, the one which 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). THE DIVINE ESSENCE ITSELF is LOVE AND WISDOM. 28* Sum up all things you know and submit them to care- ful reflection, 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 collective 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 itself, and leads every one from wisdom in itself. The created universe, too, viewed in relation to its order, is so full of wisdom coming forth from love that all things in the aggre- gate 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 very Divine Essence 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, his understanding may be called understanding and his will may be called will, but 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 a<5l 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 love) CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 28-34. 1 3 That in man there is a possibility of loving [and 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 very Divine Essence 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 very Divine Essence 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. Con- sequently spiritual heat is love and spiritual light is wisdom. But of this, also, more hereafter. 33. From the Divine Love and from the Divine Wisdom, that make the very Essence which is God, all affedtions 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 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 affedled by those things which are from God, and thinks from that affedlion, it follows that the Divine Essence, which is the Creator, is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. DIVINE LOVE is OF DIVINE WISDOM, AND DIVINE WISDOM is OF DIVINE LOVE. 34. In God-Man Divine Esse and Divine Existere 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 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 Divine Essf, 14 ANGELIC WISDOM 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 is one. Life is the Divine Essence. Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are a one because the union is reciprocal, and recipro- cal 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 be more of Divine Love than of Divine Wisdom, or more of Divine Wisdom than of Divine Love, in any created work, it can have continued existence only in the measure in which the two are equally in it; whatever is in excess passes 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 Divine Wis- dom, or from more of Divine Wisdom than Divine Love, man cannot be reformed, regenerated and saved. Divine Love wills to save all, but it can 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 applied in the Word to God ; as in David, " Righteousness and judgment are the support of Thy throne " (Ps. Ixxxix, 14); " Jehovah shall bring forth righteousness as the light, and judgment at the noonday " (Ps. xxxvii. 6) ; in Hosea, "I will betroth thee unto Me forever,. . . .in righteousness, and in judg- ment" (ii. 19); in Jeremiah, " I will raise unto David a righteous branch, who shall reign as king and shall execute judgment and righteousuess in the earth " (xxiii 5); CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 35-40. 15 in Isaiah, " He shall sit upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to estab- lish it in judgment and in righteousness " (ix. 7) ; "Jehovah shall be exalted, because He hath filled the earth with judgment and righteousness " (xxxiii. 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 o! thy righteousness " (Ps. cxix. 7, 164). The same is meant by "life" and "light" in John, " In Him was life, and the life was the light of men " (i. 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" i "Jesus said, The words which I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life " (vi. 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 which does not make one with its love appears to be wisdom, but it is not; and the love which 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 in the measure in which he acts according to his understanding. Any apparent wis- dom, 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 so far an image of God. DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM ARE SUBSTANCE AND ARE FORM. 40. The idea of men in general about love and about wis- dom is like something hovering and floating in thin air or ether ; l6 ANGELIC WISDOM 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 recognise that they are substance and form still think of the love and the wisdom outside the sub- ject and as issuing from it. For they call substance and form that which they think of 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 explo- ration of causes ; and if the cause lies deeply hidden, the Jmind 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 which 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 shown. 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 sub- ject ; 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 CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 41-43. 17 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 all 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. The same is the case 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. 18 ANGELIC WISDOM DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM ARE SUBSTANCE AND FORM IN ITSELF, THUS THE VERY AND THE ONLY. 44* That Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are substance and form has been proved just above ; and that Divine Esse and Existere 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 it 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 cer- tainly 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 sub- stance and form is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, it follows that it is the very and only Love, and the very and only Wis- dom ; 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. CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 45-49. 19 DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM MUST NECESSARILY BB AND HAVE EXISTENCE IN OTHERS CREATED BY IT- SELF. 47. 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 op- posed 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 char- acter of love cannot see this? For what is it to love sell 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 be and exist 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, it would be the Very in them, and would be the Very love of self, of which not the least trace ca aO ANGELIC WISDOM possibly be in God ; for this is wholly opposed to the Divine Essence. Consequently, for this relation to be possible there must needs 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. 34-39). 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 oi God in the created universe ; of which the following pages treat. 5T 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. ALL THINGS IN THE UNIVERSE WERE CREATED FROM THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE DIVINE WISDOM OF GOD-MAN. 52. 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 correspond- ence of all things of the universe with all things of man. There is such correspondence of each and every thing that has existence in the created universe with each and every thing of man, that man may be said to be a 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 which have existence in the natural world in its three kingdoms, and they are correspondences of affec- CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 50-55. 21 tions and thoughts, that is, of affe<5Hons from the will and ol thoughts from the understanding, also of the outmost things oi the life, of those 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 existence. 53. Of things created and finite csse and existere 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 any- thing Divine, but because they are in the Divine, and the Divine is in them. For everything created is, in itself, inani- mate 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. ALL THINGS IN THE CREATED UNIVERSE ARE RECIPIENTS OF THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE DIVINE WISDOM OF GOD- MAN. 55. It is well known that each and all things of the uni- verse are 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, in its aggregate, was created out of nothing, and of that 22 ANGELIC WISDOM 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 roust be whatever is. To create what is, from nothing which 6 not, is a direct contradiction. But still, that which is created n God from God is not continuous from Him ; for God is Esse in itself, and in created things there is not any Esse in tsdf. If there were in created things any Esse in itself, this vould 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 derived out of his life, but from which the life is 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 that it may 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 accordant, and is an analogue, and through such conjunction it becomes like an image of God in a mirror. 57* From this it is that angels are angels, not from them- selves, but by virtue of this conjunction with God-Man ; and this conjunction is according to their 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 be 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. CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 56-60. 23 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 be- low 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 ac- cording to their uses; for no good use has any other source than through a like conjunction with God, but yet different according to degrees. This conjunction in its descent becomes gradually of such a nature that nothing of freedom is left in them, 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, be- cause they behold therein the wonderful works of God, and because 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 marvellous power which is in every seed, of producing its own vegetable form in perfect 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 fructirv infinitely and 24 ANGELIC WISDOM eternally? Is not this evident also in every living creature, even the smallest? from its having the organs of the senses, also brains, a heart, lungs, and other parts ; with arteries, veins, fibres, 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 it is said of man, That he was created out of the ground, and that he is the dust of the earth, and that the soul of lives was breathed into him (Genesit ii. 7). From which it is plain that the Divine is not man's own, but is adjoined to him. ALL CREATED THINGS HAVE RELATION IN AN IMAGE TO MAN. 6x* 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 king- dom 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 com- mon with man. They have appetites and affections similar to man's natural appetites and affections ; they also 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 what is 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 in respeEl to each and every thing of the. mineral kingdom is seen only in an endeavor to produce forms CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 61-65. 25 do exhibit such a relation (which forms, as said above, are cch 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 herseli provides it with nourishment from every source, that it may shoct 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 sea, and from flowers in mines, where they originate from minerals, also from metals. This endeavor towards vegetating, and to perform 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 to- wards 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 each and every thing 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 under- standing is opened he recognizes himself in them, and sees hia image in them, hardly otherwise than as in a mirror. 64-* From these and from many other concurring facls which there is no time to adduce now, it may be known with certainty that God is Man, and that the created universe ia 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. 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. 65. Outmost 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 mould. In these lie concealed both the end and t6 ANGELIC WISDOM 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 adling force from that endeavor. These pertain to the mineral kingdom. Middle things are each and all things of the vege- table 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 imperfecl and perfect. These they nourish, delight, and vivify ; nourishing their bodies with the'/ own substances, delighting their 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 out- most 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 perfecl are recip- ients of the life of 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 can- not ; he can think analytically and rationally of the civil and moral things which are within nature, also of the spiritual and celestial things which are above nature, yea, he can be so ele- vated 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 ; consequently that the forms of uses are so likewise. 67. It shall also be stated briefly how man ascends, that is, is elevated, from the outmost degree to the first. He is born into the outmost 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 ele- CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 66-69. *7 vated 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 opened 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 and of the outmost heaven in whom the second and the outmost 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 some- thing thereof come into the first or outmost spiritual degree, those who receive more into the second or middle spiritual de- gree, 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 speak, and to will and thence act, but this not with true 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 ; reac- tion 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 from reaction together, and in equilibrium everything must be. These things have been said lest man should believe that he himself ascends to God from himself, and not from the Lord. THE DIVINE, APART FROM SPACE, FILLS ALL SPACES OF THE UNIVERSE. 69. 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 man remains 28 ANGELIC WISDOM in these ideas, and does not raise his mind above them, he can in no way perceive things spiritual and Divine, for these he involves in ideas derived 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 which appear only in the light of day. From this comes Naturalism. But he who knows how to raise his mind above ideas of thought derived 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 things which are proper to 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 which 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 the objects of their thought are truths, and the 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 these. The reason is, that spaces and times there are not constant, as in the natural world, but are subject to change 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 there are such things as have reference to states of love, and instead of times there are 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 the angels derive nothing from space and time, but everything from states CONCERNING DIVIN-E LOVE. N. 70-72. 29 of life, when it is said that the Divine fills spaces the 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 can clearly comprehend it. 7* 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 objecls of sight, in all of which there is figure partaking of length, breadth, and height, and of shape deter- mined by these, either angular or circular. These [concep- tions] are manifestly present in the ideas of his thought concern- ing 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 partaking to some extent of length, breadth and height of space, but is altogether from the state of a thing according to 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 cor- respondence 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 with- out 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 light, abides, not knowing that so far as he denies these things, he is irrational. That this is so, may be con- 5O ANGELIC WISDOM firmed by the idea entertained of this truth, that GOD IS MAN. Read with attention, I pray you, what has been said above (n. 11-13) and what follows after, and your understand- ing will accept it. But when you let your thought down into the natural lumen which derives from space, will not these things appear like paradoxes? and if you let it down far, will you not rejeft 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 natu- ral 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 omni- present, and hears and knows all things. (On this subjeft, more may be seen above, n. 7-10.) THE DIVINE is IN ALL TIME, APART FROM TIME. 73 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. Time 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 which 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 dis- tinction 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 's evident that time in the spiritual world is nothing but quality CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE.-^N. 73-76. $1 of state. It is from this that in the Word, "hours," "days," "weeks," "months," and "years," signify states and progres- sions 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 fulness, by "evening" its de- cline, 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 adlually shortened or are lengthened in accord- ance 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 affedlion in man, as in sleep, the lapse of time is not noticed. 75 Now, 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; from which it may be seen that in God they are not progressive because He is In- finite, 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. 7<> He who has no knowledge of, and is unable from any perception to think of, God apart from time, is 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 be- ginning, and beginning has exclusive reference to time. His bewilderment arises from the idea that it is from Himself that God had existence, from which he rushes headlong into the 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 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 ANGELIC WISDOM is very life, which is the Divine Love of Divine Wisdom and the Divine Wisdom of Divine Love. For the angels this \s the Eternal, an Eternal as removed from time as the Un- created is from the created, or the Infinite from the finite, between which, in fadl, there is no ratio. THE DIVINE IN THINGS GREATEST AND LEAST is THE SAME. 77 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 space and time, that is, everything which belongs to nature, but is unvarying and un- changeable, consequently the same everywhere and always. 78. It seems as if the Divine were not the same in one oerson 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 varies with angels of heaven and men on the earth, because the angels of heaven are in wisdom ineffable, while men are not ; but the seeming variation is not in the Lord but in the subjects, accord- ing to the quality of their reception of the Divine. 7Q That the Divine is the same in things greatest and least, may be shown by means of heaven and by means of an angel. 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 said that it may appear like a man as large as a CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 77~82. 33 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 which 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 per- ceive that the Divine, in the greatest and in the least things of space, is the same ; for in essence abstracted from space neither great nor small is possible, but only the same. 82* Something shall now be said about vacuum. I once heard the angels talking with Newton about vacuum, and say- ing that they could not tolerate the idea of a vacuum as being nothing, for the reason that their world is spiritual, and is within or above the spaces and times of the natural world, yet there, as well as in the natural world, they can feel, think, are affecled, 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 knew that the Divine, which is Being itself, fills all things, and that to him the idea of no thing as applied to vacuum is horrible, because that idea is destructive of all things. 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. 34 ANGELIC WISDOM DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM APPEAR IN THE SPIRIT- UAL WORLD AS A SUN. 83. There are two worlds, the spiritual and the natural. The spiritual world derives nothing whatever 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, even to have conjunction by means of corre- spondences. 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, just 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 ot charity, and spiritual light is the truth of faith. Now since heat and light can originate only in a sun, it may be evident that the spiritual world has a different sun from the natural world ; CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 83-87. 35 and further, that the sun of the spiritual world in its essence is such that it can give forth spiritual heat and light, whereas the sun of the natural world in its essence is such that it can give forth natural heat 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 of wisdom ; that they have no other origin any dis- cerning 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 had so far passed over into his natural, that he did not know what the spiritual is, and thus did not know that there could be 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 on Heaven and Hell, in one chapter 01 which the sun of the spiritual world has been treated of. That sun has been seen by me ; it appeared of the same size as the sun of the natural world ; it also appeared fiery like it, but more golden. 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 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 can- not 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 which thinks and is wise, and that wills and loves ; it is their external that feels, sees, speaks and acts. All their externals are corre- 36 ANGELIC WISDOM spondences 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" signi- fied 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 any- thing 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 ; it cannot be effected by continuity. OUT OF THE SUN THAT HAS EXISTENCE FROM DlVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM, HEAT AND LIGHT GO FORTH. 89. In the spiritual world where angels and spirits are there are heat and light, just as in the natural world where men are ; moreover the heat is felt in like manner as heat, and the light is seen as light. Still the heat and light of the spiritual and natural worlds 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 which is pure love, while the heat and light of the natural world go forth from a sun which is pure fire ; and love is alive, 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. Il an angel were to derive the least particle from natural heat and light he would perish ; for it is totally discordant with his life. CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 88-92. 37 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 ie 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. 9X. 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 how much ignorance there is in the thoughts of those 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 out of it. But, in truth, angels and spirits are en- tirely above or out of nature, and 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 fa6l, they are present with man, conjoined to the affection and thought of his spirit ; for man, in that he thinks and wills, is a spirit ; consequently the spiritual world is where 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. 38 ANGELIC WISDOM THE SUN OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD IS NOT GOD, IT IS A PROCEEDING FROM THE DlVINE LOVE AND DlVINE WISDOM OF GOD-MAN ; so ALSO ARE THE HEAT AND LIGHT FROM THAT SUN. 93. 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 fulness of spiritual heat. The fulness of spiritual heat is spiritual fire, which is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom in their first cor- respondence. 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 spirit- ual 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 contributes power that serves 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 paint- ings 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 has existence not in love itself, but from love in the will, and thence in the body; and light has existence 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 objedls in light, and they who think spiritually see truths, and this at midnight CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE N. 93~99- 39 just as well as in the daytime. For this reason light is predi- cated 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 Man. The first proceeding from His Love and Wisdom is that fire-like 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 out of it. 98* It is from this correspondence that in the Word 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. SPIRITUAL HEAT AND LIGHT, BY THEIR PROCEEDING FROM THE LORD AS A SUN, MAKE ONE, JUST AS HlS DlVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM MAKE ONE. 99. 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 virtu of their correspond- ence ; heat corresponding to love, and light to wisdom. From this it follows that as Divine Love is Divine Esse, and Divine Wisdom is Divine Existere (as shown above, n. 14-16), so spiritual heat is the 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. 34-39), so spiritual heat is of spiritual light, and spiritual light is ol 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 arc not received as one by angels and men. 4O ANGELIC WISDOM TOO* The heat and light which proceed from the Lord as a sun are what are especially 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 a Spirit, and God as a Spirit is the spiritual going forth. God, by virtue of His own very Essence, is called Jehovah ; but by means of this Proceeding, He vivifies and enlightens the angels of heaven and the men oi 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 which 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 give the appearance that heat and light do not make one. For in the middle of summer there is more of heat than ol 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 celes- tial angels receive more from heat, and the spiritual angels more from light. Moreover, the lands they inhabit vaiy :'n 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 perfect. 102. In what follows it will be seen, also, that all spiritual things which have originated through the heat and light ol their sun, make one in like manner when regarded in them- selves, but when regarded as proceeding from the affections ol 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 CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. IOO-IO4 4! 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 win- ter in the torrid zone. Thus reception of love and wisdom ir> like 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. 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. 103* Most people carry with them out of the world an idea of God, as being above the head, on high, and an idea oi the Lord, as being in heaven among the angels. The idea of God as being above the head, on high, is held, 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. The idea of the Lord as being in heaven among the angels, is held 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. If He were among the angels in heaven, He 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 con- stantly at that altitude and at that distance, and does not move at all. Hence it is that angels have no times divided into days and years, nor any progression of the day from morning, through mid-day to evening and into night ; nor any progres- sion of the year from spring, through summer to autumn, into winter ; but there is perpetual light and perpetual spring ; con- 42 ANGELIC WISDOM sequently, with the angels, as was said above, in place of times there are states. 105* The sun of the spiritual world appears in a middle altitude chiefly for the following reasons : First, the heat and light which proceed from that sun are thus at their medium in- tensity, consequently are equally proportioned and thus properly attempered. For if the sun were to appear above the mid- dle 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 degrees 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 spring-time 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 appeared overhead in the zenith. 106. If the sun of the spiritual world did not appear far oflf 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 lend 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 whc are in the natural world. Unless this is known, nothing car/ be properly understood about creation or man, which are the sub- jects 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. CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 105-! IO. 43 THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE SUN AND THE ANGELS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD IS AN APPEARANCE ACCORDING TO RECEPTION BY THEM OF DlVINE LOVE AND DlVINE WISDOM. To8. All fallacies which prevail with the evil and the sim pie 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 falla- cies. 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 one may think and speak : for he may say that the sun rises and sets and thereby causes morn- ing, mid-day, evening, and night; also that the sun is now in such or such a degree of the ecliptic or of its altitude, and by this movement 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. no. 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 the angels in a degree of heat 44 ANGELIC WISDOM and light corresponding to their love and wisdom. The follow- ing may serve for illustration. An angel of the outmost heaven cannot ascend to the angels of the third heaven ; for if he does, 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 wisdo'm, and in the same degree as his love and wisdom are the heat of his love and the light of his wisdom. What, then, would be the result if an angel were to ascend even to 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 outmost 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 natural ideas, because in such there is space ; but by spiritual ideas, such as the angels have, it can be comprehended, because in such there is no space. But even by natural ideas 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 (xxviii. 20), and that He makes His abode with those who love Him, in John (xiv. 23). 112. As this has been proved by means of the heavens and the angels, it may seem a matter of superior 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 under not only that sun, but also 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. CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 1 1 1-115. 45 A.NGELS ARE IN THE LORD, AND THE LORD IN THEM ; AND BECAUSE ANGELS ARE RECIPIENTS, THE LORD ALONE IS HEAVEN. 113. Heaven is called "the dwelling-place of God," also "the throne of God," and from this it is believed that God is there as a king in his kingdom. But God (that is, the Lord) is in the snn 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 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 angels constitute heaven, He is in the whole heaven. 114. The Lord not only is in heaven, but is heaven itself; for love and wisdom are what make the angel, and these two with angels are the Lord's ; from which it follows that the Lord is heaven. For angels are not angels from what is their own, for what is their own is altogether like what is man's own, which is evil. An angel's selfhood is such because all angels were once men, and this selfhood clings to the angels from their birth. It is only put aside, and so far as it is put aside the angels re- ceive 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 itself 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. H5* But how the Lord is in an angel and an angel in the Lord cannot be comprehended, unless the nature of the con- junction 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 feeling than that he 46 ANGELIC WISDOM is in lo /e and wisdom from himself, consequently as if love and wisdom were his, or his own. Unless he so felt there would be no conjundlion, 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, without the one in whom the Lord is, with love and wisdom, having a feeling and sense as if they were his own. 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 feeling 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 angel, nor would man be 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 nowise explained how it comes that an angel perceives and feels as his own, 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 own, 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 with 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 very 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 con- junction is possible. But 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 own, 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 him- self, 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 CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. IIO-IIQ. 47 of conjunction with the Lord, the angel has the ability to re- ciprocate, but that this ability, in itself considered, is not his but the Lord's. From this it is, that if he abuses this ability to reciprocate, by which he perceives and feels as his own what is the Lord's, which is done by appropriating it to hurl- s' ''' he falls from the angelic state. That conjunction is reci- ptL/cal, the Lord Himself teaches (John xiv. 20-24; xv. 4-6); 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 xv. 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 on his own account, 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 great- est 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 a6l as one through conjunction ; in fa6l, a man of the Church is an angel, in respe6l to the interiors which are of his mind. By a man of the Church is meant a man in whom the Church is. IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD THE EAST IS WHERE THE LORD APPEARS AS A SUN, AND FROM THAT THE OTHER QUAR- TERS ARE DETERMINED. 119* 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 these 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 effecls alone are considered no cause is brought to light ; but causes reveal 48 ANGELIC WISDOM 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 after- wards the natural world, where all things that appear are effeds. 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, deter- mined 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 CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 1 20-125. 49 light; and by the "north" wisdom in shade; or similar things relatively to the state of those who are treated o 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 cor- responding 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 represent- ative 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. THE QUARTERS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD ARE NOT FROM THB LORD AS A SUN, BUT FROM THE ANGELS ACCORDING TO RECEPTION. 124.. 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, but it is really 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, with variety as regards the quarters. From this it follows that quarters in the spiritual world are nothing else than various receptio.ir o f 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. 108-1 1 2), that in the spiritual world distances are appearances. 125. As the quarters are various receptions of love and 5O ANGELIC WISDOM wisdom by the 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 the 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 indirectly to the right, and those who are less in wisdom indirectly to the left ; therefore the former are in the south, and the latter in the north. The view of these is indirect 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, 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 in different 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 quar- ter 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 angel or 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 ; CONCERNrNG DIVINE LOVE. N. 126-130. 51 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 which is from good. Angel and man have these pairs in order that love and wisdom, or good and truth, may adl 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 con- sequent falsity those are, who suppose that the Lord bestows heaven arbitrarily, or arbitrarily allows 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 the diversity is not from the Lord but from the recipients. 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 also to be understood of man, as regards his spirit. For man in respecT: to his mind is a spirit, and if 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 have existence 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 52 ANGELIC WISDOM 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 other- wise than look towards the east where the Lord appears as a sun ; from which it is evident that angels do not turn them- selves to the Lord, but the Lord turns them to Himself. For when angels think interiorly of the Lord, they only think oi Him 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 spirit- ual world, it is still in the 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 with- out himself; within himself when he thinks from love and wis- dom, 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 doc- trine 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 contained 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, thereby seeing the various things which surround 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 to 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 what- ever 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 the south is to their right ; the north, to the left ; and the west, behind them ; and this, too, at every turn of the body. For, as said before, all quarters in the spiritual world are determined CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 131-135. 53 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 quar- ters are not from the Lord as a sun, but from the angels accord- ing to reception. 133. Now since heaven is made up of angels, and angels are of such a nature, it follows that all heaven turns itseli 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 on 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 any 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 which have existence in the natural world are effects, and all things which have existence in the spiritual world are the causes of these effects. There does not exist a natural that does not derive its cause from a spiritual. ALL INTERIOR THINGS OF THE ANGELS, BOTH OF MIND AND BODY, ARE TURNED TO THE LORD AS A SUN. 135. Angels have understanding and will, and they have a face and body. They have also the interior things of the under- standing 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 54 ANGELIC WISDOM 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, on either side, a<5t as one, because they mutually correspond. It is from this that the mind (that is, the will and understanding) rules the body at its beck, thus as entirely as it rules its own self. From all this it follows that the interiors of the mind adl as 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 par- ticulars by which it exists. From this it is evident that as an angel turns his face and body to the Lord as a sun, all the in- teriors 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 adual turning, a kind of elevation ; for there is an uplifting into the heat and light ol heaven, which is done by the interiors' becoming opened ; and when these are opened, love and wisdom flow into the interiors of the mind, and the heat and light of heaven into the interiors oi the body. From this comes elevation, like a rising out of cloud into clear air, or out of air into ether. Moreover, love and wis- dom, with their heat and light, are the Lord with man ; and He, as was said before, turns man to Himself. It is the reverse CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 136-141. 55 with those who are not in love and wisdom, especially with those who are opposed to love and wisdom. Their interiors, both of mind and body, are closed ; and when closed, the exteriors re-a<5l against the Lord, for such is their inherent nature. Conse- quently, 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 an esse without its existere, since love has its existence in wisdom ; and wisdom without love is like an exis- tere without its esse, since wisdom has its existence from love. Love is indeed possible without wisdom ; but such love is man's, and not the Lord's. Wisdom also 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. EVERY SPIRIT, WHATEVER HIS QUALITY, TURNS IN LIKB MANNER TO HIS RULING LOVE. 140. 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 respecl to the inte- riors of their minds, are in like manner between heaven and hell, and through these spirits, 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 turn- ing of angels and spirits to their own loves by reason of these 56 ANGELIC WISDOM loves, something shall be said about loves. The whole heaven is divided into societies according to all the differences 01 loves ; in like manner hell, and in like manner the world of spirits. But heaven is divided into societies according to the differences oi 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 head of all the rest, that is, to which all other loves stand related ; 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 oppo- site 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 uses. 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 mem- bers, 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 there- fore look with eyes to the west in 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 CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 142-146. 57 they despise the light of wisdom. They may turn in every direction, 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. DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM PROCEEDING FROM THE LORD AS A SUN AND PRODUCING HEAT AND LIGHT IN HEAVEN, ARE THE PROCEEDING DlVINE, WHICH IS THE HOLY SPIRIT. 146. In The DocJrine 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 Pro- ceeding Divine, the Holy Spirit. The Divine is called "Proceed- ing, ' ' but the reason for its being so called is not known. It is not known, because until now it has been unknown that the Lord appears before the angels as a sun, from which sun pro- ceeds heat which in its essence is Divine Love, together with light which in its essence is Divine Wisdom. So long as these things were unknown, it could not be known that the Pro- ceeding Divine is not a Divine by itself; consequently the Atha- nasian 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 58 ANGELIC WISDOM 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, for instance, it is simply communi- cating those things which are the Father's and the Son's, or simply enlightening and teaching. Yet since it has been known that God is one, and is omnipresent, it is not in accord with enlightened reason to recognize the Proceeding Divine as a Divine by itself, 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 therefore omnipresent ; also that the Divine is the same everywhere, but that its apparent variety is in angels and men from difference of reception. Now since the Proceed- ing 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 oi clouds, it can be seen that as the interiors pertaining to the understanding of man or angel, are veiled by such clouds, so 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. 14.8* 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 affe<5ted by these, and from affection think from them and about them, are said to glow with love to God ; 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 understand- ing 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 whatsoevei he shall have heard, that shall he speak " (John xvi. 13). . CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 147-152. 59 ." He shall glorify Me ; for he shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you" (John xvi. 14, 15). That He will be with the disciples and in them (John [xiv. 17 ;] xv. 26). Jesus said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life " (John vi. 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 mediums. 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, like 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 mediums, because the man when he is enlightened is placed in the midst of angels and spirits who, more than others, receive enlightenment from the Lord alone. THE LORD CREATED THE UNIVERSE AND ALL THINGS THERE OF BY MEANS OF THE SUN WHICH IS THE FIRST PRO CEEDING OF DlVINE LOVE AND DlVINE WlSDOM. 151. By "the Lord" is meant God from eternity, that if, 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 Di- vine 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 by causes, and afterwards from 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 determined that they should be, and to hold under its view is to determine perpetually ; there- fore it is said that subsistence is perpetual existence. If, more- 60 ANGELIC WISDOM over, 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 ren- dered active in power by the sun, hold all things in connection. Since, then, the perpetual existence of the universe, and ol 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 ol the sun ; for the sun also was created by the Lord. 153. There are two suns through which all things have been 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, not through the sun ol 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 wt;re created bi 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 uni- verse, these three exist in the following order ; in the sun, which is the first proceeding of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, i? 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 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 thereof were created by the Lord through the sun, wherein is the end of all things. I55* Creation itself cannot be brought within man's com- prehension unless space and time are removed from thought ; but if these are removed, it can be comprehended. Removing these if you can, or ^s 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 CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 153-157. 6l 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 are presented as in an image, in the created universe. From this it is that no one thing can anywhere be precisely like another. From this comes that variety of all things which is presented to sight, in the natural world together with space, but in the spirit- ual world with appearance of space ; and it is a variety both oi generals and of particulars. These are the things which have been pointed out in Part I., 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 Di- vine apart from space fills all spaces (n. 69-72) ; that the Divine is the same in things greatest and least (n. 77-82). 156. The creation of the universe, and of all things thereof, cannot be said to have been wrought from space to space, or from time to time, thus progressively or 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 ivhen it is said that infinity of space is not possible, this is corn- firmed by every one from reason. It is the same with eternity, for this is infinity of time. If you say "to eternity," it is com- prehensible from time ; but ' ' from eternity ' ' is not comprehen- sible, unless time is removed. THE SUN OF THE NATURAL WORLD IS PURE FIRE, CONSE- QUENTLY DEAD ; NATURE ALSO IS DEAD, BECAUSE IT DERIVES ITS ORIGIN FROM THAT SUN. 157* Creation itself cannot be ascribed in the least to the sun of the natural world, but must be wholly ascribed to the sun 62 ANGELIC WISDOM of the spiritual world ; because the sun ot the natural worid 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 collapse. 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 heat, 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 soils 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 CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 158-163. 63 spacial 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 con- stantly 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 corre- sponding 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 foolishness of those who ascribe all things to nature can be seen. Those who have confirmed themselves in favor of nature have brought themselves to such a state that they are no longer willing to raise the mind above nature; consequently their minds are shut above and opened below. Man thus becomes natural-sensual, that is, spiritually dead ; and because he then thinks only from such things as he has imbibed from his bodily senses, that is, 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 ever taken away. These two capacities devils have, the same as angels ; but devils devote them to insane thinking and evil doing, but angels to becoming wise and doing good. WITHOUT A DOUBLE SUN, ONE LIVING AND THE OTHER DEAD, NO CREATION IS POSSIBLE. 163* The universe in general is divided into two worlds, the spiritual and the natural. In the spiritual world are angels 64 ANGELIC WISDOM and spirits, in the natural world men. In external appearance these two worlds are entirely alike, so alike that they cannot be distinguished ; but internally 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 oi 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 neces- sary 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 is 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, [n this and in no other way is creation founded. The terra- queous globe, in which, upon which, and about which, such 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. r66. That every thing was 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 submis- sion to itself and forms it for uses, which are its ends ; but the reverse never occurs. Only a person bereft of reason and who is ignorant of what life is. can think that all things are from nature, that life even comes from nature. Nature cannot dis- pense 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 oi CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 164-168. 65 changed by external accidents, but it cannot acl upon life; on the contrary life acls 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. THE END OF CREATION HAS EXISTENCE IN OUTMOSTS, WHICH END IS THAT ALL THINGS MAY RETURN TO THE CRE- ATOR AND THAT THERE MAY BE CONJUNCTION. 167. In the first place, something shall be said about ends. There are three things which follow in order, called first end, middle end, and last end ; they are also called end, cause, and effecl. 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 effecl; is impossible. Equally impossible is a cause alone without an end from which and an effecl; in which it is, or an effecl: alone, that is, an effecl without its cause and end. That this is so may be compre- hended if it be observed that an end without an effecl;, that is, separated from an effecl, is a thing destitute of existence, and therefore a mere term. For in order that an end may aclually be an end it must be terminated, and it is terminated in its effecl, wherein it is first called, because it is first, an end. It ippears as if the agent or the efficient exists by itself; but this so appears from its being in the effecl ; but if it is separated from the effecl; it instantly vanishes. From all this it is evident that these three, end, cause, and effecl, must be in every thing to make it anything. 168. It must be known further, that the end is everything in the cause, and everything in the effecl ; from this it is that end, cause, and effecl, 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 must be ; and that the end may be everything in the effecl, there must be something from the end through the cause, in the effecl, wherein the end must be. The end cannot be in itself alone, but must be in something having existence from it, in which it can dwell as to all that is its own, and by acling, come into effecl:, until it has permanent existence. That in which it has permanent existence is the last end, whicl. is called effecl. 66 ANGELIC WISDOM 169* These three, namely, end, cause, and effect, are io 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 infinite things are one distinctly (as was shown above, n. 17-22), there- fore also these three in Him, and in His infinites, are one dis- tinctly. 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 all its parts, both general and par- ticular. 170* The universal end, that is, the end of all things oi creation, is that there may be an eternal conjunction oi 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 oi themselves, and conjoin themselves with Him. Without this ability to reciprocate no conjunction is possible. These sub- jects 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 oi 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 end, cause, and effect, because these three are in the Lord the Creator (as was said just above) ; also the Divine apart from space is in all space (n. 69-72) ; and is the same in things greatest and least (n. 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 oi *ises are continually raised by the Lord the Creator, in their order up to man, who as to his body is also from it. There- after, 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 CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 169-172. 6"J can be seen, though as yet only in a general manner, that the end of creation has existence 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 everything 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 a kind of exhalation, such as gives power to produce, and therefore to effect something. 68 ANGELIC WISDOM IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD THERE ARE ATMOSPHERES, WATERS AND EARTHS, JUST AS IN THE NATURAL WORLD ; ONLY THE FORMER ARE SPIRITUAL, WHILE THE LATTER ARE NATURAL. 173* It has been said in the preceding pages, and shown m the work on 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 earths, which are the generals through and from which each and all things have their existence 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, except that they are spiritual in the spiritual world, and natural in the natural world. The former are spiritual, because they have their existence from the sun which is the first proceed- ing 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 at- mospheres are divided substances, that is, minute forms, origin- ating 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 sub- stances or minute forms originating from the sun of the natural world ; these also singly receive the sun and store up its fire in CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 173-177. 69 themselves, and temper it, and carry it down as heat to earth, where men dwell. The same is true of natural light. 175* The difference between spiritual and natural atmo- spheres is that spiritual atmospheres are receptacles of Divine fire and Divine light, thus of love and wisdom, for they enclose 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. This 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 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 oi 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 to- gether in connection, form, and order by means of atmospheres, it follows that these atmospheres are spiritual ; they are spirit- ual, because they arise from the spiritual sun which is the first proceeding of the Lord's Divine Love and 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 on 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 serv- ing as mediums, just as 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. 70 ANGELIC WISDOM 178. Atmospheres, waters, and lands are here mentioned, because these three are the generals, through and from which each and all things have their existence in infinite variety. The atmospheres are the adlive 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 the life which proceeds from the Lord as a sun, and which makes them active. THERE ARE DEGREES OF LOVE AND WISDOM, CONSEQUENTLY DEGREES OF HEAT AND LIGHT, ALSO DEGREES OF ATMO- SPHERES. I79* The things which are to follow cannot be compre- hended 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 fad 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 distin- guish 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 any- thing 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 to appear as a man. x8o. That there must be degrees of love and wisdom is still more evident when the love and wisdom of angels are CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 178-182. Jl compared with the love and wisdom of men. It is 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 incompiehensible because it is of a higher degree. 181. As there are degrees of love and wisdom, so there are 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 the same heat of love and light of wisdom that the angels do. 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 heat, and wisdom in 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 through a certain enjoyment of love, and spiritual light is not seen except through 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 ex- perience 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 corre- sponds, does not come thus under ideas of thought ; but degrees of spiritual light can be described, because light pertains to thought, and therefore falls into 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 the 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 with angels of the lower heavens, the light can be described in a measure by comparisons, although it still exceeds the most intense light of our world 72 ANGELIC WISDOM The light of angels of the higher heavens is indescribable, be- cause 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 degree, it follows that there must be like degrees of heat. 183* Since atmospheres are the receptacles and con- tainants of heat and light, it follows that there are as many degrees of atmospheres as theie 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. More- over, spirits below the heavens appear in a kind of cloud. That there are several atmospheres, and that they are dis- tinct from each other by means of degrees, may be seen above (n. 176). DEGREES ARE OF A TWOFOLD KIND, DEGREES OF HEIGHT AND DEGREES OF BREADTH. 184* 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 per- fectly simple, as though 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 know- ledge of degrees. For things exterior advance to things interior, and through these to things inmost by means of degrees ; not by continuous but discrete degrees. "Continuous degrees" is a term applied to the gradual lessenings or decreasings from grosser to finer, or from denser to rarer ; or better, perhaps, to growths and increasings from finer to grosser, or from rarer to denser ; precisely like the gradations of light to shade, of of CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 183-185. 73 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; yet taken together they make one. The atmospheres, which are called ethers and airs, from highest to lowest, that is, from the sun to the earth, 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, 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 contin- uously, and these degrees are what are meant by "degrees of breadth." 185* Each and all things which have existence in the spiritual world and in the natural world, have conjoint existence from discrete degrees and at the same time continuous degrees, that is, from degrees of height and from degrees of breadth. That dimension which consists of discrete degrees is called height, and that which consists of continuous degrees is called breadth ; their position relatively to the sight of the eye not altering 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 corre- spondence. Nor, indeed, can anything be known of any differ- ence between the life of men and that of beasts, or between the more perfect and the less perfect animals ; neither of the differ- ences 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 cannot by any judg- ment see causes ; they see only effects, and from these judge of causes, which is done for the most part by an induction which is continuous with effects. But causes produce effects not con- tinuously but discretely ; for cause is one thing, and effect is 74 ANGELIC WISDOM another. The difference between the two is like the difference Detween antecedent and consequent, 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 con- tinuous degrees, the angelic heavens may serve as an example. There arc 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 pro- ceeds 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 midst, that is, the centre, are in the light of wisdom ; but those who are around about, even to the bound- aries, 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. Con- sequently one may be in the lowest degree, then in a higher, and even 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 it is opened as he receives wisdom from the Lord. There are also in a man, as in heaven, con- tinuous 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 ol his mind is a heaven in least form may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 51-58). 187* From these few considerations 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 from 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 has been created. For if any one 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 any- CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 186-189. 75 thing 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 in the whole of 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 dark- ness 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 falla- cies men search out, by means of reasonings from falsities and from truths falsified, such things as cannot be overturned, owing to the darkness in respect to causes and the ignorance respect- ing truths. The angels lament especially over confirmations respecting faith separate from charity and justification thereby ; they also grieve over men's ideas about God, angels and spirits, and their ignorance of what love and wisdom are. DEGREES OF HEIGHT ARE HOMOGENEOUS, AND ONE is FROM THE OTHER IN SUCCESSION LIKE END, CAUSE AND EFFECT. 189* 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 gross to fine, and so forth ; and as these degrees are known from sensual and ocular ex- perience, while degrees of height, or discrete degrees, are noi, the latter kind shall be treated of especially in this Part ; for with- out a knowledge of these degrees, causes cannot be perceived. 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 existence ; also about these many other things are known ; and yet to know these things, and not to see them in their 76 ANGELIC WISDOM 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. Although there- fore end, cause, and effect advance according to discrete de- grees, 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 exist in the world, they become like what is seen with the eyes on earth, and is fixed in the memory. 190* All things which have existence in the world, ot which threefold dimension is predicated, that is, which are called compounds, are composed of degrees of height, that is, discrete degrees ; as examples will make clear. It is known from ocu- lar experience, that every muscle in the human body consists of exceedingly minute fibres, and these put together into little bundles form larger fibres, called motor fibres, and groups of these form the compound called a muscle. It is the same with nerves ; in these from minute fibres larger fibres are composed, which appear as filaments, and these massed 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 fibres 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 is a massing together of parts, also in threefold order. From all this the nature of discrete degrees can be seen, namely, that the first exists by the second, and through the second forms the third which is called the composite ; and that each degree is discreted from the others. 191. From these examples a conclusion may be formed especting those things which are not visible to the eye, for wi-th hose it is the same. Thus, it is the same with the organic ubstances 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 re- ceptacles 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 CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 190-196. 77 same character and nature, appears from what has just been said. The motor fibres of muscles, least, larger, and largest, are homogeneous. Nerve fibres, least, larger, and largest, are homogeneous. Woody filaments, from the least to the com- posite formed of these, are homogeneous. So likewise are particles 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 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 dis- tinct from the others by coverings of its own, and that all the degrees together are made distinct by means of a general cover- ing ; also, that this general covering communicates with interiors and inmosts in their order. From this there is conjunction of all and unanimous action. THE FIRST DEGREE IS THE ALL IN EVERY THING OF THE SUBSEQUENT DEGREES. 195* This is because the degrees ol each subject and of each thing are homogeneous; and they are homogeneous because begotten from the first degree. For their formation is such that the first, by combinations or accretions, in a word, by mass- ing of parts, begets 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 solely 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 78 ANGELIC WISDOM degrees. This manner of speaking- by degrees is abstract, that is, universal, which makes the statement applicable to every sub- ject 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 article, to the muscles, the nerves, the materials and parts of both the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, to the organic substances which are the subjects ol thoughts and affections in man, to atmospheres, to heat and light, and to love and wisdom. In all these, the first is solely 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 motion excepting 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 sub- stance, is the substance from which is each and every created thing ; 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); tk e Lord alone is heaven where angels are (n. 113-118). ALL PERFECTIONS INCREASE AND ASCEND ALONG WITH DEGREES AND ACCORDING TO THEM. 199* That degrees are of two kinds, degrees of breadth and degrees of height has been shown above (n. 184-188) ; 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 it is said that they ascend or descend, for they are of height ; but of the former that they increase or decrease, CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. I97~2OI. 79 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 sub- jects, 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 under- standing, 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 whicl/ 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 men, and with animals of every kind, are such forces ; all things in the natural world which 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 which are not at the same time forces are also perfect according to degrees. 2OX. The perfections of life, forces, and forms which in- crease or decrease according to degrees of breadth, that is, con- tinuous degrees, will not be discussed here, because there is a knowledge of these degrees in the world ; but only perfections of life, forces, and forms which 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 found that the more they are looked into the more do wonders present them- selves ; 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 they are looked into is well known ; yet such wonders have not led men to see 80 ANGELIC WISDOM that the objects are interiorly more perfect according to degrees of height or discrete degrees ; this has been concealed by igno- rance of these degrees. But since these degrees stand out con- spiciously 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 perfections of forces and forms which are in similar degrees in the natural world. 2O2. In the spiritual world there are three heavens, disposed according to degrees of height. In the highest heaven 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 of the lowest heaven. The degrees ol perfections are such, that angels of the lowest heaven cannot attain to the first threshold of the perfections of the angels ol v he middle heaven, nor these to the first threshold of the per- fections of the angels of the highest heaven. This seems like a paradox, yet it is truth. The reason is that they are consociated according to discrete, not according to continuous degrees. ( have learned from observation that the difference between the iffections 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 imme- diate 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 ol angels, being spiritual, do not fall into natural ideas. They can be expressed and described only by the angels themselves, in their own languages, words, and writings, and not in those which 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 ot angels of the highest or third heaven are thoughts of ends ; the thoughts of angels of the middle or second heaven thoughts ol causes, and the thoughts of angels of the lowest or first heaven thoughts of effects. It is to be observed, 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 CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 2O2-2O4. 8l causes and about ends, but the angels of the higher heavens from causes and from ends ; to think from these is a mark ol 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 appre- hended ; but they are apprehended 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 posterior, that is, things simple than things composite ; but things prior out of which things posterior 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 immedi- ately after ; and thus in order down to things lowest, which are less perfect as they recede. 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 con- tinue to exist ; nor could the seeds of trees and shrubs vege- tate and bear fruit. For the more prior anything prior is, or the more simple anything simple is, the more exempt it is from injury, because it is more perfect. 32 ANGELIC WISDOM IN SUCCESSIVE ORDER THE FIRST DEGREE MAKES THE HIGH- EST, AND THE THIRD THE LOWEST ; BUT IN SIMUL- TANEOUS ORDER THE FIRST DEGREE MAKES THE INNERMOST, AND THE THIRD THE OUTERMOST. 205. 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 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 atmo- spheres. 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 perfedl and beauti- ful ; 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 low- est in the circumference. They are as if in a solid body com- posed of these three degrees : in the middle or centre are the finest parts, round about this are parts less fine, and in the ex- tremes which constitute the circumference are the parts com- oosed of these and which are therefore grosser. It is like the column mentioned just above subsiding into a plane, the lighest 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 in- nermost of simultaneous order, and the lowest becomes the out- ermost, so in the Word, ' ' higher ' ' signifies inner, and ' ' lower ' ' signifies outer. "Upwards" and "downwards," and "high" and "deep" have a similar meaning. 207* In every outmost there are discrete degrees in simul- taneous order. The motor fibres in every muscle, the fibres in every nerve, also the fibres 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 CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 205-209. 83 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 composi- tions, 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 effecl. For every outmost consists of things prior, and these of their primes. And every effecl consists of cause, and this of end ; and end is the all of cause, and cause is the all of effecl (as was shown above) ; and end makes the inmost, cause the middle, and effedl 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 in The DoElrinc 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. THE OUTMOST DEGREE is THE COMPLEX, CONTAINANT AND BASE OF THE PRIOR DEGREES. 209* The dodlrine of degrees which is taught in this Part, has hitherto been explained 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 in the animal and mineral kingdoms. But this doc- trine 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 doclrine of degrees extends also to such things. First, in every thing of which any- thing can be predicated there is the trine which is called end, cause, and effecl, 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 which are called civil, moral, and spiritual. These may be thought of abstractly from substances, yet in themselves they are not abstract ; as for example, affec- 84 ANGELIC WISDOM tion 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. 21O. From its being possible to think of will and under- standing, affection and thought, and charity and faith, abstractly from the substances which are their subjefts, and from their having been so regarded, it has come to pass, that a correct idea of these things, as being states of substances or forms, has per- ished. It is altogether as with sensations and actions, which are not things abstract from the organs of sensation and mo- tion. Abstracted, that is, separate, from these they are mere figments of reason ; they are like sight apart from the eye, hearing apart from the ear, taste apart from the tongue, and so forth. 2X1* 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 explain and confirm the present point, that the outmost degree is the com- plex, 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 the other in a threefold series, and that effect is nothing else than the end in its outmost. And since the outmost is the com- plex, it follows that it is the containant and also the base. 2I,f As regards love and wisdom : Love is the end, wis- dom the instrumental cause, and use is the effect ; and use is the complex, containant, and base of wisdom and love ; and use CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 2IO-2I5 85 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 at once and together. But it should be borne in mind that all things of love and wisdom, which are homogeneous and concordant, are present in use, in accordance with the princi- ples enunciated and explained above (in chapter, n. 189-194). 2x4. Affection, thought, and action are also in a series oi 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, understand- ing, 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 the prior, has not yet been comprehended. There seems to be nothing more in use, in action, in work, and in doing than such as there is in motion ; yet all the prior are actually present in these, and so fully that nothing is lacking. They are con- tained therein like wine in its cask, or like furniture in a house. They are not apparent, because they are regarded only exter- nally ; and regarded externally they are simply activities and motions. It is like the movement of the arms and hands : man is not conscious that a thousand motor fibres concur in every motion of them, and that to the thousand motor fibres correspond thousands of things of thought and affection, by which the motor fibres 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 one'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 one'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 86 ANGELIC WISDOM 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. 2X6. It is according to angelic wisdom that will and under- standing, that is, affection and thought, as well as charity and faith, unless clothed and wrapped in works or deeds, whenever possible, are only like something airy which passes away, or like phantoms in air which perish ; and that they first become per- manent in man and a part of his life, when he exercises 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 profess faith and charity know what is good and can will to do it, but not so those who are in faith separated from charity. THE DEGREES OF HEIGHT ARE IN FULNESS AND IN POWER IN THEIR OUTMOST DEGREE. 217* I* 1 th e preceding chapter it is shown that the outmost degree is the complex and containant of prior degrees. It fol- lows that prior degrees are in their fulness in their outmost degree, for they are in their effect, and every effe<5l is the fulness of causes. 2l8 That these ascending and descending degrees, also called prior and posterior, likewise degrees of height or discrete degrees, are in their power in their outmost degree, may be confirmed by all those things which have been adduced in the preceding chapters as confirmations from objecls of sense and perception. Here, however, I choose to confirm them only by the conatus, forces and motions in dead and living subjects. It is known that conatus does nothing of itself, but a<5ts through forces corresponding to it, thereby producing visible motion ; consequently that conatus is the all in forces, and through forces is the all in motion ; and since motion is the outmost degree 01 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 excited, and through fom motion is CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 2I6-22O. 87 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 applica- tion 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, nd to living force, and to living motion. Living conatus in nan, who is a living subject, is his will united to his undei- standing; living forces in man are the interior constituents 01 his body ; in all of which there are motor fibres interlacing in various ways ; and living motion in man is action, which is produced through these forces by the will united to the under- standing. For the interior things pertaining to the will and understanding make the first degree ; the interior things pertain- ing 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 correspond- ences. The interiors of the mind correspond to the interiors of the body, and the interiors of the body correspond to its ex- teriors, 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 powei even when there is no action, as in sleep and in states of rest, but 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. 22O. 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 his quality as regards understanding and will, also charity and faith, thus as regards the internal life pertaining to his mind and the external life derived therefrom in the body, merely from such action as is effected through the hands. I have often wondered that the angels have such knowledge from the mere action of the bodv throucrh the hand-s ; but that 88 ANGELIC WISDOM it is so has been shown repeatedly by living experience, and it has been said that it is from this that inductions into the minis- try are performed by the laying on of 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 lost in the clouds. 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. First, The Word is in its fulness 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, contain- ant and base of the corresponding interior senses, but moreover in the outmost sense the Word is in its fulness and in its power. This is abundantly shown and proved in The DoElrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (p.. 27-35, 36-49, 50-61, 62-69). Secondly, The Lord came into the world, and took upon Him a 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 man's human 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 for holding the hells in subjection to eternity, and saving mankind. This power is meant by His "sitting at the right CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 221-223. &* 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;" Divine Truth in outmosts being 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 a 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. Conse- quently 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. THERE ARE DEGREES OF BOTH KINDS IN THE GREATEST AND IN THE LEAST OF ALL CREATED THINGS. 222. 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 demonstra- tion othenvise than by universals. And since angels are in wisdom from universals, and from that in knowledge of particu- lars, 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 these degrees ; 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 or of a thought, nay, that the minutest thing of an idea of thought, consists of degrees of both kinds, and that gO ANGELIC WISDOM 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 ; a"nd 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 can- not 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 affe&ion 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 was shown above, n. 4043), 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 variously, 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. Like- wise things less general, as man in his complex ; every animal in its complex, every tree and every shrub in its complex ; 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). CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 224-229. 9! 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 larger forms there are like degrees, and the larger are made up of leasts. From there being such degrees in the larger forms, and con- tinuous differences in accordance with these degrees, from top to bottom and from centre 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 likeness 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 bring every end into 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, accumulated into masses, substantiated or composite things arise, and finally substances called material. But there can be no such absolutely simple substances. For what is substance with- out form ? It is that of which nothing can be predicated ; and out of mere being of which nothing can be predicated, no process of heaping up can make anything. That there are things innumerable in the first created substances of all things, that is, in things most minute and simple, will be seen in what follows, where forms are treated of. 92 ANGELIC WISDOM IN THE LORD THE THREE DEGREES OF HEIGHT ARE INFI- NITE AND UNCREATE, BUT IN MAN THEY ARE FINITE AND CREATED. 230* 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 existence unless there be use in which they may be. These three constitute the three degrees of height in subjects of life. They are three, like first end, middle end which is called cause, and last end which is called effect. That end, cause and effect constitute 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 heaven in least form ; there- fore 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, 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 Him- self; 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 predi- cated, and of man nothing but what is finite. 23** These three degrees w ith the angels are called Celes- tial, 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 othei 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 ; CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 230-233. 9 therefore these kingdoms are conjoined. How it is to be under- stood 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 also the third degree, called the natural, thereby becoming Man, like a man in the world ; but with the difference, that in the Lord this and the prior degrees are infinite and uncreate, while in angel and in man they are 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 as- sumption of the Human, there was a Divine influx into the natural degree mediate through the angelic heavens, but after the assumption immediate from Himself. This is the reason why all Churches in the world before His Advent were repre- sentative of spiritual and celestial things, but after His Advent became spiritual-natural and celestial-natural, and representa- tive 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 rind splendor than before. 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"(xxx 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 " (i. 16) ; and elsewhere (as in Isaiah Ix. 20 ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 3, 4 ; Matt. xvii. I, 2). The mediate enlightenment of men through the angelic heaven, which existed before the coming of the Lord, may be com- pared to the light of the moon, which is the mediate light of the sun ; and because after His coming this was made imme- diate, it is said in Isaiah that ' ' the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun"; and in David; 94 ANGELIC WISDOM " In his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace until there is no longer any moon " (Ixxii. 7). This also is said of the Lord. 234-* It was by the assumption of a Human in the world that the Lord from eternity, that is, Jehovah, put on this third degree, for the reason 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 recep- tacle 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 J erusalem concern- ing 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 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. 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. 236* It has not been understood heretofore that there are three degrees of height in every man, for the reason that these degrees have not been known about, and so long as they re- mained 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 con- tinuity. 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 de- grees, according to which it increases by continuity. For there CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 234-238. 95 are degrees of both kinds in things greatest and least of all things (as was shown above, n. 222-229); f r 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 conies first into the natural degree, and this grows / / in him, by continuity, with his growth in knowledge and in^ understanding acquired by means of knowledge, even to the height of the understanding which is called the rational. Yet not by this means is the second or spiritual degree opened. This degree is opened by means of a love of uses conformable to what the understanding has acquired, but 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 or celestial degree 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 shun 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 thinks, wills, speaks, and acls ; and the spiritual degree, which is inte- rior, 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 ; one in whom the spiritual degree has been opened coming into that degree, and one within whom the celestial degree has been opened coming into that degree: One who comes into the spiritual degree after death no longer thinks, wills, speaks, and acls naturally, but spiritually; and one who comes into the celestial degree thinks, wills, speaks, and acls according to that degree. And as there can be communication between 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. 96 ANGELIC WISDOM 239* Since man is endowed with three degrees of love and wisdom, and therefore of use, it follows that there must be three degrees, of will, of understanding, and of result there- from, 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 wis- dom 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 worshipped 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 truth is and what good is ; 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 forever, the good as well as the evil. But the Lord's abode is nearer in man as man by the agency CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 239-242. yj of these capacities opens the higher degrees, for by the opening of these man comes into higher degrees 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 An u- him. 241. It was said above, that the three degrees of height J i 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 effecl;. 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. One can also see from his reason that wisdom is cause ; for a man, that is, man's love, which is his end, searches in his understanding for its means through which to attain its end, thus consulting its wis- dom, and these means constitute the instrumental cause. That use is effecl; 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 is it 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. By wisdom is here meant what pertains to man's under- standing. SPIRITUAL LIGHT FLOWS IN WITH MAN THROUGH THREE DEGREES, BUT NOT SPIRITUAL HEAT, EXCEPT SO FAR AS ONE SHUNS EVILS AS SINS AND LOOKS TO THE LORD. 24.2* It is evident from what has been shown above that from the sun of heaven, which is the first proceeding of Di- vine Love and Divine Wisdom (treated of in Part Second), light and heat proceed from its wisdom light, and from its love heat ; also that light is the receptacle of wisdom, and heat of love ; also that so far as man comes into wisdom he comes into the Divine light, and so far as he comes into love he comes into the Divine heat. And further, 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 Di- vine Love and the Divine Wisdom, thus of the Lord. It is now 98 ANGELIC WISDOM to be shown that spiritual light flows in through these three de- grees 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 shuns 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 shuns 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 shuns 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, but 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 the 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 dark- ness, by which the heavenly light entering from above was extinguished. 244. The same thing happens in the world. A man not altogether stupid, or 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 retains them, and may afterwards confirm them. Either a bad or a good man may do this. A bad man, though in heart he denies the Divine things pertaining to the Church, can still under- stand 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 follows that the understanding does not lead the will, or that wisdom does not beget love, but simply tea Ves CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 243-247. 99 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, that man 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 conjunc- tion 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 three- fold 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 to 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 growing 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 it then the light becomes effective. 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 shunning 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 love of evil, or lust, abides in a love contrary to spiritual love and affection ; and such love or lust can be removed only by shunning evils as sins ; and because man cannot shun evils from himself, but only from the Lord, he must look to the Lord. When he shuns 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 it, 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 IOO ANGELIC WISDOM with beasts, can think analytically, and perceive both natural and spiritual truths ; and when he perceives them he can acknow- ledge them, and thus be reformed and regenerated. This capa- city 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 which he thinks from his understanding. As these two capaci- ties, rationality and freedom, which are proper to man, have been treated of above (n. 240), no more will be said about them here. UNLESS THE HIGHER DEGREE, WHICH is THE SPIRITUAL, is OPENED IN MAN, HE BECOMES NATURAL AND SENSUAL. 248* It was shown above that there are three degrees of the human mind, called natural, spiritual, and celestial, and that these degrees may be successively opened in man ; also, that the natural degree is first opened ; afterwards, if man shuns evils as sins and looks to the Lord, the spiritual degree ; and lastly, the celestial. Since these degrees are successively opened according to man's life, it follows that the two higher degrees may remain unopened, and then man 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 a 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 con- sists 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 respe<5l 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 Doc- CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 248-251. IOI trine 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 be- come 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, and 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 one who is merely natural is by many called spiritual, and conversely, these subjedls shall be separately discussed, as follows : (i.) What the natural man is, and what the spiritual man. (ii.) The character of the natural man in whom the spiritual degree is opened. (iii.) The character of the natural man in whom the spiritual degree is not opened and yet not closed. (iv.) The character of the natural man in whom the spirittial degree is entirely closed. (v.) Lastly, The nature of the difference between the life of a man merely natural and the life of a beast. 2X (i.) What the natural man is, and what the spiritual man. Man is not man from face and body, but from under- standing and will ; therefore by the natural man and the spirit- ual man is meant that man's understanding and will are either natural or spiritual. The natural man in respect to his under- standing and will is like the natural world, and may be called a world or microcosm ; and the spiritual man in respecl 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 an image a natural world, so he loves those things which are of the natural world ; and that as the spiritual man is in an image a spiritual world, so he loves those things which are of that world, or of heaven. The spirit- ual man loves also the natural world, but not otherwise than as a master loves his servant through whom he performs uses. 102 ANGELIC WISDOM 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 subor- dination 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* (ii. ) 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 acls 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. Neither does the natural man whose spiritual degree has been opened know that by means of his spiritual man he is in heaven, when yet kis spiritual man is in the midst of the angels of heaven, and sometimes is even visible to them ; but because he draws himself back to his natural man, alter a short stay there he is no longer seen. 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 communica- tion 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. (iii.) The character of the natural man in whom, the spiritual degree is not opened, and yet not closed. The spiritual CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 252-254. 103 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 or spiritual heat alone not opening it, nor wisdom or spiritual light alone, but both in conjunction. Consequently, when gen- uine truths, out of which wisdom or light arises, are unknown, love is inadequate to open that degree ; it only keeps it in the pos- sibility 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 effecls 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. After death, those in whom the spiritual degree is not opened and yet not closed, since they are still natural and not spiritual, are in the lowest parts of heaven, where they sometimes suffer hard things ; 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 are pre-eminent in divine truths are in the middle, while those who are in few truths are in the outskirts. Those are in few truths who know from religion 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 shuns 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 of faith. By means of these truths charity enters into works and qualifies them. 254* (iv. ) The character of the natural man in whom the spiritual degree is wholly 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 104 ANGELIC WISDOM nerve, which contracts at the slightest touch of any thing hete- rogeneous ; so every motive fibre of a muscle, yea, the muscle itself, and even the whole body shrinks from the touch of what- ever is hard or cold. So the substances or forms of the spirit- ual degree in man shrink from evils and their falsities, because they are heterogeneous. For the spiritual degree, being in the form of heaven, admits nothing but goods, and truths which are from good ; these are homogeneous to it : but evils, and falsities which are from evil, are heterogeneous to it. This degree is con- tracted, 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 turning back of a spiral in the opposite direction ; for which reason, that degree after it is closed, turns back the light of heaven ; conse- quently there is 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 the 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 percep- tion 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* (v.) The nature of the difference between the life of a man merely natural and the 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 that the difference is that man has three degrees of mind, that is, three degrees of understand- ing 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, CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 255, 256. 105 but also spiritual, and from many truths seen can form conclu- sions about truths in their order, and thus perfecl: the under- standing to eternity. But a beast has only the natural de- gree, not the two higher degrees ; and without the higher degrees it has no capacity to think on any subjecl, civil, moral, or spiritual. And since the natural degree of beasts is in- capable of being opened, and thereby raised into higher light, they are unable to think in successive order, but only in simul- taneous order, which is not thinking, but acting from a knowl- edge 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 pertain- ing 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 information, 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. But many, by abuse of this capa- city, have made themselves lower than beasts. 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. 256* Although this is hardly comprehensible, so long as there is 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 his understanding, when raised into the degree of light in which angels are, can apprehend it ; 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 towards a degree of the higher kind, the higher a<5ls from within 106 ANGELIC WISDOM 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 pro- portion 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 wisdom 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 compre- hended from effects ; for effects present causes in themselves in clear light, and thus illustrate them, when there is some pre- vious knowledge of causes. 257. The effects are these: (i.) 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 the natural man, and not by any natural influx into the spiritual man. (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 conies into that wisdom when he dies ; and he may also come into it by a sus- pension 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 be- comes 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 CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 257-259. 107 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 an- gelic 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 to the inmost degree in which the angels of the third heaven are ; for the human understanding, rising up by contin- uity 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 shunning 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 with his wisdom 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 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 rest, so disposed that it IO8 ANGELIC WISDOM can produce outmost acts according to order ; for life acts in accordance with outmost determinations, but not from them. That there can be no rationality in infants and children, may be seen below (n. 266, at the end). THE NATURAL MIND, SINCE IT IS THE COVERING AND CON- TAINANT 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. 260. It has been shown in the preceding chapter that as the natural mind is in the outmost degree, it envelops and en- closes 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 escape and 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 mem- brane investing the motor fibres of a muscle reacted against the forces of these fibres in their activities, not only would action cease, but all the inner tissues would be scattered. It is the same with every outmost degree of the degrees of height ; consequently with the natural mind as compared with 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 from 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, from their nature resist, and thus from their nature react. From all this it can be seen that the natural man reacts against the spirit- ual 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. CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 260-263. ICK) 261. From this it is obvious that when the spiritual mind is closed the natural mind continually adls against the things of the spiritual mind, fearing lest anything should flow in there- from 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 which 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 reacls 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 appear heavenly, become 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 aft as one, they are separated, and in men merely natural, things heavenly arrange themselves from without, encompassing 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, a<5ts against the things which are of the spirit- ual 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 accepts nature as the creator of the universe ; and all these things he confirms 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 with- out fearing 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 uprooted in the world only by means of repentance. 263. But when the spiritual mind is open the state of the IIO ANGELIC WISDOM natural mind is wholly different. Then the natural mind is placed at the service of the spiritual mind, and is held sub- ordinate. For the spiritual mind acts upon the natural mind from above or within, and removes the things therein which react, and adapts to itself those which 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 over- comes 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 ac- tion 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 if the spiritual mind becomes opened, the action and reaction of the natural mind are reversed ; for the spiritual mind acts from above or within, at the same time it acts from below or from without, through those things in the natural mind which are so disposed as to submit to 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 bend- ing 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 reforma- tion looks upwards to heaven. THE ORIGIN OF EVIL IS FROM THE ABUSE OF THE CAPACITIES PROPER TO MAN, THAT ARE CALLED RATIONALITY AND FREEDOM. 264* 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 CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE. N. 264-266. Ill 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 appearence that man thinks, speaks, wills, and acls 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 : (i.) A bad man equally with a good man enjoys these two capacities. (ii.) A bad man misuses these capacities to confirm evils and falsities, but a good man uses them to con- firm goods and truths. (iii.) Evils and falsities confirmed in man are permanent, and come to be of his love, consequently of his life. (iv.) Such things as have come to be of the love and life are engendered in offspring. (v.) All e^>ils, both engendered and acquired, have their seat in the natttral mind. 266. (i.) 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 see truths, acknowledge them, and then give expression to them. From this it is plain that since the natural mind can be thus 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 do them, even though he does not, both reason and experi- ence 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 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. Experi- ence in the spiritual world has often corroborated this. I have listened to evil spirits who inwardly were devils, and who in the 112 ANGELIC WISDOM 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 who inwardly were angels. Those diabolical spirits even declared that they were able to will and a<5l according to those arcana, but did not wish to. When told that they might will them, if only they would shun 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, thus 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 matures ; until then it is like seed in unripe fruit, which has no power to be opened in the soil and grow up. Neither does this capacity exist in those mentioned above (n. 259). 267* (ii- ) A bad man misuses 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 their falsities raises it no higher than into the upper region 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 rises above that mind, the delight of his love perishes. If his understanding is raised 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 what- ever he wishes is evident from the multitude of false doctrines in the Christian world, each of which is confirmed by its ad- herents. 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, CONCERNING .DIVINE LOVE. N. 267, 268. 113 and that nature is everything and created herself; that religion is only a means for keeping simple minds in bondage ; that hu- man prudence does everything, and Divine providence nothing except sustaining the universe in the order in which it was cre- ated ; 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 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 misuse 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 those 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* (iii.) Evils and falsities confirmed in man are perma- nent, and come to be of his love and life. Confirming evil and lalsity is equivalent to putting away good and truth, and if persisted in, to 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 there in which a like evil pre- vails 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 the 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 with- 114 ANGELIC WISDOM drawn from hell. From all this, and from what precedes in this chapter, it can be seen what the origin of evil is. 269. (iv.) Such things as have come to be of the love, and consequently of the life, are engendered in offspring. It is \nown that man is born into evil, and that he derives it by nheritance from parents ; though by some it is believed that lie inherits it not from 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 great- est and least, similar to itself; and there is in the seed a cona- tus to the human form, and by successive steps it goes forth into that form. From this it follows that evils called hereditary are from the father, thus from grandfathers and great-grand- fathers, successively transmitted to offspring. This may be learned also from observation, for as regards the affections, there is a resemblance of races to their first progenitors, and a stronger resemblance in families, and a still stronger resemblance in house- holds ; and this resemblance is such that generations are distin- guishable not only from the disposition, but even from the face. But of this ingeneration of the love of evil by parents in off- spring more will be said in what follows, where the correspond- ence of the mind, that is, of the will and understanding, with the body and its members and organs is 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 ol the 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 shunning 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. 27* ( v - )