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b eJt w een "t ) ,ou-\ aha'

ON

THE INTERCOURSE

THE SOUL AND THE BODY,

WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO TAKE PLACE

EITHER BY PHYSICAL INFLUX,

SPIRITUAL INFLUX,

BY PRE-ESTABLISHED HARMONY.

FROM TIIF. LATfN OF
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. Im

NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY THE GENERAL CONVENTION
OF THE
NEW JERUSALEM IN THE UNITED STATES OE AMERICA.
AT ITS PUBLISHING HOUSE:
20 Coopee Institute.
1865.

CONTENTS

1. That there are two worlds, the spiritual world, in which are
spirits and angels, and the natural world, in which are men 8
II. That the spiritual world first existed and subsists from its
own sun, and that the natural world existed and subsists
from its own sun  9
III. That the sun of the spiritual world is pure love from Jeho
vah God, who is in the midst of it  10
IV. That from that sun proceeds heat and light, and that the
heat proceeding from it is in its essence love, and that the
light thence is in its essence wisdom  11
V. That both that heat and that light flow-in into man, the
heal into his will, where it produces the good of love, and
the light into his understanding, where it produces the truth
of wisdoni  12
VI. That those two, heat and light, or love and wisdom, flow-in
conjointly from God into the soul of man, and through this
into his mind, its affections .and thoughts, and from these
into the senses, speech, and actions of the body .... 13
VII. That the sun of the natural world is pure fire, and that the
world of nature existed and subsists by means of this sun . IS
VIII. That therefore every thing which proceeds from this sun,
regarded in itself, is dead  18
IX. That the spiritual clothes itself with the natural, as a man
clothes himself with a garment  18
X. That spiritual things, thus clothed in man, cause him to be
able to live a rational and moral man, thus a spiritually
natural man  20

1V CONTENTS. PAG*.
XI. That the reception of that influx is according lo the state of
love and wisdom with man . -  21
XII. That the understanding in man is capable of being elevated
into the light, that is, into the wisdom, in which the angels
of heaven are, according to the improvement of his reason ;
and that in like manner his will is capable of being elevated
.nto the heat of heaven, that is, into the love of heaven,
according to the deeds of the life ; but that the love of the
will is not elevated, except so far as man wills and does
those things which the wisdom of the understanding teaches 23
fill. That it is altogether otherwise with beasts  25
XIV. That there are three degrees in the spiritual world, and
three degrees in the natural world, hitherto unknown, ac
cording to which all influx takes place  2*
XV. That ends are in the first degree, causes in the second, and
effects in the third  . . . 2S
XVI. That hence it is evident what is the quality of Spiritual
Influx from its origin to its effects  31

ON
THE INTERCOURSE BETWEEN
THE SOUL AND THE BODY, fc,u.

1. There are three opinions and traditions, which are
hypotheses, concerning the intercourse between the soul and
the body, or concerning the operation of one upon the other,
and of one with the other ; the first is that of physical influx,
the second is that of spiritual influx, and the third is that of
pre-established harmony. The First hypothesis, which is
that of physical influx, originates from the appearances of
the senses, and the fallacies thence derived, because it ap
pears as if the objects of sight, which affect the eyes, flowed-
in into the thought, and produced it; in like manner speech,
which affects the ears, appears* to flow-in into the mind and
produce ideas there ; and the case appears to be similar with
respect to the smell, taste, and touch. Forasmuch as the
organs of these senses first receive the impressions that flow
from the world, and the mind appears to think, and also to
will, according to the affections of those organs, therefore the
ancient philosophers and schoolmen supposed influx to be
derived from them into the soul, and thus adopted the hypo
thesis of physical or natural influx. The Second hypothesis,
which is that of spiritual influx, called by some occasional
influx, originates from order and its laws ; for the sou] is a
spiritual substance, and is consequently purer, prior, and inte
rior, but the body is material, and is consequently grosser,
posterior, and exterior ; and it is according to order for the
purer to flo-y-in into the grosser, the prior into the posterior,
and the interior into the exterior, thus the spiritual into the
material, and not vice versa : consequently it is according to
order for the thinking mind to flow-in into the sight accord
ing to the state induced on the eyes from objects presented,
which state that mind also disposes at its pleasure ; and like-

wise for the perceptive mind to flow-in into the hearing ac
cording to the state induced on the ears by speech. The
Third hypothesis, which is that of pre-established har
mony, originates from the appearances and fallacies of reason,
since the mind, in every operation, acts in unity and simul
taneously with the body ; but nevertheless every operation is
first successive and afterwards simultaneous, and successive
operation is influx, and simultaneous operation is harmony ;
as when the mind thinks and afterwards speaks, or when it
wills and afterwards acts : wherefore it is a fallacy of reason
to establish that which is simultaneous and exclude that
which is successive. Besides these three opinions concern
ing the intercourse between the soul and the body, a fourth
cannot be given, for either the soul must operate on the body
or the body on the soul, or both continually together.
2. Forasmuch as spiritual influx is from order and its
laws, as was said above, therefore this opinion has been ac
knowledged and received by the wise in the learned world
in preference to the other two : for every thing which origi
nates from order is truth, and truth manifests itself by virtue
of its inherent light, even in the shade of reason in which
hypotheses reside. There are three things which involve
this hypothesis in shade, viz., ignorance of what the soiil is,
ignorance of what the spiritual is, and ignorance of the
quality of influx ; wherefore these three things must first be
unfolded before reason can see the truth itself. Hypothetical
truth is not truth itself, but a conjecture of truth ; it is like a
picture seen at tiight on a wall by the light of the stars, to
which the mind assigns various forms according to its fancy.
It is otherwise when the sun illuminates it in the morning,
and not only discovers and renders visible its generals, but
also its particulars. In like manner, out of the shade of truth
in which this hypothesis is, arises the open truth, when it is
known what and of what quality the spiritual is respectively
to the natural, what and of what quality the human soul is,
and what is the quality of the influx that flows-in into the
soul, and through that into the perceptive and thinking mind.
and from this into the bodjr. But these subjects can be ex
plained by no man, unless it have been given him by the
Lord to have consociation with angels in the spiritual world
and with men in the natural world at the. same time ; and -
forasmuch as this has been given to me, I have been enabled
to describe what and of what quality they are, which is done
in the work on Conjugial Love, concerning the Spiritual in

the memorable relatiou n. 320 to 329 ; concerning the Human
Soul, n. 315; concerning Influx, n. 380; and more fully
in that at n. 415 to 422. Who does not know, or may not
know, that the good of love and the truth of faith flow-in
from God into man, and that they flow-in into his soul, and
are felt in his mind, and flow-out from his thought into his
speech, and from his will into his actions ? That spiritual
influx, and its origin and derivation, are from thence, shall be
manifested in the following order. I. That there are two
worlds, the spiritual world, in which are spirits and angels,
and the natural world, in which are men. II. That the
spiritual world existed and subsists from its own sun, and
that the natural world existed and subsists from its own sun.
III. That the sun of the spiritual world is pure love from
Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it. IV. That from
that sun proceeds* heat and light, and that the heat proceed
ing from it is in its essence love, and that the light thence is
in its essence wisdom. V. That both that heat and that
light flow-in into man, the heat into his will, where it pro
duces the good of love, and the light into his understanding,
where it produces the truth of wisdom. VI. That those
two, heat and light, or love and wisdom, flow-in conjointly
from God into the soul of man, and through this into his
mind, its affections and thoughts, and from these into the
senses, speech and actions of the body. VII. That the sun
of the natural world is pure fire, and that the world of nature
existed and subsists by means of this sun. VIII. That
therefore every thing which proceeds from this sun, regarded
in itself, is dead. IX. That the spiritual clothes itself with
the natural, as man clothes himself with a garment. X.
That spiritual things thus clothed in man enable him to live
a rational and moral man, thus a spiritually natural man.
XI. That the reception of that influx is according to the
state of love and wisdom with man. XH. That the under
standing in man is capable of being elevated into the light,
that is, into the wisdom, in which the angels of heaven are,
according to the improvement of his reason, and that his will
* This word is retained in the singular number in agreement with
the Latin of the author, who frequently connects the terms heat and
light, love and wisdom, good and truth, charity and faith, with a sin
gular verb, to intimate that these principles are one in the Lord, and
proceed as one from him, though they are variously received. The
reader is requested to remember this explanation when he meets
with this form of expression in the following pages.

is capable of being elevated in like manner into heat, that is,
into love, according to the deeds of his life ; but that the love
of the will is not elevated, except so far as man wills and
does those things which the wisdom of the understanding
teaches. XIII. That it is altogether otherwise with beasts.
XIV. That there are three degrees in the spiritual world,
and three degrees in the natural world, according to which
all influx takes place. XV. That ends are in the first de
gree, causes in the second, and effects in the third. XVI.
That hence may appear what is the quality of spiritual influx
from its origin to its effects. Each of these propositions
shall now be briefly illustrated.

I. — That there are two worlds, the spiritual world, in which
are spirits and angels, and the natural world, in which are

3. That there is a spiritual world, in which are spirits
and angels, distinct from the natural world in which men
are, has hitherto been deeply hidden even in the christian
world. The reason is, because no angel has descended and
declared it, and no man has ascended and seen it. Lest there
fore from ignorance concerning that world, and the uncertain
faith concerning heaven and hell that results from such igno
rance, man should be infatuated to such a degree as to be
come an atheistic naturalist, it has pleased the Lord to open
the sight of my spirit, and to elevate it into heaven, and also
to let it down into hell, and to exhibit to its view the quality
of each. It is thence manifest to me that there are two
worlds, which are distinct from each other ; one in which all
things are spiritual, which is thence called the spiritual
world, and another in which all things are natural, which is
thence called the natural world ; and that spirits and angels
live in their own world, and men in theirs ; and also that
every man passes by death from his own world into the
other, and lives therein to eternity. A knowledge concern
ing each of these worlds should be premised, in order that
influx, which is the subject here treated of, may be unfolded
from its beginning ; for the spiritual world flows-in into the
natural world, and actuates it in all its particular parts, as
well with men as with beasts, and also constitutes the vege
tative principle in trees and herbs.

It. — That the spiritual world existed and subsists from iti
own sun, and that the natural world existed and subsists
from its own sun.
4. The reason why there is one sun of the spiritual world
and another sun of the natural world, is because those worlds
are altogether distinct ; and a world derives its origin from its
sun ; for a world in which all things are spiritual cannot
originate from a sun all things from which are natural, for
thus influx would be physical, which nevertheless is contrary
to order. That the world existed from the sun, and not vice
versa, is manifest from an effect of this cause, viz., that the
world in all and each of its parts subsists by means of the
sun, and subsistence demonstrates existence, wherefore it is
said that subsistence is perpetual existence ; from whence it
is evident, that if the sun were removed, its world would fall
into chaos, and this chaos into nothing. That in the spirit
ual world there is a different sun from that in the natural
world, I can testify, for I have seen it : it appears fiery like
our sun, nearly of a similar magnitude, and is at a distance
from the angels as our sun is from men ; but it does not rise
nor set, but stands immovable in a middle altitude between
the zenith and the horizon, whence the angels have perpetual
light and perpetual spring. The man of reason, who knows
nothing concerning the sun of the spiritual world, easily be
comes delirious in his idea concerning the creation of the
universe, which, when he deeply considers it, he perceives
no otherwise than as being from nature ; and as the origin
of nature is the sun, no otherwise than as being from its sun
as a creator. Moreover no one can apprehend spiritual in
flux, unless he also knows the origin of it ; for all influx pro
ceeds from a sun, spiritual influx from its sun, and natural
influx from its sun. The internal sight of man, which is that
of his mind, receives influx from the spiritual sun, but his
external sight, which is that of his body, receives influx from
the natural sun ; and both are conjoined in operation, in like
manner as the soul is conjoined with the body. Hence it is
evident into what blindness, darkness, and fatuity they may
fall who know nothing concerning the spiritual world and its
sun : they may fall into blindness, because the mind which
depends on the sight of the eye alone becomes in its reason
ings like a bat, which flies by night wanderingly, and to
wards linen cloths hung in its way; they may fall into dark'

10

ness, because the sight of the mind, when the sight of the
eye flows-in into it from within, is deprived of all spiritual
light, and becomes like an owl ; and they may fall into
fatuity, because the man still continues to think, but from
natural things concerning spiritual things, and not vice versa :
thus he thinks madly, foolishly and fatuitously.

III. — That the snn of the spiritual world is pure love, from
Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it.
5. Spiritual things cannot proceed from any other source
than from love, and love cannot proceed from any other
source than from Jehovah God, who is love itself; wherefore
the sun of the spiritual world, from which all spiritual things
issue as from their fountain, is pure love, proceeding from
Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it : that sun itself is not
God, but is from God, and is the proximate sphere about him
from him. Through this sun the universe was created by
Jehovah God : by the universe all the worlds in one complex
are understood, which are as many as the stars in the ex
panse of our heaven. That creation was effected through
that sun, which is pure love, thus by Jehovah God, is be
cause love is the very esse of life, and wisdom is the existere
of life thence derived, and all things were created from love
by wisdom. This is understood by these words in John,
" The Word was with God, and God was the Word ; all
things were made by him, and without him nothing was
made which was made ; and the world was made by him,"
i. 3, 10. The Word here is the divine truth, thus likewise
the divine wisdom ; wherefore also the Word is called the
light which illuminates every man, ver. 9, in like manner as
divine wisdom illuminates by divine truth. They who de
rive the origin of worlds from any other source than from
the divine love through the divine wisdom, are under hallu
cination, like persons of disordered brain, who see apparitions
as men, phantoms as lights, and entities of the reason as real
figures : for the created universe is a coherent work, origin
ating from the divine love through the divine wisdom. You
will see this if you are able to examine the connections of
things in their order from primaries to ultimates. As God is
one, so also the spiritual sun is one ; for the extension of

11
space is not predicable of spiritual things, which are the de
rivations of that sun ; and essence and existence without
space is everywhere in space without space : thus the divine
love is from the beginning of the universe to all its bounda
ries. That the Divine fills all things, and by filling preserves
all things in the state in which they were created, reason
has a distant view of, and also a near view, so far as it is
acquainted with love as it is in itself; with its conjunction
with wisdom for the perception of ends ; with its influx into
wisdom for the exhibition of causes ; and with its operation
*w wisdom for the production of effects.

IV. — That from that sun proceeds heat and light, and that
the heat proceeding from it is in its essence love, and that
the light thence is in its essence ivisdom.
6. It is known that in the Word, and thence in the com
mon language of preachers, divine love is expressed by fire,
as that heavenly fire fills the heart and kindles holy desires
to worship«God : the reason is because fire corresponds to
love, and thence signifies it. Hence it is that Jehovah God
was seen as a fire in a bush before Moses, and in like man
ner on mount Sinai before the sons of Israel ; and that it
was commanded that fire should be perpetually kept upon
the altar, and that the lights of the candlestick in the taber
nacle should be kindled every evening : this was commanded
because fire signified love. That there is heat from that fire
appears manifestly from the effects of love. Thus a man is
incensed, grows warm, and is inflamed, as his love is exalted
into zeal, or into the wrath of anger. The heat of the blood,
or the vital heat of men, and of animals in general, is from
no other source than from love, which constitutes their life :
neither is the infernal fire any thing else than love opposite
to heavenly love. This now is the reason that the divine love
appears to the angels as the sun in their world, which is
fiery like our sun, as was said above, and that the angels are
in heat according to their reception of love from Jehovah
God through that sun. It follows from hence that the light
there is in its essence wisdom ; for love and wisdom are in
divisible, like esse and existere, as love exists by wisdom and
according to it. This is similar to what takes 'place in our
world, that, at the time of spring, heat unites itself with light,

12
and produces germs' nation, and at length fructification. Be
sides, every one'knows that spiritual heat is love, and spirit
ual light is wisdom : for a man grows warm in proportion as
he loves, and his understanding is in light in proportibn as
he is wise. I have often seen that spiritual light, which im
mensely exceeds natural light in whiteness and also in splen
dor, for it is as whiteness itself and splendor itself in them
selves, and appears like resplendent and dazzling snow, such
as the garments of the Lord appeared when he was trans
formed, Mark ix. 3, Luke ix. 28. As light is wisdom, there
fore the Lord calls himself the light, which illuminates every
man, John i. 9, and says in other places that he is The
Light, John iii. 19, chap. viii. 12, chap. xii. 35, 36, 47 ; that
is, that he is divine truth itself, which is the Word, thus
wisdom itself. It is believed that natural light, which is also
rational light, is from the light of our world : but it is from
the light of the spiritual world ; for the sight of the mind:
flows-in into the sight of the eye ; thus also the light of the1 1
spiritual world flows-in into the light of the natural world,
and not vice versa : if the contrary took place, there would
be physical influx, and not spiritual influx.

V. — That both that heat and that light flow-in into man, the
heat into his will, where it produces the good of love, and
the light into his understanding, where it produces the
truth of wisdom.
7. It is known that all things universally have relation to
good and truth, and that there is not given a single entity
which has not something relative to those two : hence it is
that in man there are two receptacles of life, one which is
the receptacle of good, called the will, and another which is
the receptacle of truth, called the understanding; and as
good is of love, and truth is of wisdom, the will is the recep
tacle of love, and the understanding is the receptacle of wis
dom. That good is of love, is because what a man loves,
this he wills, and when he brings it into act he calls it good ;
and that truth is of wisdom, is because all wisdom is from
truths ; even the good which a wise man thinks, is truth,
and this becomes good when he wills it and does it. He
wIk does not' rightly distinguish between these two recepta
cles of life, which are the will and the understanding, and

13
aoes not form to rmnself a clear notion concerning them, will
in vain endeavor to get a knowledge of spiritual influx : for
there is influx into the will, and there is influx into the un
derstanding ; there is an influx of the good of love into the
will of man, and there is an influx of the truth of wisdom
into his understanding, each proceeding from Jehovah God
immediately through the sun in the midst of which he is,
and mediately through the angelic heaven. These two re
ceptacles, the will and the understanding, are as distinct as
heat and light are ; for the will receives the heat of heaven,
which in its essence is love, and the understanding receives
the light of heaven, which in its essence is wisdom, as was
said above. There is given an influx from the human mind
into the speech, and there is given an influx into the actions ;
the influx into the speech takes place from the will through
the understanding, and the influx into the actions takes place
from the understanding through the will. They who only
have knowledge of influx into the understanding, and not at the
same time into the will, and who reason and conclude there
from, are like one-eyed persons, who only see the objects on
one side and not those on the other ; and they are like
maimed persons, who do their work awkwardly with one
hand only ; and they are like lame persons, who hop on one
foot with a crutch. From these few considerations it is
plain, that spiritual heat flows-in into the will of man, and
produces the good of love, and that spiritual light flows-in
into his understanding, and produces the truth of wisdom.

VI. — That "those two, viz., heat and light, or love and wis
dom, flow '-in conjointly from God into the soul of man, and
through this into the ?nind, its affections and thoughts, and
from these into the senses, speech, and actions of the body.
8. The spiritual influx hitherto treated of by writers of
acute genius, is the influx from the soul into the body, and
not any influx into the soul, and through that into the body ;
although it is known that all the good of love, and all the
truth of faith, flow-in from God into man, and that nothing
thereof is from man ; and those things which flow-in from
God, flow-in proximately into his soul, and through the soul
into the rational mind, and through this into those things
which constitute the body. If any person investigate spiritual

14
influx in any other manner, he is like one who stops up the
stream of a fountain and still looks for unfailing waters there ;
or one who deduces the origin of a tree from the branch and
not from the seed ; or one who examines principiates* with
out a first principle. For the soul is not life in itself, but is
a recipient of life from God, who is life in itself; and all in
flux is of life, thus from God : this is understood by this
pissage " Jehovah God breathed into the nostrils of the man
the soul of lives, and the man was made into a living soul,"
Gen. ii. 7. To breathe into the nostrils the soul of lives, sig
nifies to implant the perception of good and truth. And the
Lord also says of himself, " As the Father hath life in him
self, so hath he given also to the Son to have life in himself,"
John v. 26 ; [to have] life in himself is [to be] God ; and the
life of the soul is life influent from God. Now forasmuch as
all influx is of life, and life operates by its receptacles, and
the inmost or first of the receptacles in man is his soul,
therefore, that influx may be rightly apprehended, it is neces
sary to begin from God, and not from an intermediate sta
tion ; if the beginning were taken from an intermediate sta
tion, the doctrine of influx would be like a chariot without
wheels, or like a ship without sails. This being the case,
therefore in the preceding articles we have treated of the sun
of the spiritual world, in the midst of which is Jehovah God,
n. 5 ; and of the influx of love and wisdom, thus of life, n.
6, 7. The reason that life from God flows-in into man
through the soul, and through this into the mind, that is, into
its affections and thoughts, and from these into the senses,
speech, and actions of the body, is because these are of life
in successive order ; for the mind is subordinate to the soul,
and the body is subordinate to the mind. And the mind has
two lives, one of the will and another of the understanding.
The life of its will is the good of love, the derivations of
which are called affections, and the life of its understanding
is the truth of wisdom, the derivations of which are called
thoughts. By these and those the mind lives. But the life of
the body are the senses, speech, and actions ; that these are
from the soul through the mind, follows from the order in
which they are, and from which they manifest themselves to
a wise man without scrutiny. The human soul, forasmuch
as it is a superior spiritual substance, receives influx imme
diately from God ; but the human mind, forasmuch as it is
an inferior spiritual substance, receives influx from God me-
* Things derived from a first principle.

15

diately through the spiritual world ; and the body, forasmuch
as it originates from the substances of nature, which are
called material, receives influx from God mediately through
the natural world. That the good of love and the truth of
wisdom flow-in from God into the soul of man conjointly,
that is, united into one, but that they are divided by man in
their progress, and are conjoined only with those who suffer
themselves to be led by God, will be seen in the following
articles.

VII. — That the sun. of the natural ivorld is pure fire, and
that the world of nature existed and subsists by this sun.
9. That nature and its world, by which are understood
the atmospheres, and the earths which are called planets,
among which is the terraqueous globe on which we dwell,
and also all and single things which annually adorn its sur
face, subsist solely from the sun, which constitutes their cen
tre, and which, by the rays of its light, and the modifications
(temperies) of its heat, is everywhere present, every one
knows for certain from experience, from the testimony of the
senses, and from the writings of those who have treated of
such subjects ; and as the perpetual subsistence of these
things is from the sun, reason may with certainty conclude
that their existence also is from thence ; for perpetually to
subsist is perpetually to exist as they first existed. Hence it
follows that the natural world was created by Jehovah God
secondarily through this sun. That there are spiritual things
and that there are natural things, which are entirely distinct
from each other, and that the origin and support of spiritual
things is from a sun which is pure love, in the midst of
which is the Creator and Establisher of the universe, Jeho
vah God, has been demonstrated before ; but that the origin
and support of natural things is from a sun which is pure
fire, and that the latter is derived from the former, and both
from God, follows of itself, as the posterior follows from the
prior, and the prior from the first. That the sun of nature
and its worlds is pure fire, all its effects demonstrate ; as the
concentration of its rays into a focus by the art of optics,
from which proceeds fire burning with vehemence, and alsc
flame ; the nature of its heat, which is similar to heat from
elementary fire ; the graduation of that heat according to its

16
angle of incidence, whence proceed the varieties of climatt,
and also the four seasons of the year ; besides other things,
from which reason may be confirmed, through the senses of
its body, that the sun of the natural world is mere fire, and
also that it is fire in its purity itself. They who know-
nothing concerning the origin of spiritual things from their
sun, but are only acquainted with the' origin of natural
things from theirs, can scarcely avoid confounding spiritual
things and natural things, and concluding, through the falla
cies of the senses and thence of the reason, that spiritual
Ihings are nothing but pure natural things, and that from
the activity of the latter, excited by heat and light, arises
wisdom and love. These persons, forasmuch as they see
nothing else with their eyes, and smell nothing else with
their nostrils, and breathe nothing else in their breast, than
nature, ascribe all rational things to it also, and thus imbibe
naturalism, as a sponge absorbs water. Such persons maybe
compared to charioteers who yoke the horses behind the
chariot and not before it. It is otherwise with those who
distinguish between spiritual things and natural things, and
deduce the latter from the former ; these also perceive that
the influx of the soul into the body is spiritual, and that
natural things, which are of the body, serve the soul for
vehicles and means, that it may produce its effects in the
natural world. If you conclude otherwise, you may be com
pared to a crab, which assists its progress in walking by
means of its tail, and draws its eyes backwards at every
step ; and your rational sight may be compared to the sight
of the eyes of Argus in the back of his head, when those in
his forehead were asleep. Such persons also believe them
selves to be Arguses when they reason, for they say, Who
does not see that the origin of the universe is from nature ?
and what then is God but the inmost extension of nature ?
and the like irrational things ; of which they boast more
than wise men do of rational things.

VIII. — That therefore every thing which proceeds from this
sun, regarded in itself, is dead.
10. Who does not see from the reason of his understand
ing, if this is a little elevated above the sensual things of the
body, that love regarded in itself is alive, and that its appear-

17
ance of fire is life, and, on the contrary, that elementary fire
regarded in itself is respectively dead; consequently, that the
sun of the spiritual world, forasmuch as it is pure love, is
alive, and that the sun of the natural world, forasmuch as it
is pure fire, is dead ; and that the case is the same with all
the things which proceed and exist from them ? There are
two things which produce all the effects in the universe, Life
and Nature, and they produce them according to order
when life from the interior actuates nature. The case is
otherwise when nature from the interior draws life to act,
which takes place with those who place nature, which in it
self is dead, above and within life, and thence only sacrifice
to the pleasure of the senses and the concupiscences of the
flesh, and esteem the spiritual things of the soul and the
truly rational things of the mind as nothing. ' Such persons,
on account of that inversion, are they who are called dead ;
such are all atheistic naturalists in the world, and all Satans
in hell. They are also called dead in the Word, as in
David, " They adhered to Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices
of the dead," Ps. cvi. 28. " The enemy persecutes my soul,
he makes me to sit in darkness as the dead of the world,"
Ps. cxliii. 3. " To hear the groaning of the bound, and to
open to the sons of death," Ps. cii. 21. And in the Reve
lation, " I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou
livest, but thou art dead : be watchful and establish the
things that remain which are about to die," iii. 1, 2. They
are called the dead, because spiritual death is damnation, and
damnation is the lot of those who believe life to be from na
ture, and thus believe the light of nature to be the light of
life, and thereby hide, suffocate, and extinguish every idea
of God, of heaven, and of eternal life. Such persons there
fore are like owls, which see light in darkness and darkness
in light, that is, such persons see falses as truths and evils as
goods ; and forasmuch as the delights of evil are the delights
of their hearts, they are not unlike those birds and beasts
which feed on the bodies of the dead as dainties, and snuff
up the fetid odors from sepulchres as balsams. Such per
sons do not see any other than physical or natural influx ;
if notwithstanding they affirm influx to be spiritual, they do
not do so from any idea of it, but from the dictate of a
preceptor. 2*

18

IX. — That the spiritual clothes itself with the natural, as a
man clothes himself 'with a garment.
11. It is known that in every operation there is the active
and the passive ; and that from the active alone nothing
exists, and nothing from the passive alone. The case is
similar with the spiritual and the natural ; the spiritual, for
asmuch as it is a living power, being active, and the natural,
forasmuch as it is a dead power, being passive< Hence it
follows that whatever has existed in this solar world from
the beginning, and afterwards exists every moment, is from
the spiritual through the natural, and this not only in the
subjects of the animal kingdom, but also in the subjects of
the vegetable kingdom. Another fact similar to this is also
known, viz., that in every thing which is effected there is a
¦principal and an instrumental, and that these two, when any
thing is done, appear as one, though they are distinctly two ;
wherefore this also is one of the rules of wisdom, that the
principal cause and the instrumental cause make together
one cause : so also do the spiritual and the natural. That
these two in producing effects appear as one, is because the
spiritual is within the natural, as the fibre is within the mus
cle, and as the blood is within the arteries; or as the thought
is inwardly in the speech, and the affection in the tones of
the voice, causing themselves to be apprehended by means
of what is natural. From these considerations, but yet as
if through a window, it appears, that the spiritual clothes
itself with the natural, as a man clothes himself with a gar
ment. The organical body with which the soul clothes it
self is here compared to a garment, because a garment
invests the body, and the soul also puts off the body, and
casts it away as a useless covering, when it emigrates by
means of death from the natural world into its own spiritual
world. For the body grows old like a garment, but not the
soul, because this is a spiritual substance, which has nothing
in common with the changes of nature, which advance from
their beginnings to their ends, and' are periodically termi
nated. They who do not consider the body as the vesture
or covering of the soul, and as being in itself dead, and only
adapted to receive the living powers flowing in through the
soul from God, cannot avoid concluding, from fallacies, that
the soul lives by itself, and the body by itsdf, and that there

19
is a pre-established harmony between the life of each; and
likewise that the life of the soul flows-in into the life of the
body, or the life of the body into the life of the soul, whence
they conceive influx to be both spiritual and natural; when
nevertheless it is a truth which is testified by every thing
that is created, that what is posterior does not act from itself.
but from what is prior, from which it proceeded ; thus that
neimer does this act from itself, but from something still
prior : and thus that there is nothing which acts any other
wise than, from that which is first, which acts from itself,
wiiich is God. Besides, life is single (unica), and this is not
capable of being created, but is very capable of flowing-in
into forms organically adapted to its reception. Such forms
are all and single things in the created universe. It is be
lieved by many that the soul is life, and thus that man, for
asmuch as he lives from the soul, lives from his own life,
thus from himself, consequently not by means of an influx
of life from God; but these cannot otherwise than twist a sort
of Gordian knot of fallacies, and entangle in it all the judg
ments of their mind, whence follows mere insanity in spirit
ual things ; cr they construct a labyrinth, from which the
mind can never, by means of any clew of reason, retrace its
way and extricate itself; they also actually let themselves
. down into caverns under the earth, where they dwell in
eternal darkness. For from such a belief proceed innume
rable fallacies, each of which is horrible ; as that God trans
ferred and transcribed himself into men, and that thence
every man is a sort of Deity, which lives from itself, and
thus that he does good and is wise from himself; likewise
that he possesses faith and charity in himself, and thus dis
plays them from himself, and not from God ; besides other
enormous sentiments such as prevail with those in hell, who,
when they were in the world, believed nature to live, or to
produce life by its own activity : when these look to heaven
they see its light as mere darkness. I formerly heard a
voice of one saying from heaven, that if a spark of life in
man were his own, and not of God in him, there would be
no heaven, nor any thing therein, and hence that there would
not be any church on earth, and consequently no life eternal.
Further particulars relating to this subject may he consulted
in the memorable relation inserted in the work on Conjugial
Lovf.u. 132 to 136.

20

X. — That spiritual things, so clothed in man, cause hii.t ta
be able to live a rational and moral man, thus a spiritually
natural man.
12. From the principle established above, that the soul
clothes itself with a body as a man clothes himself with a
garment, this follows as a conclusion. For the soul flows-in
into the human mind, and through this into the body, and
carries life with it, which it continually receives from the
Lord, and thus transfers it mediately into the body, where
by the closest union it makes the body appear to live ;
whence, and from a thousand testimonies of experience, it
is evident, that the spiritual united to the material, as a liv
ing power with a dead power, causes man to speak ration
ally and to act morally. It appears as if the tongue and lips
spoke from a certain life in themselves, and that the arms
and hands act in a like manner ; but it is the thought, which
in itself is spiritual, which speaks, and the will, which like
wise is spiritual, which acts, both by means of their own
organs, which in themselves are material, as being taken
from the natural world. That this is the case appears in
the light of day, provided this is attended to. Remove thought
from speech, is not the tongue dumb in a moment ? and re
move will from action, are not the hands in a moment quies
cent ? The unition of spiritual things with natural things,
and the consequent appearance of life in material things, may
be compared to generous wine in a clean sponge, and to the
saccharine juice in a grape, and to the savory liquor in an
apple, and also to the aromatic odor in cinnamon. The fibres
containing all these things are matters, which neither taste
nor smell from themselves, but from the fluids in and be
tween them; wherefore if you squeeze out those juices, they
are dead filaments. So are the organs proper to the body, if
life be taken away. That man is rational in consequence
of the unition of spiritual things with natural things, is evi
dent from the analytical of his thought; and that he is
moral from the same cause, is evident from the propriety of
his actions and the graces of his demeanor. These he ac
quires from the faculty of being able to receive influx from
the Lord through the angelic heaven, wherein is the very
habitation of wisdom and love, thus of rationality and mo
rality. Hence it may be perceived, that what is spiritual
and what is natural, being united in man, cause him to live a

21
spiritually natural man. The reason that he lives in a sinv>
lar and yet dissimilar manner after death, is because his
soul is then clothed with a substantial body, as in the world
it was clothed with a material body. It is believed by many
that the perceptions and thoughts of the mind, forasmuch as
they are spiritual, flow-in naked, and not by means of organ
ized forms ; but let them dream thus who have not seen the
interiors of the head, where perceptions and thoughts begin
in their principles, and are ignorant that it contains the
brains, interwoven and composed of the cineritious and me
dullary substances, together with glands, cavities, septa, and
the meninges and maters, which surround them, all ; and
who do not know that a man thinks and wills soundly or
insanely according to the perfect or perverted state of all
those things, consequently that he is rational and moral ac
cording to the organic formation of his mind. For nothing
could be predicated of the rational sight of man, which is
the understanding, without forms organized for the reception
of spiritual light, as nothing could be predicated of the natu
ral sight without the eyes ; and so in other instances.

XI. — That the reception of that, influx is according to the
state of love and wisdom with man.
13. That man is not life, but an organ recipient of life
from God, and that love together with wisdom is life ; also,
that God is love itself and wisdom itself, and thus life itself;
has been demonstrated above. Hence it follows, that so far
as a man loves wisdom, or so far as wisdom in the bosom
of love is with him, so far he is an image of God, that is, a
receptacle of life from God ; and, on the contrary, so far as
he is in oppor^te love, and thence in insanity, so far he does
not receive life from God, but from hell, which life is called
death. Love itself and wisdom itself are not life, but are
the esse of life, but the delights of love and the pleasant
nesses of wisdom, which are affections, constitute life, for
the Esse of life exists by these. The influx of life from
God carries with it those* delights and pleasantnesses, like
the influx of light and heat, at the time of spring, into human
minds, and also into birds and beasts of every kind, yea into
vegetables, which then germinate and become prolific ; for
the delights of love and the pleasantnesses of wisdom ex-

22
pan! men's minds (animi) and adapt them to reception, as
joy and gladness expand the face and adapt it to the influx
of the hilarities of the soul. The man who is affected with
the love of wisdom, is like a garden in Eden, in which are
two trees, the one of life and the other of the science of good
and evil. The tree of life is the reception of love and wisdom
from God, and the tree of the science of good and evil is the
reception of them from self. The latter is insane, but still
believes himself to be wise like God, but the former is truly
wise, and believes no one to be wise but God alone, and that
man is wise so far as he believes this, and more wise so far
as he is sensible that he wills it : but more on this subject
may be seen in the memorable relation inserted in the work
on Conjugial Lgve, n. 132 to 136. I will here add an
arcanum confirming these things from heaven. All the
angels of heaven turn their forehead to the Lord as a sun,
and all the angels of hell turn the back of the head to him,
and the latter receive the influx into the affections of their
will, which in themselves are concupiscences, and make the
understanding favor them ; but the former receive the influx
into the affections of their understanding, and make the will
favor them, whence these are in wisdom, but the others are
in insanity; for the human understanding dwells in the cere
brum, which is under the forehead, and the will in the cere
bellum, which is in the back of the head. Who does not
know that a man who is insane from falses, favors the cu
pidities of his own evil, and confirms them by reasons from
the understanding, and that a wise man sees from truths the
quality of the cupidities of his own will, and restrains them ?
A wise man does this because he turns his face to God, that
is, he beheves in God, and not in himself, but an insane man
does the other because he averts his face from God, that is,
he believes in himself, and not in God. To believe in him
self is to believe that he loves and is wise from himself, and
not from God, and this is signified by eating of the tree of
the science of good and evil ; but to believe in God is to be
lieve that he loves and is wise from God, and not from him
self, and this is signified by eating of the tree af life, Rev. ii.
7. From these things, but still only as in the light of the
moon by night, it may be perceived that the reception of the
influx of life from God is according to the state of love and
wisdom with man. This influx may further be illustrated
by the influx of light and heat into vegetables, which blossom
and bear fruit according to the structure of '.he fibres which

form t.iern, thus according to reception ; it may also be illus
trated by the influx of the rays of light into precious stones,
which modify them into colors according to the situation of
the parts composing them, thus also according to reception ;
and likewise by optical glasses and the drops of rain, which
exhibit rainbows according to the incidences, refractions, and
thus the receptions, of light. The case is similar with human
minds in respect to spiritual light, which proceeds from the
Lord as a sun, and perpetually flows-in, but is variously
received.

XII. — That the understanding in man is capable of being
elevated into the light, that is, into the ivisdom, in which
the angels of heaven are, according to the improvement of
the reason ; and that, in like manner his will is capable of
being elevated into the heat of heaven, that is, into the love
of heaven, according to the deeds of the life ; but that the
love of the tvill is not elevated except so far as the man wills
and does those things which the wisdom of the understand
ing teaches.
14. By the human mind are understood its two faculties,
which are called the understanding and the will. The under
standing is the receptacle of the light of heaven, which in its
essence is wisdom, and the will is the receptacle of the heat
of heaven, which in its essence is love, as was shown above.
These two, wisdom and love, proceed from the Lord as a
sun, and flow-in into heaven universally and singularly,
whence the angels have wisdom and love ; and they also
flow-in into this world universally and singularly, whence
men have wisdom and love. But these two proceed unitedly
from the Lord, and likewise flow-in unitedly into the souls
of angels and men, but they are not received unitedly in
tneir minds ; light which constitutes the understanding being
first received there, and love which constitutes the will being
received gradually. This also is of providence, as every
man is to "be created anew, that is, reformed, and this is ef
fected by means of the understanding ; for he must imbibe
from infancy the knowledges of truth and good, which are to
teach him to live well, that is, to will and act rightly. Thus
the will is formed by means of the understanding. For the
sake of this end, there is given to man the faculty of elevat-

24
ing his understanding almost into the light in which the
angels of heaven are, that he may see what he ought to will
and thence to do, in order that he may be prosperous in the
world for a time, and blessed after death to eternity. He be
comes prosperous and blessed if he procures to himself wis
dom, and keeps his will under obedience to it ; but unpros-
perous and unhappy if he puts his understanding under obe
dience to his will. The reason is, because the will tends to
evils from birth, even to those which are enormous ; where
fore unless it were restrained by means of the understanding,
man would rush into acts of wickedness, yea, from his in-
rooted savage nature, he would destroy and slaughter for the
sake of himself all those who do not favor and indulge him.
Besides, unless the understanding could be separately per
fected, and the will through this, man would not be man, but
a beast. For without that separation, and without the ascent
of the understanding above the will, he would not be able to
think, and from thought to speak, but only to express his af
fection by sounds ; neither would he be able to act from rea
son, but only from instinct ; still less would he be able to
know the things which are of God, and God by means of
them, and thus to be conjoined to him, and to live to eternity.
For man thinks and wills as from himself, and this, as from
himself, is the reciprocal of conjunction ; for conjunction can
not be given without the reciprocal, as the conjunction of the
active with the passive cannot he given without a re-active.
God alone acts, and man suffers himself to be acted on, and
re-acts in all appearance as from himself, though interiorly
it is from God. From these things, rightly apprehended,
may be seen what is the quality of the love of man's will,
if it is elevated by means of the understanding, and what is
its quality if it is not elevated, consequently, what is the
quality of the man. But this; viz., the quality of man if the
love of his will is not elevated by means of the understand
ing, shall be illustrated by comparisons. He is like an eagle
flying on high, which, as soon as it sees the meats below
which are the objects of its cupidity, as chickens, young
swans, or even young lambs, casts itself down in a moment
and devours them ; he is also like an adulterer, who con
ceals a harlot in a cellar below, and by turns goes up to the
highest apartments of the house, and talks wisely with those
who dwell there concerning chastity, and alternately takes
himself away from his companions, and indulges himself be
low with his harlot ; he is also like a thief on a tower, who

25
tnere pretends to act the pari of a watchman, but who, as
soon as he sees an object of plunder below, hastens down
and seizes it; he may also be compared to marsh-flies, which
fly in a column over the head of a horse that is running, but
which fall down when tfie horse stops, and immerse them
selves in the marsh. Such is the man whose will or love is
not elevated by means of the understanding, for he then
stands still below at the foot, immersed in the unclean things
of nature and the lustful things of the senses. It is altoge
ther otherwise with those who subdue the allurements of the
cupidities of the will, by means of the wisdom of the under
standing; with these the understanding afterwards enters
into a conjugial covenant with the will, thus wisdom with
love, and they dwell together above with their delights.

XIII. — That it is altogether otherwise with beasts.
15. They who judge of things only from their appearance
before the senses of the body, conclude that beasts have will
and understanding as well as men, and hence that the only
distinction consists in man's being able to. speak, and thus to
describe the things which he thinks and desires, while beasts
can only express them by sounds ; yet beasts have not will
and understanding, but only a resemblance of each, which
the learned call something analogous. That man is man, is
because his understanding can be elevated above the desires
of his will, and thus can know and see them, and also mode
rate them ; but a beast is a beast because its desires drive it
.o do whatever it does ' wherefore a man is a man in conse
quence of this, that his will is under obedience to his under
standing ; but a beast is a beast in consequence of this, that
its understanding is under obedience to its will. From these
3onsiderations this conclusion follows, viz., that the under
standing of man, forasmuch as it receives the light influent
from heaven, and apprehends and apperceives this as its own,
and therefrom thinks analytically with all variety, altogether
as from itself, is alive, and is thence truly understanding ¦
and that the will of man, forasmuch as it receives the influ
ent love of heaven, and therefrom acts as from itself, is alive
and is thence truly will ; but that the contrary is the case
with beasts. Wherefore they who think from the lusts of the
will are compared to beasts, and in the spiritual world they
3

26
likewise at a distance appear as beasts ; they also act like
beasts, with this only difference, that they are able to act
otherwise if they will. But they who restrain the lusts of
their will by the understanding, appear in the spiritual world
as men, and are angels of heaven. In a word, the will and
the understanding in beasts always cohere, and forasmuch as
the will is blind, being [the receptacle] of heat and not of
light, it makes the understanding blind also. Hence a beast
does not know and understand its own actions, and yet it
acts, for it acts by virtue of the influx from the spiritual world;
and such action is instinct. It is believed that a beast thinks
from understanding what to act, but this is not at all the case ;
it is led to act only from natural love, which is in it from
creation, with the assistance of the senses of its body. That
man thinks and speaks is solely because his understanding is
capable of being separated from his will, and of being ele
vated even into the light of heaven ; for the understanding
thinks, and thought speaks. That beasts act according to
the laws of order inscribed on their nature, and some beasts
in a moral and rational manner, differently from many men,
is because their understanding is blind obedience to the de
sires of their will, and thence they are not able to pervert
them by depraved reasonings, as men do. It is to be observ
ed, that by the will and understanding of beasts here spoken
of, is understood a resemblance of, and something analogous
to, those faculties : things analogous are so named from ap
pearance. The life of a beast may be compared with a sleep
walker, who walks and acts from the will while the under
standing sleeps ; and also with a blind man, who walks
through the streets with a dog leading him ; and also with
an idiot, who from custom and the habit thence acquired does
his work in a regular manner. It may likewise be compared
with a person void of memory, and thence deprived of under
standing, who still knows or learns how to clothe himself, to
eat dainties, to love the sex, to walk the streets from house
to house, and to do such things as soothe the senses and in
dulge the flesh, by the allurements and pleasures of which
he is drawn along, though he does not think, and thence can
not speak. From these considerations it is evident, how
much' they are mistaken who believe beasts to be endowed
with rationality, and only to be' distinguished from men by
the external figure, and by their not being able to speak of
the rational things which they inwardly revolve. From
which fallacies many even conclude, that if man lives aftet

27
death, beasts will live after death likewise, and, on the con
trary, that if beasts do not live after death, neither will man;
besides other dreams, arising from ignorance concerning the
will and understanding, and also concerning degrees, by
means of which, as by a ladder, the mind of man mount.-i uji
to heaven.

XIV. — That there are three degrees in the spiritual world,
and three degrees in the natural world, hitherto unknown,
according to tvhich all influx takes place.
16. It is discovered, by the investigation of causes from
effects, that degrees are of two kinds, one in which are things
prior and posterior, and another in which are things greater
and less. The degrees which distinguish things prior and
posterior are to be called degrees of altitude, ox discrete
degrees ; but the degrees by which things greater and less
are distinguished from each other, are to be called degrees
of latitude, and also continuous degrees. Degrees of
altitude, or discrete degrees, are like the generations and
compositions of one thing from another ;• as, for example,
they are like the generation and composition of any nerve
from its fibres, and of any fibre from its fibrillse ; or of any
piece of wood, stone, or metal from its parts, and of any part
from its particles : but degrees of latitude, or continuous de
grees, are like the increments and decrements of the same
degree of altitude with respect to breadth, length, height, and
depth ; as of greater and less bodies of water, or air, or ether ;
and as of large and small masses of wood, stone, or metal.
All and single things in both worlds, the spiritual world and
the natural world, are, from creation, in degrees of both these
kinds. The whole animal kingdom in this world is in those
degrees both in genera) and in particular ; so are the whole
vegetable kingdom and the whole mineral kingdom likewise ;
and so is the expanse of atmospheres from the sun even to
the earth. There are therefore three atmospheres discretely
distinct according to the degrees of altitude both in the spi
ritual world and in the natural world, because each world
has its sun ; but the atmospheres of the spiritual world, by
virtue of their origin, are substantial, and the atmospheres of
the natural world, by virtue of their origin, are material : and
forasmuch as the atmospheres descend from their origins

28
according to those degrees, and are the continents, and, as il
were, promoting vehicles of light and heat, it follow;, that
there are three degrees of light and heat : and forasmuch as
light in the spiritual world is in its essence wisdom, and heat
there is in its essence love, as was demonstrated above in its
proper article, it follows also that there are three degrees of
wisdom and three degrees of love, consequently three degrees
of life ; for they are graduated by the atmospheres through
which they pass. Hence it is that there are three angelic
heavens : a supreme, which is also called the third heaven,
where are angels of the supreme degree ; a middle, which is
also called the second heaven, where are angels of the mid
dle degree ; and an ultimate, which is also called the first
heaven, where are angels of the lowest degree. Those hea
vens are also distinguished according to the degrees of wis
dom and love. They who are in the ultimate heaven are
in the love of knowing truths and goods, they who are in
the middle heaven are in the love of understanding them,
and they who are in the supreme heaven are in the love of
being wise, that is, of living according to those truths and
goods which they know and understand. As the angelic
heavens are distinguished into three degrees, so also is the
human mind, because the human mind is an image of hea
ven, that is, it is a heaven in the least form. Hence it is
that man is capable of becoming an angel of one of those
three heavens, and he becomes such according to his recep
tion of wisdom and love from the Lord : an angel of the
ultimate heaven if he only receives the love of knowing
truths and goods ; an angel of the middle heaven if he re
ceives the love of understanding them ; and an angel of the
supreme heaven if he receives the love of being wise, that is,
of living according to them. That the human mind is dis
tinguished into three regions, according to the three heavens,
may be seen in the relation inserted in the work on Conju-
gial Love, n. 270. Hence it is evident that all spiritual
influx to man and into man descends from the Lord through
these three degrees, and that it is received by man according
to the degree of wisdom and love in which he is. The
knowledge of these degrees is of the greatest utility at this
day ; for many, in consequence of not knowing them, stand
still and stick in the lowest degree, in which are the senses
of their body, and on account of their ignorance, which is
intellectual darkness, are incapable of being elevated into
spiritual light, which is above them. Hence naturalism

29
invades them, as it were spontaneously, as soon as they enter
on any investigation and scrutiny concerning the human
soul and mind, and its rationality, and more so if they inquire
concerning heaven and the life after death ; whence they
become like persons standing in the market places with tele
scopes in their hands, looking at the sky and uttering vain
predictions ; and also like those who prate and reason con
cerning every object they see, and every thing they hear
without there being in it any thing rational from the under
standing; but such persons are like butchers, who believe
themselves to be skilled in anatomy, because they have ex
amined the viscera of oxen and sheep outwardly but not in
wardly. But it is a truth, that to think from the influx of
natural light {lumen), not enlightened by the influx of spirit
ual light, is nothing else but dreaming, and to speak from
such thought is to utter idle soothsayings. But further par
ticulars concerning degrees may be seen in the work on the
divine love and the divine wisdom, n. 173 to 281.

XV. — That Ends are in the first degree, Causes in the second,
and Effects in the third.
17. Who does not see that the end is not the cause, but
that it produces the cause, and that the cause is not the effect,
but that it produces the effect, consequently, that they are
three distinct things which follow each other in order ? The
end with man is the love of his will, for what a man loves,
this he proposes to himself and intends ; the cause with him
is the reason of his understanding, for the end, by means of
the reason, seeks for mediate or efficient causes ; and the
effect is the operation of the body from them, and according
to them : thus there are three things in man, which follow
each other in order, as the degrees of altitude follow each
other. When these three things are exhibited in act, then
the end is inwardly in the cause, and the end through the
cause is in the effect, wherefore these three things co-exist
in the effect. On this account it is said in the Word, that
every one shall be judged according to his. works; for the
end, or the love of his will, and the cause, or the reason of
his understanding, are together in the effects, which are the
works of his body ; thus the quality of the whole man is
contained therein. They who are unacquainted with these
3*

30
truths, and do not thus distinguish the objects of reason, can
not avoid terminating the ideas of their thought in the atoms
of Epicurus, the monads of Leibnitz, or the simple substances
of Wolff, whereby they shut up their understandings as with
a bolt, so that they cannot even think from reason concerning
spiritual influx, because they cannot think concerning any
progression ; for the author of the doctrine of simple sub
stances says, that if they are divided they fall into nothing.
Thus the understanding stands still in its first light {lumen),
which is merely derived from the senses of the body, and
does not advance a step further. Hence it is not known but
that the spiritual is a subtile natural, and that beasts have a
rational as well as men, and that the soul is a puff of wind
which is breathed out of the breast when a person dies ; be
sides other notions, which are not of light but of darkness.
As all things in the spiritual world and all things in the
natural world proceed according to these degrees, as was
shown in the preceding article, it is evident that intelligence
properly consists in knowing and distinguishing them, and
seeing them in their order. By means of these degrees, also,
every man is known as to his quality, when his love is
known; for, as was said above, the end, which is of the will,
and the causes, which are of the understanding, and the
effects, which are of the body, follow from his love, as a tree
from its seed, and as fruit from a tree. There are loves of
three kinds, the love of heaven, the love of the world, and
the love of self; the love of heaven is spiritual, the love of
the world is material, and the love of self is corporeal.
When the love is spiritual, all the things which follow from
it, as forms from their essence, are spiritual likewise ; if the
principal love is the love of the world or of wealth, and thus
is material, all the things which follow from it, as principiates
from their principle, are material likewise ; and if the prin
cipal love is the love of self, or of eminence above all others,
and thus is corporeal, all the things which follow from it are
corporeal likewise, because the man who is in this love re
gards himself alone, and thus immerses the thoughts of his
mind in his body. Wherefore, as was just now said, he who
knows the reigning love of any one, and is at the same time
acquainted with the progression of ends to causes and of
causes to effects, which three things follow each other in
order according to the degrees of altitude, knows the whole
man. Thus the angels of heaven know every one with
whom they speak ; they perceive his love from the sound of

31

his voice, they see an image of it in his face, and the figure
of it in the gestures of his body.

XVI. — That hence it is evident what is the quality of Spirit
ual Influx from its origin to its effects.
18. Spiritual influx has hitherto been deduced from the
soul into the body, but not from God into the soul and thus
into the body. This has been done, because no one knew any
thing conctrning the spiritual world, and concerning the sun
there, from whence all spiritual things issue as from their
fountain, and thus no one knew any thing concerning the
influx of spiritual things into natural things. Now foras
much as it has been given to me to be in the spiritual world
and in the natural world at the same time, I am obliged by
my conscience to declare these things ; for what is the use
of knowledge, unless what is known to one be also known to
others ? Without this, what is the acquisition of knowledge
but like collecting and storing up riches in a casket, and only
looking at them occasionally and counting them over, with
out any intention of applying them to use ? Spiritual avarice
is nothing else. But in order that it may be fully known
what and of what quality spiritual influx is, it is necessary
to know what the spiritual is in its essence, and what the
natural is, and also what the human soul is. Lest there
fore this short lucubration should be defective through igno
rance of these subjects, it will be useful to consult some rela
tions inserted in the work on Conjuglal Love ; viz., that
concerning the spiritual, n. 326 to 329 ; that concerning the
human soul, n. 315; and that concerning the influx of
spiritual things into natural things, n. 380 ; which latter
subject is more fully treated of from n. 415 to 422.

19. I will here subjoin this relation. After these pages
were written, I prayed to the Lord that I might be permitted
to converse with some disciples of Aristotle, and at the
same time with some disciples of Des Cartes, and with
some disciples of Leibnitz, in order that I might learn the
opinions of their minds concerning the intercourse between
the soul and the body. After my prayer there were present

32
nine men, three Aristotelians, three Cartesians, and three
Leibnitzians ; and they stood round about me, the admirers
of Aristotle being on the left side, the followers of Des Cartes
on the right side, and the favorers of Leibnitz behind. At a
distance off, and at intervals from each other, were seen three
persons crowned with laurel, and I knew from an influent
perception that they were those three great leaders or
teachers themselves. Behind Leibnitz there stood a person
holding the border of his garment, and I was told that it was
Wolff. Those nine men, when they beheld one another, at
first saluted and spake to each other in a gentle tone of voice.
But presently there arose from below a spirit with a torch in
his right hand, which he shook before their faces, whereupon
they became enemies, three against three, and looked at each
other with a fierce countenance ; for they were seized with
the lust of altercation and litigation. Then the Aristotelians,
who were also schoolmen, began to speak, saying, Who does
not see that objects flow-in through the senses into the soul,
as a man enters through the doors into a chamber, and that
the soul thinks according to such influx ? When a lover
sees a beautiful virgin or his bride, does not his eye sparkle
and transmit the love of her into the soul ? When a miser
sees bags of money, do not all his senses burn towards them,
and thence induce this ardor into the soul, and excite the
cupidity of possessing them? When a proud man hears
himself praised by another, does he not prick up his ears,
and do not these transmit those praises to the soul ? Are not
the senses of the body like outer courts, through which alone
there is entrance to the soul ? From these considerations,
and innumerable others of a similar kind, who can conclude
otherwise than that influx is from nature, or is physical ?
While they were speaking thus, the followers of Des Cartes
held their fingers on their foreheads ; and now withdrawing
them they replied, saying, Alas, ye speak from appearances.
Do ye not know that the eye does not love a virgin or bride
from itself, but from the soul? and likewise that the senses
of the body do not covet the bags of money from themselves,
but from the soul ? and also that the ears do not devour the
praises of flatterers in any other manner? Is not perception
what causes sensation? and perception is of the soul, and not
of the organs of the body. Tell, if you can, what makes the
tongue and lips to speak but the thqught ? and what makes
the hands to work but the will ? and thought and will are
•»[ the soul, and not qf the body. Thus what makes the eye

33
to see, and the ear to hear, and the other organs to feel, but
the soul? From these considerations, and innumerable
others of a similar kind, every one, whose wisdom is elevated
above the sensuals of the body, concludes, that influx does
not take place from the body into the soul, but from the soul
into the body, which influx we call occasional influx, and also
spiritual influx. "When these had finished, the three men
who stood behind the former triads, who were the favorers
of Leibnitz, began to speak, saying, We have heard the
arguments on both sides, and have compared them, and we
have perceived that in many particulars the latter are stronger
than the former, and that in many others the former are
stronger than the latter ; wherefore, if it is permitted, we will
compromise the. dispute. And on being asked how, they
replied, There is not any influx from the soul into the body,
nor from the body into the soul, but there is a unanimous
and instantaneous operation of both together, to which a cele
brated author has assigned an elegant name, calling it pre-
established harmony. After this the spirit with the torch
appeared again, but the torch was now in his left hand, and
he shook it behind the back of their heads, whence their
ideas of every thing became confused, and they cried out
together, Neither our soul nor body knows what part to take,
wherefore let us settle this dispute by lot, and we will abide
by the lot which comes out first. And they took out three
pieces of paper, and wrote on one of them, physical influx,
on another, spiritual influx, and on the third, pre-esta
blished harmony; and they put them all into the crown of a
hat. Then they chose one of their number to draw, and
when he put in his hand he took hold of that on which was
written spiritual influx ; which being seen and read, they
all said, yet some with a clear and open, some with a feint
and retracted voice, Let us abide by this because it came out
first. But then an angel suddenly stood by, and said, Do
not believe that the paper in favor of spiritual influx came
out by chance, but from providence ; for you do not see the
truth of it, dn account of the confusion of your ideas, but the
truth itself offered itself to the hand of him that drew the
lots, that you might assent to it

20. I was formerly asked how from a philosopher I be
came a theologian ; and I answered, In the same manner

34
that fishers were made disciples and apostles by the Lord
and that I also, from early youth, had been a spirituil fisher
On hearing this the inquirer asked what a spiritual fisher
was. I replied, that a fisher, in the spiritual sense of the
Word, signifies a man who investigates and teaches natural
truths, and afterwards spiritual truths, in a rational manner.
To the question, How is this demonstrated ? I said, From
these places in the Word : " Then the waters shall fail from
the sea, and the rivers shall be dried up and parched, there
fore the fishers shall mourn, and all that cast a hook into
the sea shall be sad," Is. xix. 5, 8. In another place, " Upon
the river whose waters were healed, the fishers stood from
Engedi ; they were there in the spreading forth of nets ; ac
cording to its kind was their fIsh, as the fish of the great
sea, exceedingly much," Ezekiel xlvii. 9, 10. And in ano
ther place, " The saying of Jehovah, Lo, I will send to many
fishers, who SHALL FISH THE sons of Israel," Jerem. xvi.
16. Hence it is evident why the Lord chose fishers for dis
ciples, and said, " Come after me, and I will make you
fishers of men," Matt. iv. 18, 19 ; Mark i. 16, 17 : and to
Peter, after he had caught a multitude of fishes, " Hence
forth thou shalt catch men," Luke v. 9, 10. Afterwards
I demonstrated the origin of this signification of fishers from
the Apocalypse Revealed ; viz., because water signifies
natural truths, n. 50, 932 ; likewise a river, n. 409, 932 ; and
fish those who are in natural truths, n. 405 : whence fishers
signify those who investigate and teach truth. On hearing
this my interrogator raised his voice and said, Now I can
understand why the Lord called and chose fishers to be his
disciples, and therefore I do not wonder that he has also
called and chosen you, since, as you have said, you were
from early youth a fisher in a spiritual sense, that is, an in
vestigator of natural truths ; the reason that you are now
become an investigator of spiritual truths, is, because these
are founded on the former. To this he added, being a man
of reason, that the Lord alone knows who is a proper person
to apprehend and teach those things which are of his New
Church, whether some one among the dignitaries of the
Church, or some one among their domestic servants. Be
sides, what theologian does not, amongst christians, first study
philosophy at college, before he is ordained a divine ; other
wise whence could he obtain intelligence ? At last he said
Since you are become a theologian, explain what is youl
theology. I answered, These are the two principles of it,

:j-j

That God is one, and that there is a conjunction of cha
rity and faith. He replied, Who denies these principles ?
I rejoined, The theology of the present day, when interiorly
examined.

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