Grand Man - Its Heart and Lungs
By Rev. Paul Booth
Lessons: Arcana C&œ;lestia 3883, 3884
By Rev. Paul Booth
Lessons: Arcana C&œ;lestia 3883, 3884
It has been already shown what the Grand Man is, and what is the correspondence therewith, namely, that the Grand Man is the universal heaven, which in general is a likeness and image of the Lord, and that the correspondence is that of the Lord's Divine with the celestial and spiritual things therein; and of the celestial and spiritual things therein with the natural things in the world; and chiefly with those in man. Thus, there is a correspondence of the Lord's Divine through heaven in the Grand Man with man, and with all the things in man, insomuch that man comes forth, that is subsists, there from.
Arcana C&œ;lestia 3883
There are many reasons why a person decides to becomes a New Church person. Usually, it is something that they believed the New Church teaches about God's relationship with humanity. Of course, there are others that say they just do not accept and, so, remain in other beliefs. There are though some things revealed in the Third Testament that, not everyone, even those who may have been born and brought up in the New Church, can so easily understood. One such concept is the Grand Man of heaven. You may have read or heard about it, that a Grand of Great Man, as it were' stands before God and may even have heard the phrase 'the Grand Man of Heaven' and that somehow all of Heaven is in the shape or form of a 'Grand' or Great man and have wondered about it.
Arcana C&œ;lestia 3883
There are many reasons why a person decides to becomes a New Church person. Usually, it is something that they believed the New Church teaches about God's relationship with humanity. Of course, there are others that say they just do not accept and, so, remain in other beliefs. There are though some things revealed in the Third Testament that, not everyone, even those who may have been born and brought up in the New Church, can so easily understood. One such concept is the Grand Man of heaven. You may have read or heard about it, that a Grand of Great Man, as it were' stands before God and may even have heard the phrase 'the Grand Man of Heaven' and that somehow all of Heaven is in the shape or form of a 'Grand' or Great man and have wondered about it.
However, it is not the form or shape that we now need to be looking at, but the character. Since, one reads that man was created in God's image and after in his likeness, because the quality of good and truth, which come from God's Love and Wisdom, then we are speaking of not only man's existence, but of his subsistence, for such are from the Divine qualities of the Lord God with both angels in heaven and in man on earth and, thus, are made in the image and likeness of the Lord. It is not just heaven in its universal, which qualities of goodness and truth angels are in, that make heaven in an image and likeness of the Lord, but so, too, is the man on earth in whom these qualities dwell. The principal of correspondences is taught all throughout the Third Testament and, here, in our text, we see an example as well. It is one of the key ideas and truths that support the existence of a new Word that has come from God. Very often because a person reads that this signifies or is representative of such and such a thing or idea or truth they are able the see, to some degree, the internal or spiritual sence. In fact, one can even read written specifically in Arcana C&œ;lestia the words, "The Internal Sense". Nonetheless, we are also warned that just by learning what things signify or represent or if we have a book showing what a place, person, or thing, in the Word signify or represent, we will not necessarily know or understand the spiritual sense and may even come to understand falsely. In Arcana C&œ;lestia 3883 we see not only that there is a relationship between the natural and spiritual sense of the Word, but a connection or conjunction between God, heaven, and earth, and, thus, that life from the Lord comes from and continually sustains angels and men.
We have read in Arcana C&œ;lestia, "The correspondences are that of the Lord's Divine with the celestial and spiritual things" (3883). One of the differences a person notes about the Third Testament with the Old and New Testaments is the use of the names 'Lord' and 'Divine'. "The name Lord is meant the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, and Him only; and he is called "the Lord" (AC 14). Therefore, the name of Lord has reference to the Divine Human, to the Lord after His coming on earth, after defeating the evils, subjugating them in hell and bringing order to heaven. It is, as such, not the person Jesus Christ who came and lived on earth that is meant. 'Divine' refers to the things of the Lord, which things are infinite and eternal. Generally, these can be seen as those qualities of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. It is those qualities in heaven and on earth that when are with angels and men are called goods and truths and these are either Divine celestial, spiritual or natural qualities of the Lord. In fact, they make heaven and the Church on earth and, if heaven consists of angels and the man of the Church on earth of good and truth, they also sustained, that is, heaven and earth exist and subsist from the Divine Human, for all things come forth from the Lord, both heaven and earth, the former - heaven - being all internal things and the latter - earth - being all external things or ultimates.
The celestial principal, of course, is love to the Lord and is of love or charity toward the neighbor, while the spiritual principal is of the affection of truth which comes from the affection of good. These are in all creation, both the celestial, spiritual, and natural. Now, since, these are Divine qualities and 'as it were' flow from the Lord and through them heaven and earth was and created or exists and is sustained, it is therefore understood what is meant by the Grand Man or the universal heaven, for it is in the image and likeness of the Lord, they having come from the Lord who is the only true Man. You can understand too, since an angel and a man is formed from these Divine qualities that his internal or spirit is a heaven in the least form and in the natural in the least form, that he is thus a microcosm of these - the universal heaven and the physical universe. For not only are all natural substances in the natural man, but all spiritual substances are in the spiritual man.
To further help get an idea of the universal heaven or the Grand Man let us compare it to the Church here on earth. Aren't there various qualities or degrees of love, or charity, and of faith or belief, of both spiritual and natural worship, and of the works of charity in man in whom the Church exists? And of many more wonderful qualities that are in one in whom the Lord dwells? So it is that heaven, which the Lord said was within man, is composed of His love and wisdom in the inmost, in the celestial and spiritual degrees. along with both the internal, interior, and the external qualities that are the Lord's in the Church in man on earth.
In truth, these various qualities that are of the Divine of the Lord that make heaven and, therefore are what conjoin angels and men with the Lord, since they are the Lord's in angels and men and are their life 'as it were'. One can see that what is to be understood here is the creation of heaven and the universe and its continual existence.
The question often arises is, can these Divine qualities ever become man's as some religions have suggested? Wouldn't such an idea mean God created the universe and mankind from Himself, which is called pantheism? However, one of the truths that one may find in the Third Testament is that the Divine fills all spaces of the universe without space or apart from space and all time without time or apart from time. The idea one derives from this is that the universe, which consists of natural substance, is not made of Divine things but is the recipient thereof, that it is only temporal, not infinite or eternal. Now, when you consider that heaven and the celestial and spiritual angels and heavenly things are derived from the Lord's love and wisdom, you can understand internal things within the terrestrial or earthly things - the ultimates - and that these (the ultimates) are 'as it were' a clothing for the spiritual while the spiritual is a clothing for the celestial and it for the Divine. Thus it is that when these things are in man that as an angel he has eternal life, that life being the Lord's Divine within what is heavenly. Nonetheless, in heaven there also appears that there is distance or spaces 'as it was' between objects, but there objects there are not stationary as they are on earth. Thus, heaven is not the Divine itself even as neither is any man on earth the divine, but is 'as if' within and is only a receptacle and clothing for the Divine of the Lord. Here, perhaps you may understand why the Lord has said that heaven is within man, for those Divine qualities in their various degrees are within mankind, who is now in ultimates, and within are spiritual, and celestial, the man's spirit, in heaven in the Divine from the Lord.
There are several paradigms used in the Third Testament that one may come to learn and come to understand the spiritual sense. One such is that of the natural earth's comparison with Heaven (Example: this world's sun and its heat and light are compared to the spiritual world's sun, which is the Lord's love and truth which sustains life with angels. While the earth's sun, is light and heat appears to sustain natural life of plants and thus supports all live on earth). Thus, we see a correspondence and conjunction of man with heaven and with the Lord. However, the idea of a man's image and likeness corresponding to heaven and it to the Lord is primary, for from it one can see the creation and its subsistence as being in the image and likeness of the Lord, for all the organs or interiors of the natural man are compared to the life of the spiritual and celestial man (angel).
One who truly believes that the Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah God come on earth and has made His Human Divine, then he sees that He is the only True Man that was manifested to the celestial Church and to the angels, and that the Israelites worshipped as an invisible God. Then all of heaven, all that 'as it were' proceed - the Divine quality of love and wisdom - become, not only in character, in image and likeness of that Divine Man, but in form as well as was seen in Jesus Christ the Savor of the world. What is celestial is of good and what is spiritual is of truth. Thus, what is celestial is the essence of the Lord, being Divine Love, while the spiritual is the existence of the Lord, being Divine Wisdom. From this it is known that all things in both the universe and heaven are made of goods and truths. In fact, they are the starting point on which the New Church doctrine stands. Therefore, from the Lord's divine love proceeds goodness which is of the celestial and from His divine wisdom proceeds the truth which is the spiritual and the Divine through these proceed in use.
Nonetheless, a man of this world does not see his connection or conjunction with heaven unless these things have been revealed and he is enlightened and believes there are correspondences revealed in a new Word. Thus, it is that it can be seen that there has been enlightenment of heaven 'as it were' from one's spirit, such as from the prophets and John, but not enlightenment from or out of body. Here, the prophet or John observes heaven as one observing events taking place 'as if' on earth in a future time. The prophets and John along with Swedenborg all experiences this and what they observed they recorded as the events unfolded before them.
Here, written in Arcana C&œ;lestia, we see Swedenborg was permitted to see heaven's interior and thus, he was not 'out of body', but in body, heaven being within one and not in space or time. In other words, since heaven is within man as spiritual and celestial degrees or qualities of the Lord's Divine, it is made in an image and likeness of the Lord, then, its interior operation (heaven and, thus, the Grand Man's) were revealed to Swedenborg. Being in the body, Swedenborg was permitted to understand, in this case, the interior working or subsistence or life of heaven. Here, of course, one sees how the body of man is a paradigm for heaven and of necessity, the use of correspondences in coming to understand the concept of heaven as a Grand Man, of angel's life and man's.
So, it is now that by understanding the operation of the brain, the lungs, and the heart of man it can be shown concerning the existence and subsistence of the heaven itself - the Grand Man - it being the universal heaven and of all angels and of angelic societies being in an image and likeness of the Lord, and thus, the recipients of the Lord's Divine - good and truth - it being the life thereof. When speaking of a man's natural life we know the beginning is seen in the forming of the brain and have come to learn how these are instrumental in the man's natural formation and, so, its natural sustenance. However, first one must know and accept that man has a spiritual body as well as a natural body and that the spiritual body has life corresponding to the man's natural body. That is why Swedenborg stated he was not of himself in heaven, but in body, for heaven is within man.
Thus, in a person the brain is seen as the organ of one's reason, the left side is of one's rational or intelligence, while the right side is one's affections and will, the understanding and will. One sees here the receptacles of the will and the understanding of not only man's, but are of the universal heaven, for the organ of the brain pertain to uses and thus, to ends, which was man natural creation. This, the mind, which is spiritual, of course, is the man's conjunction with heaven and the Lord, which we have said is also an image and likeness of the Lord, and thus of life. From a natural idea this can be seen in man's rational or intelligence and in his affection and will in the brain. Though these, today, because no longer only receive from the Lord, but from one's self or proprium they, therefore, are distorted with evil.
Next, to Swedenborg, while in the spiritual state within the body, was revealed the (spiritual) operation of the lungs and the respiration by which was perceived the universal or all angelic heaven or Grand Man's respiration, which spiritually is the understanding, perception and thought. Through correspondence he not only saw heaven's respiration or the angel's respiration, but man's since both are recipients of those divine qualities truths. Naturally, respiration has to do with breathing and thus, of life; in the spiritual though it is the understanding that is meant. So it is that with man and angel there is life of love or good and faith or truth flowing 'as it were' from the Lord into the receptacles of the will and understanding, though there is a difference between them. A spirit's respiration is from the fibers of the brain, which in the spirit is that immediate influx from the Lord. While a man's respiration is from the heart's blood vessels, the vena cava, and aorta, these being correspondent forms of perception and affection, for it is said about the heart that its is one's love.
Then, the function of the heart - the diastole and systole alterations - was experienced. You can understand how observing natural life that correspondences can lead to illumination about the universal heaven or the Grand Man. Here, because of the knowledge of the science of correspondences of the spiritual and celestial things, one can understand how the heart directs the things of the lungs (the respirations) when what is signified by the heart is the will and by lungs the understanding or the rational in man. While the angel's will and understanding are from their brain; the left side by the understanding and the right side the will, thus the love and wisdom of the Lord flowing as good and truth. Because, the natural body of man ends the respirations depend on the blood vessels coming from the heart - the vena cava and aorta - which can be naturally observed. When these no longer are observed natural death comes.
End.
We have read in Arcana C&œ;lestia, "The correspondences are that of the Lord's Divine with the celestial and spiritual things" (3883). One of the differences a person notes about the Third Testament with the Old and New Testaments is the use of the names 'Lord' and 'Divine'. "The name Lord is meant the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, and Him only; and he is called "the Lord" (AC 14). Therefore, the name of Lord has reference to the Divine Human, to the Lord after His coming on earth, after defeating the evils, subjugating them in hell and bringing order to heaven. It is, as such, not the person Jesus Christ who came and lived on earth that is meant. 'Divine' refers to the things of the Lord, which things are infinite and eternal. Generally, these can be seen as those qualities of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. It is those qualities in heaven and on earth that when are with angels and men are called goods and truths and these are either Divine celestial, spiritual or natural qualities of the Lord. In fact, they make heaven and the Church on earth and, if heaven consists of angels and the man of the Church on earth of good and truth, they also sustained, that is, heaven and earth exist and subsist from the Divine Human, for all things come forth from the Lord, both heaven and earth, the former - heaven - being all internal things and the latter - earth - being all external things or ultimates.
The celestial principal, of course, is love to the Lord and is of love or charity toward the neighbor, while the spiritual principal is of the affection of truth which comes from the affection of good. These are in all creation, both the celestial, spiritual, and natural. Now, since, these are Divine qualities and 'as it were' flow from the Lord and through them heaven and earth was and created or exists and is sustained, it is therefore understood what is meant by the Grand Man or the universal heaven, for it is in the image and likeness of the Lord, they having come from the Lord who is the only true Man. You can understand too, since an angel and a man is formed from these Divine qualities that his internal or spirit is a heaven in the least form and in the natural in the least form, that he is thus a microcosm of these - the universal heaven and the physical universe. For not only are all natural substances in the natural man, but all spiritual substances are in the spiritual man.
To further help get an idea of the universal heaven or the Grand Man let us compare it to the Church here on earth. Aren't there various qualities or degrees of love, or charity, and of faith or belief, of both spiritual and natural worship, and of the works of charity in man in whom the Church exists? And of many more wonderful qualities that are in one in whom the Lord dwells? So it is that heaven, which the Lord said was within man, is composed of His love and wisdom in the inmost, in the celestial and spiritual degrees. along with both the internal, interior, and the external qualities that are the Lord's in the Church in man on earth.
In truth, these various qualities that are of the Divine of the Lord that make heaven and, therefore are what conjoin angels and men with the Lord, since they are the Lord's in angels and men and are their life 'as it were'. One can see that what is to be understood here is the creation of heaven and the universe and its continual existence.
The question often arises is, can these Divine qualities ever become man's as some religions have suggested? Wouldn't such an idea mean God created the universe and mankind from Himself, which is called pantheism? However, one of the truths that one may find in the Third Testament is that the Divine fills all spaces of the universe without space or apart from space and all time without time or apart from time. The idea one derives from this is that the universe, which consists of natural substance, is not made of Divine things but is the recipient thereof, that it is only temporal, not infinite or eternal. Now, when you consider that heaven and the celestial and spiritual angels and heavenly things are derived from the Lord's love and wisdom, you can understand internal things within the terrestrial or earthly things - the ultimates - and that these (the ultimates) are 'as it were' a clothing for the spiritual while the spiritual is a clothing for the celestial and it for the Divine. Thus it is that when these things are in man that as an angel he has eternal life, that life being the Lord's Divine within what is heavenly. Nonetheless, in heaven there also appears that there is distance or spaces 'as it was' between objects, but there objects there are not stationary as they are on earth. Thus, heaven is not the Divine itself even as neither is any man on earth the divine, but is 'as if' within and is only a receptacle and clothing for the Divine of the Lord. Here, perhaps you may understand why the Lord has said that heaven is within man, for those Divine qualities in their various degrees are within mankind, who is now in ultimates, and within are spiritual, and celestial, the man's spirit, in heaven in the Divine from the Lord.
There are several paradigms used in the Third Testament that one may come to learn and come to understand the spiritual sense. One such is that of the natural earth's comparison with Heaven (Example: this world's sun and its heat and light are compared to the spiritual world's sun, which is the Lord's love and truth which sustains life with angels. While the earth's sun, is light and heat appears to sustain natural life of plants and thus supports all live on earth). Thus, we see a correspondence and conjunction of man with heaven and with the Lord. However, the idea of a man's image and likeness corresponding to heaven and it to the Lord is primary, for from it one can see the creation and its subsistence as being in the image and likeness of the Lord, for all the organs or interiors of the natural man are compared to the life of the spiritual and celestial man (angel).
One who truly believes that the Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah God come on earth and has made His Human Divine, then he sees that He is the only True Man that was manifested to the celestial Church and to the angels, and that the Israelites worshipped as an invisible God. Then all of heaven, all that 'as it were' proceed - the Divine quality of love and wisdom - become, not only in character, in image and likeness of that Divine Man, but in form as well as was seen in Jesus Christ the Savor of the world. What is celestial is of good and what is spiritual is of truth. Thus, what is celestial is the essence of the Lord, being Divine Love, while the spiritual is the existence of the Lord, being Divine Wisdom. From this it is known that all things in both the universe and heaven are made of goods and truths. In fact, they are the starting point on which the New Church doctrine stands. Therefore, from the Lord's divine love proceeds goodness which is of the celestial and from His divine wisdom proceeds the truth which is the spiritual and the Divine through these proceed in use.
Nonetheless, a man of this world does not see his connection or conjunction with heaven unless these things have been revealed and he is enlightened and believes there are correspondences revealed in a new Word. Thus, it is that it can be seen that there has been enlightenment of heaven 'as it were' from one's spirit, such as from the prophets and John, but not enlightenment from or out of body. Here, the prophet or John observes heaven as one observing events taking place 'as if' on earth in a future time. The prophets and John along with Swedenborg all experiences this and what they observed they recorded as the events unfolded before them.
Here, written in Arcana C&œ;lestia, we see Swedenborg was permitted to see heaven's interior and thus, he was not 'out of body', but in body, heaven being within one and not in space or time. In other words, since heaven is within man as spiritual and celestial degrees or qualities of the Lord's Divine, it is made in an image and likeness of the Lord, then, its interior operation (heaven and, thus, the Grand Man's) were revealed to Swedenborg. Being in the body, Swedenborg was permitted to understand, in this case, the interior working or subsistence or life of heaven. Here, of course, one sees how the body of man is a paradigm for heaven and of necessity, the use of correspondences in coming to understand the concept of heaven as a Grand Man, of angel's life and man's.
So, it is now that by understanding the operation of the brain, the lungs, and the heart of man it can be shown concerning the existence and subsistence of the heaven itself - the Grand Man - it being the universal heaven and of all angels and of angelic societies being in an image and likeness of the Lord, and thus, the recipients of the Lord's Divine - good and truth - it being the life thereof. When speaking of a man's natural life we know the beginning is seen in the forming of the brain and have come to learn how these are instrumental in the man's natural formation and, so, its natural sustenance. However, first one must know and accept that man has a spiritual body as well as a natural body and that the spiritual body has life corresponding to the man's natural body. That is why Swedenborg stated he was not of himself in heaven, but in body, for heaven is within man.
Thus, in a person the brain is seen as the organ of one's reason, the left side is of one's rational or intelligence, while the right side is one's affections and will, the understanding and will. One sees here the receptacles of the will and the understanding of not only man's, but are of the universal heaven, for the organ of the brain pertain to uses and thus, to ends, which was man natural creation. This, the mind, which is spiritual, of course, is the man's conjunction with heaven and the Lord, which we have said is also an image and likeness of the Lord, and thus of life. From a natural idea this can be seen in man's rational or intelligence and in his affection and will in the brain. Though these, today, because no longer only receive from the Lord, but from one's self or proprium they, therefore, are distorted with evil.
Next, to Swedenborg, while in the spiritual state within the body, was revealed the (spiritual) operation of the lungs and the respiration by which was perceived the universal or all angelic heaven or Grand Man's respiration, which spiritually is the understanding, perception and thought. Through correspondence he not only saw heaven's respiration or the angel's respiration, but man's since both are recipients of those divine qualities truths. Naturally, respiration has to do with breathing and thus, of life; in the spiritual though it is the understanding that is meant. So it is that with man and angel there is life of love or good and faith or truth flowing 'as it were' from the Lord into the receptacles of the will and understanding, though there is a difference between them. A spirit's respiration is from the fibers of the brain, which in the spirit is that immediate influx from the Lord. While a man's respiration is from the heart's blood vessels, the vena cava, and aorta, these being correspondent forms of perception and affection, for it is said about the heart that its is one's love.
Then, the function of the heart - the diastole and systole alterations - was experienced. You can understand how observing natural life that correspondences can lead to illumination about the universal heaven or the Grand Man. Here, because of the knowledge of the science of correspondences of the spiritual and celestial things, one can understand how the heart directs the things of the lungs (the respirations) when what is signified by the heart is the will and by lungs the understanding or the rational in man. While the angel's will and understanding are from their brain; the left side by the understanding and the right side the will, thus the love and wisdom of the Lord flowing as good and truth. Because, the natural body of man ends the respirations depend on the blood vessels coming from the heart - the vena cava and aorta - which can be naturally observed. When these no longer are observed natural death comes.
End.
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