Where is God with Mankind Today? Can He be seen with man?
Lecture by Rev. Paul Booth
Lecture by Rev. Paul Booth
It is learned from the Word that there are two worlds - the natural where man lives until his physical death and the spiritual where he lives to eternity either in Heaven or hell. The prior is seen with the eyes of the natural body. The latter is seen with the eyes of the spiritual body which are of the understanding. It is in this that one comes to acknowledge his existence and manifestation, for what is manifest or exists is from an essence and that essence is Love -God's Love. Thus, there is with man from the Lord, though not evident, love and wisdom or a will and understanding which make the mind of man.
The will and the understanding are not found in any natural substance or material; they are not of any part of the natural body or are they of this world. However, the creation of the natural world or the universe, are from God's Love and Wisdom and it is creation's end - the completion of creation, while the spiritual world is the effect from God or from what is Divine Who is the cause. Man is the reciprocal means between the world and the Lord, between earth and heaven. Being the end, the ultimates of nature, nature is dead as is dust and as the fire of the natural sun of this world is dead, so, there is no life unless the Lord enlivens or vivifies it with His Life. It is thus, but, a receptacle for Life - mineral, vegetatable, animal life, and man. Thus, only from Divine Life is there creation of the natural world even the universe, which is, as said, is creation's end. Yet, it appears that life comes from nature and 'as if' the sun of this world brings life to the earth through its heat and light, but as said, life is of and from the Lord and the natural things are but vessels of life; mankind being the crown of all nature. Life is through Divine heat and light of the Spiritual world's Sun and not from this world's sun. That Spiritual Sun is not the Lord Itself, but the Lord is 'as if' within it and, so, it is the first proceeding from the Divine Itself, which proceeding has created both the spiritual and the natural worlds.
Since natural life comes from Divine Life, who is the Lord, and the creation of the world is the end or the ultimate(s) of life, then Life or the Divine is the cause, while the effect is the spiritual world as was shown, and the end is the natural world. Of course, Life Itself or the Divine itself is the cause. It, therefore proceeds forth from its beginning, which, as said, is the Sun of the spiritual world, creating and sustaining all the things in the spiritual world and from there, creating and sustaining the natural world, bringing life 'as it were' or vivifying all creation though this is not known. We have shown that the natural world in itself is dead, but the spiritual world alive, being the immediate effect from its cause, which is seen as the Divine's Love and Wisdom proceeding as heat and light from the Sun of the spiritual world.
Natural life appears to come forth from its sun, though it does not, as we said, and is dead. The person who has faith, who believes the Word, especially the Word of the Divine Human - the Third Testament - begins to see through his spiritual eyes from the understanding, which was said to be a spiritual understanding from the Lord. He, thus, understands that the spiritual world, unlike the natural, has no space, but only the appearances of space, for he 'sees' or understands that the Lord is not in space, but is apart from space and is, thus present with man in the understanding in the world, even as He is in all things of nature; the world, its qualities having been made 'as it were' from and in good or love, which is of the Divine. Let this be explained: All things in this world are fixed (they do not move, that is, come into and vanish 'as it were' from existence); for they have no life of their own and are but vessels for life. Therefore, there are spaces (distances) between objects and there are set times, such as hours, days, weeks, etc., in the natural world. While in the spiritual world things are not fixed or stable and what is in the thought appears to those there and, so, goes away 'as it were' when another thought comes and instead of states are times. Thus, there is only the appearances of space and time in the spiritual world, and thus, no times or places, either in a relation with God or in relation with hell.
Now, what flows or proceeds forth 'as it were' 'first' from God is the Sun of the spiritual world (mentioned before). From it all things in the spiritual world come into existence through God's Love and Wisdom and have created the celestial and the spiritual degrees of a man's life, and so, the charity and faith of those there (the angels}, for these are good and truth coming from the Lord's love and His wisdom and end in the natural degree of life, which is call in man 'innocence' before he comes into a state of responsibility. These are understood as God's will or His love of the celestial angels and His wisdom or intelligence of the spiritual angels It is the same proceeding that is from the spiritual Sun that brings life to this world and to mankind according to the quality of good and truth accepted. It brings both good and truth, this bringing mankind on earth a spiritual/natural life as was given to Adam and Eve in Paradise. His spirit within is to which he returns when his life on earth ends. It is also known that the Word of God says that God created man in His own image and after His likeness. But how is this to be understood? How is a celestial or spiritual life proceeding from the Lord's Love and Wisdom to be within man who existed on earth and is no longer aware of his spiritual existence?
It can only be understood in the idea of will and the understanding, for these are the Lord's with man both in his spiritual and natural entities or states. The will and the understanding are the receptacles and dwelling of the Lord in the spiritual and natural entities of man. Thus, it is that the Lord's Divine Love resides in the will and His Divine Wisdom in the understanding. Herein is man's essence or his being and life's existence or Love's manifestation.
Unless the Lord is within an angel or a man in the inmost - in the Lord's receptacle and dwelling place called the will and the understanding - then neither man nor angel can be in the image or likeness of the Lord and, in fact, he is not a man or an angel at all since man is a man only from the Lord. This, then, is what is meant by God is in man and that his life (man's life) is from the inmost, which is often called the soul. The Word of the New Testament teaches that God is within man, "In that day you shall know that you are in Me and I in you" (John 14: 20). Therefore, it is spiritually understood that God is Life in us and without that Life there is death. Which happens when God is turned away from as is seen in Genesis in Adam or in mankind's falling from the state of Paradise.
It has been said that man has in him these two - a receptacle and an abode or dwelling - for the Lord from the Lord; thus they are the Lord's with man, created by the Lord, whose quality is of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. It has also been said that because of these in man that he has life. Let us now see how they are in man. First, these two - the will and the understanding - are distinct from one another as love is from wisdom. Man knows this, for he says of a wise man that 'he means well, but he does not understand aright' and of another he may say that he understands 'what is right, but what he wills is wrong', while of another that he may will and understand what is right and still of another that he does not will or understand what is right. What is revealed here is that a man knows good and truth by intuition and by thought. The problem is that his thinking has nothing to do with how he knows the difference between the will and the understanding. To further show this about one's thoughts, about his thinking - that is, not knowing there is difference between the will and the understanding - let us examine why. It is because a man confuses the two - what he sees with his natural sight and what his thoughts are, so, because his thoughts shares with the sight of the body, he does not distinguish between the will and understanding. So, even though a man's thoughts may come from the other world from good spirits or angels, (though they often come from evil spirits as well) what he sees while living in his body or naturally, he thinks are his own and, thus, he claims those thoughts from the other world as also his and these then come together with his sensual and so, his inherent nature become evil and has falsities not truths, for his inherent nature is love to his 'self' not to the Lord. In truth not one thought is man's.
However, what is known intuitively by man leads him to develop a conscience, for who does not know who does what is just from equity and what is right from rectitude has conscience? The same can be said about the one who acknowledges those who live a good life enters a heavenly society or who lives wickedly is condemned. From this we see that intuition comes by influx from the Lord from Heaven into a person's thoughts, but thoughts which are spiritual also are from angels and spirits, even from bad spirits and the sight of one's natural understanding, especially when united with his sensual nature, cannot see so clearly the truths that are from intuition, so, cannot develop a conscience, which is a guide to his way in this world; the man today having no conjunction with God and Heaven as there was before man's fall. It is not one's 'self' that is to guide one's way, for man has fallen and his self or 'proprium' no longer is vivified, but has been distorted and so, eventually becomes destroyed. Such people fall into imagination of 'self' superior wisdom and in time come to destroy their intuition and become dead as the Word says that those who turn from the Lord God become.
Now, it is also taught in the writings of Swedenborg, the Third Testament, that the body is but a covering and a clothing 'as it were' for the spirit and that the spirit lives or has its life from the inmost where the receptacles or vessels of the will and understanding are and 'as it were' is a dwelling for the Lord Himself, who has created them in man. Ask where in a person is the soul in which the Lord is inmost? Think of the truth that God made man into His image and likeness. Think of the Lord's Love and Wisdom inflowing into these vessels - the will and the understanding - with Goodness and Truthfulness into man. Those Divine qualities are the Divine's Essence and Form and, so, is the Divine Spirit. God is Spirit. The word 'Spirit' comes from breath or life, so it is said, "Jehovah breathed in the breath of life and man became a living soul". The soul is the life of the spirit of man and thus, also the life of the body since the spirit is within the body as life within man.
God's Spirit proceeding forth is God - who is now the Lord, the Divine Human - proceeding forth into His creation, and man is creation's crowning glory. It is Love flowing into the Celestial of man, and Wisdom into the Spiritual of man and the Use of these into the Natural of man where conscience needs become developed and guide him, for, now, his celestial and spiritual have been separated from his natural when he fell from the celestial state when he lived in God's Love and Wisdom in Paradise and from where he had perception and immediate conjunction with the Lord and was taught directly by the Lord. Now, let us examine this in its Divine Order. It begins with the Divine Himself. The inmost and the celestial of Heaven or God with man are seen first, which was said is the Lord's Proceeding Love. This is the Essence of God with man; it is His presence. Yet, essence must have existence and form to be anything; thus the celestial's clothing or covering is the spiritual of Heaven. Then, comes what is called the natural Heaven and is its use, which is the celestial/spiritual. Thus, then, there is the spiritual world's form or existence. Then, from God's Proceeding Divine qualities the celestial and spiritual proceeds or continues to its end, which is called the ultimate(s) or end, thus forming the natural world. In man, in the Lord's dwelling and receptacle - the will and the understanding - is man's celestial and spiritual life form, which the Lord created in His image and likeness. Naturally, we cannot see our spirit, for, we in our present state see with the eyes of our natural body, and thus only what is of this world's substance; it is only the ultimate(s) of creation in which our spirit lives until it is removed which is at our natural physical death and we enter the spiritual world.
Now, let us continue our examination into the natural order of God's creation. We see it is the brain that is first formed after conception. Then, out from the brain is developed its derivates and its form results, and so every part of man. And, we see that all these parts work in unison with and from the brain.
However, they do not work or the body move and act of its own, but from the spirit within - the celestial in accordance to love or will and the spiritual according to the wisdom or understanding - and thus, from the Lord, who is Life Itself. Take one's thinking: man perceives that he thinks from within himself within his head. He draws in with his eyes and feels that the investigation is in his brain. For the brain acts upon the body and the senses of hearing, sight, smell, and taste, together with touch and speech come forth from the head where the brain resides, the face being in the front of the head. These parts of the face all are connected directly with the brain and it appears from them that sensation and life becomes active.
In this we see the affections of one's love and the thoughts of wisdom portrayed in the face and eyes. However, it is the affection and wisdom, from the Divine Love and Wisdom that reaches out and forms the beginning of its purpose, which is to be of use. In this, one learns that the body is for the spirit's use. Herein is love and wisdom in man in the will and understanding and these become manifested in use, making man in the Lord's image and after His likeness. The body, made from the ultimate(s) of creation become 'as if' alive. Such as life is in its beginnings it is in the whole and every part of man, and, thus, not just in the brain. Therefore, love is the beginning, the cause, and wisdom according to that love make the man and, when its order is that of the Divine's Order, the man becomes made into an image and likeness of the Lord. It is otherwise if it is not according to that Divine Order as when man fell from grace as the Word teaches that man refused to follow such Order and he wanted to know good and truth from his 'self' and not from the Lord. Thus, that order in man changed and a knowledge of God must now come to him through his natural understanding and a man's understanding is now ruled by his own will, not God's will. However, since God created man's spiritual and celestial before his natural, and these are now hidden or 'cut-off' from him; a man cannot see with the eyes of his body the deformity of his spirit when he follows his love of self and of the World and instead has a love of 'self', not of the Lord nor love towards the neighbor.
Thus, today we cannot see in man's natural body any change in his natural image, but that change can be seen in his mind and in what he does, that he has no goodness and is not in any truthfulness, except he be taught and led by the Lord, who has presented Himself through the Word and has come into this world putting on the natural body of man. How, then, can it be said man is made in God's image and likeness, since a man's ruling love is of 'self' or is what is one's own (the Word calls this a man's proprium). It is so, because of the respect to the man's mind, which is of one's ruling love and because, as shown, love is of spiritual substance and is not of any natural substance.
Let it suffice, here, only, that mankind fell from his state in Heavenly love as can be seen in Genesis in the story of the Most Ancient Church or of Adam. Therefore, man fell from love to the Lord to a love of self and, thus into an infernal state or into death and hell. (That is why the Lord who was Jehovah God came - to save and was born as a man.) This fall was a gradual declining away from the celestial state. The further away from love to God he turned, death and hell entered. Since, we cannot see with the eyes of our natural body the spiritual, must less the celestial of our being, we cannot see the deformity (already pointed out) of a man's spirit when he does not love the Lord as he was commanded. Yet, in God creating man, He created him in His image and after His likeness, which is in good and truth, the very qualities of Love and Wisdom that are within man, though now cut-off or hidden to him as had already been shown. So, it is that in every man's birth he begins in that same order that was first established and, so, he is in innocence and ignorance. It is only when the man chooses, as of himself, to follow the way of self-love which he inherits such tendencies from his forefathers, that his spirit attaches itself with the evils of self-love and is drawn into hell, and not into Heaven where there are only goods and truths unless he comes into regeneration. This is not seen with our earthy eyes or even with one's own understanding, which is merely the knowledge that follows our will, which is called lusts. It is the man's own will or his lusts that reigns over him.
A man can decide to look up 'as it were' and learn of God; he can learn to love as the Lord loves and, so, can raise his mind to God according to His love. From this you can see that the mind of man is the man, since in the mind resides all affections, emotions and thoughts, for God is Man Himself. Therefore the external of the mind is the body, which feels and acts and, so, is one with the spirit within and is according to the person's ruling love either a heavenly love if it is raised up in love and wisdom or a hellish love if not, and then the man falls further into infernal love and hell.
In all states - the natural, spiritual, or celestial - of man there is a connection with the Lord through the receptacle of will and the understanding when the truths and goods of the Lord are believed and followed willingly. Not so when they are rejected, and rejected they are closed. Now, because the man chooses to love his 'self', he does not understand clearly the truths that the Lord has given him in His written Word and what he sees or understands is distorted because of his love for 'self'.
Thus, the receptacle and dwelling of the Lord in man can make a man in the Lord's form in His image and likeness. However, because man is no longer in conjunction with the Lord, his spirit which is no longer in innocence when he becomes an adult and his affection and thought becomes distorted, thus, also, his will and understanding; in fact, he no longer has will, but instead lust, nor does he have understanding, but only knowledge, which is stored up in his memory along with goods and truths insinuated into him when he was an infant and child. There is a correspondence in man with the will and understanding, that is, with the Lord who dwells within in these receptacles, when the New Church enters man in truth and good, for he then begins to see spiritually. Thus, truths and goods are loved knowing that the Lord sustains him every moment. We have spoken that from the brain all parts are extensions and this is called the body and, that it acts and moves from the mind. In that respect, the mind is the man since it is in every part of him, not just the brain. Let us now see this in man that we might see how conjunction is affected with the Lord and that he comes again to see the Lord's love first most.
In a person there is a correspondence with the will and understand that can be seen in the heart and lungs, and it is in this way known that one's life is from the Lord. Basically, we have shown that all things of the mind have reference to the will and understanding in which we have said are the receptacles for the Lord where He dwells within man. However, all things of the body have reference to the heart and lungs, as the science of anatomy shows. Therefore, there is a correspondence between the mind and the body as there is between the will and understanding with heart and lungs. Now, if man has been separated from his spiritual life and, so, his spirit, then how is he to learn of the Lord's love that he may follow His wisdom which is not natural, but spiritual? If there is a relationship between the body and the mind, then there is also between man and the Lord, whose goods and truths fill the will and understanding where the Lord dwells within man.
You might be wondering what this has to do with a person's faith or one's worship. Yet, it does have everything to do with it. The state that the Jewish Church was in and the first Christian Churches came into was one where they did not know what the spiritual was and how it differs with the natural. So, they do not know such a thing as correspondences or the correspondence between the spiritual and the natural or that such correspondence conjoins them with either Heaven or hell. Nonetheless, these things could have been known, but were not. However, when they are known the written Word can become enlightened to where the man can understand the spiritual sense of the Word, for the Word uses the various parts of the body and its various systems to teach and if their representatives and significations are known, then the spiritual sense is understood. As for instance: the will and understanding with the heart and lungs and these with the mind and body, which are their correspondences.
But, let us show how. Think of one's affection and thought. Aren't they spiritual, for there is no organ in the body in which they naturally exist? Think of action and speech. Aren't they natural; don't they move and act from affection and thought? Example: if we want to do something or want something don't we move or act to do it or get it if our desire is strong enough? Does not one speak from his thoughts from the body, that is, through the vocal cords, tongue and lips? From these we can see they correspond and are a correspondence, such as thought makes the tongue speak and affection together with thought makes the body act. Anyone can see they are two distinct things, for we also can think without speaking. Neither does the body think or will, but the mind does. The mind has a correspondence with the body and all things each with the other.
From this we see that all things of the mind have reference to affection and thought or with will and understanding, while all things of the body have reference to the heart and lungs. In this, we can see correspondences between heart and will and between the understanding and lungs. Still, because man has been so external to accept anything except what is natural, he cannot see this. Man loves the natural and, so, delights mainly in his own understanding, which, we said is but mere natural knowledge. This has left his will to be only for natural things of this world, thus leaving the spiritual thinking that the spiritual is just a purer form of the natural.
In order for us to more clearly see these correspondences between the will with the heart, let us examine a person's affection with the heart's actions and we will learn how they correspond, and thus, see how they are conjoined; for if we are to be together with Heaven and with the Lord and thus, in our regeneration and in salvation we must have an understanding of the receptacles of the will and understanding within in us in which the Lord comes to dwell in and so, reign over us, that we are one with Him. He (is) in us and (we) us in Him, as He is within the Father or the Divine and the Divine within Him. If we look at the effects that the spiritual, that is, that the affections have, which we know springs forth from love, we can begin to understand this correspondence. Example: When our affections for or are to another the rate of our heart changes. The systolic and diastolic motions of the heart changes and vary according to our affections and love. Of course, these changes have been expressed in speech, for we talk of one having a generous heart, or a joyous heart, and a sad heart, or a hard or soft heart and of one made of stone. There are numerous expressions and these are seen in the Word. It is thus that the Word is written by means of correspondences.
Now, the heart is known as a vital organ of life meaning that it is essential to one's life. It is also known that in the body there is a certain heat that if man dies that heat leaves the body. In years past people talked about there being a 'vial heat' or 'vital life' in every man and animal. It was spoken of by conjecture - by theorizing. Some even guessing that such vital heat came from the sun. However, because we do not know what life is that word is not often used today. Nonetheless, if correspondences are known between love and its affections with the heart and its derivations, then we can see that love is the origin of such 'vital heat'. So it is that love flows in by correspondence into the heart and its blood and gives the body life. This again can be seen by the effects it causes. For doesn't a man grow hot and 'as it were' burns according to his love. As an example: he becomes numb and chilled as these actions decreases. Or it can be felt in the heat of the whole body and seen in the flush of the face when love increases. And, when love becomes extinct the body feels cold and the face pallor.
In the Word there is seen this expressed in the life and soul of man as life in man through the blood by means of the action of the heart, for in the Word 'blood' is called the soul, as in Genesis 9: 4 and Leviticus 17: 14.
Earlier in this talk we spoke of there being a celestial and a spiritual Heaven where angels of such qualities are. These angels are from mankind. And, in fact, we said that man was formed first, within celestial and then in the spiritual and natural, wherein he was spiritual/natural before he fell into the natural state alone and his conjunction with Heaven was cut off. Though, mankind had first to be regenerated. Thus, are there two distinguishable kingdoms in Heaven - the celestial and the spiritual kingdom Love to the Lord reigns in the celestial angels and wisdom from that love reigns in the spiritual angels. Since the celestial kingdom is where the heart corresponds to the will or to love, then that kingdom can be called or known as heaven's cardiac kingdom and where the understanding of the spiritual angels reigns there is the pulmonic kingdom. Here, we can begin to see that Heaven is in the form of a man and appears before the Lord's sight as a man which is seen in the written Word of the Divine Human as the 'Grand Man'. Thus, it is that the Lord is Life and that Life flows 'as it were' into a man causing the effect of the body's cardiac and pulmonary motions, for their correspondences are love and wisdom and is in those of the Lord. And, as these qualities are from the Sun of the spiritual world, which is from and of the Lord the Divine Human or the Human and Divine united, they proceed into not only Heaven, but into the universe, thus, into the natural life of man. It was earlier stated that in Heaven there is no space, though there is the appearances of space. Think of Heaven without space and think of omnipresence, for the Lord is omnipresent in love and wisdom, or in good and truth, which He is, He having even said He was. Now, He is present with those who are in place (space) according to their reception of Him, of His good and truth.
We will now turn to examine the correspondence of the understanding with the lungs, for in man like the will of the spiritual man or his mind, the understanding rules. While it appears that the heart and lungs control the natural man or body. Thus, it is that all things of the body correspond to the mind, which is of the spiritual man. That the understanding corresponds to the lungs we must examine from our thought and speech. Example: can anyone think when his breathing stops? On the other hand one can think quietly when his breathing is quiet and when his breathing is deep his thought is deep. We can see a correspondence between the lungs and the respirations and so, of the thought and the influx of love. But let us read from the Word. "Thou shall love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all thy soul" (Matthew 22: 37), and "God will give a new heart and a new spirit" (Ezekiel 36: 26; Ps. 51: 10). We see that heart signifies the love of the will. So, here, 'soul' or 'spirit' signifies the wisdom of the understanding. Since man is to be made in God's image, he is to have a similar spirit or soul. God's spirit is now called the Holy Spirit and Holy Spirit means Divine Wisdom, which is of Divine Truth and is the light or the understanding of man.
From this, when we read that 'the Lord breathed on His disciples' and said, 'receive ye the Holy Spirit' and also where 'God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of lives, and he became a living soul' we see that the Lord is called the 'breath of the nostrils' and the 'breath of life'. And, isn't it respiration that passes though the nostrils and so, a person perceives or is aware through the senses. Just think of the spiritual or the mind and you will see that the correspondence is that a man has understanding, even intelligence and wisdom, from God. Again, when it is known that the word 'wind' and 'spirit' in the Hebrew are the same and that they mean breathing and if man dies, he is said to give up the ghost or spirit, that is, his breath or life ceases.
What becomes evident is that 'to love God with all the heart and all the soul' is to love Him with all the love willingly and with all the understanding, and to 'give a new heart and a new spirit' is to give new a will and a new understanding.
We have said that there is a distinction between the will and the understanding, thus there is also in the heart and the lungs, and so, too, the mind or spirit and the body. There is therefore in man two brains, for those who study the brain and its function knows that there is a cerebrum where the understanding resides 'as it were'. That there are two hemispheres of the brain, also of the heart, of lungs, and of all parts and that all of these two parts are conjoined one with the other. Now, this is because from the Lord flows both Love and Wisdom or goodness and truth. And, because these two are one in the Lord, they need to be one in man that he come into an image and a likeness of Him and that they become reciprocal, for they relate, the truth belonging to the goodness and, the goodness belonging to truth. Herein is the oneness of union: the goodness of love from which comes the truth of wisdom and the truth of wisdom comes from the goodness of love. Thus, it is that the spirit of man is to rule and the body is to be obedient. The spirit is lead by and from the Lord through the Holy Spirit or it is led by one's self, in which case man's will and understanding becomes distorted and, so, his life becomes destroyed and is separated from the Divine's Love and Wisdom.
The will and the understanding are not found in any natural substance or material; they are not of any part of the natural body or are they of this world. However, the creation of the natural world or the universe, are from God's Love and Wisdom and it is creation's end - the completion of creation, while the spiritual world is the effect from God or from what is Divine Who is the cause. Man is the reciprocal means between the world and the Lord, between earth and heaven. Being the end, the ultimates of nature, nature is dead as is dust and as the fire of the natural sun of this world is dead, so, there is no life unless the Lord enlivens or vivifies it with His Life. It is thus, but, a receptacle for Life - mineral, vegetatable, animal life, and man. Thus, only from Divine Life is there creation of the natural world even the universe, which is, as said, is creation's end. Yet, it appears that life comes from nature and 'as if' the sun of this world brings life to the earth through its heat and light, but as said, life is of and from the Lord and the natural things are but vessels of life; mankind being the crown of all nature. Life is through Divine heat and light of the Spiritual world's Sun and not from this world's sun. That Spiritual Sun is not the Lord Itself, but the Lord is 'as if' within it and, so, it is the first proceeding from the Divine Itself, which proceeding has created both the spiritual and the natural worlds.
Since natural life comes from Divine Life, who is the Lord, and the creation of the world is the end or the ultimate(s) of life, then Life or the Divine is the cause, while the effect is the spiritual world as was shown, and the end is the natural world. Of course, Life Itself or the Divine itself is the cause. It, therefore proceeds forth from its beginning, which, as said, is the Sun of the spiritual world, creating and sustaining all the things in the spiritual world and from there, creating and sustaining the natural world, bringing life 'as it were' or vivifying all creation though this is not known. We have shown that the natural world in itself is dead, but the spiritual world alive, being the immediate effect from its cause, which is seen as the Divine's Love and Wisdom proceeding as heat and light from the Sun of the spiritual world.
Natural life appears to come forth from its sun, though it does not, as we said, and is dead. The person who has faith, who believes the Word, especially the Word of the Divine Human - the Third Testament - begins to see through his spiritual eyes from the understanding, which was said to be a spiritual understanding from the Lord. He, thus, understands that the spiritual world, unlike the natural, has no space, but only the appearances of space, for he 'sees' or understands that the Lord is not in space, but is apart from space and is, thus present with man in the understanding in the world, even as He is in all things of nature; the world, its qualities having been made 'as it were' from and in good or love, which is of the Divine. Let this be explained: All things in this world are fixed (they do not move, that is, come into and vanish 'as it were' from existence); for they have no life of their own and are but vessels for life. Therefore, there are spaces (distances) between objects and there are set times, such as hours, days, weeks, etc., in the natural world. While in the spiritual world things are not fixed or stable and what is in the thought appears to those there and, so, goes away 'as it were' when another thought comes and instead of states are times. Thus, there is only the appearances of space and time in the spiritual world, and thus, no times or places, either in a relation with God or in relation with hell.
Now, what flows or proceeds forth 'as it were' 'first' from God is the Sun of the spiritual world (mentioned before). From it all things in the spiritual world come into existence through God's Love and Wisdom and have created the celestial and the spiritual degrees of a man's life, and so, the charity and faith of those there (the angels}, for these are good and truth coming from the Lord's love and His wisdom and end in the natural degree of life, which is call in man 'innocence' before he comes into a state of responsibility. These are understood as God's will or His love of the celestial angels and His wisdom or intelligence of the spiritual angels It is the same proceeding that is from the spiritual Sun that brings life to this world and to mankind according to the quality of good and truth accepted. It brings both good and truth, this bringing mankind on earth a spiritual/natural life as was given to Adam and Eve in Paradise. His spirit within is to which he returns when his life on earth ends. It is also known that the Word of God says that God created man in His own image and after His likeness. But how is this to be understood? How is a celestial or spiritual life proceeding from the Lord's Love and Wisdom to be within man who existed on earth and is no longer aware of his spiritual existence?
It can only be understood in the idea of will and the understanding, for these are the Lord's with man both in his spiritual and natural entities or states. The will and the understanding are the receptacles and dwelling of the Lord in the spiritual and natural entities of man. Thus, it is that the Lord's Divine Love resides in the will and His Divine Wisdom in the understanding. Herein is man's essence or his being and life's existence or Love's manifestation.
Unless the Lord is within an angel or a man in the inmost - in the Lord's receptacle and dwelling place called the will and the understanding - then neither man nor angel can be in the image or likeness of the Lord and, in fact, he is not a man or an angel at all since man is a man only from the Lord. This, then, is what is meant by God is in man and that his life (man's life) is from the inmost, which is often called the soul. The Word of the New Testament teaches that God is within man, "In that day you shall know that you are in Me and I in you" (John 14: 20). Therefore, it is spiritually understood that God is Life in us and without that Life there is death. Which happens when God is turned away from as is seen in Genesis in Adam or in mankind's falling from the state of Paradise.
It has been said that man has in him these two - a receptacle and an abode or dwelling - for the Lord from the Lord; thus they are the Lord's with man, created by the Lord, whose quality is of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. It has also been said that because of these in man that he has life. Let us now see how they are in man. First, these two - the will and the understanding - are distinct from one another as love is from wisdom. Man knows this, for he says of a wise man that 'he means well, but he does not understand aright' and of another he may say that he understands 'what is right, but what he wills is wrong', while of another that he may will and understand what is right and still of another that he does not will or understand what is right. What is revealed here is that a man knows good and truth by intuition and by thought. The problem is that his thinking has nothing to do with how he knows the difference between the will and the understanding. To further show this about one's thoughts, about his thinking - that is, not knowing there is difference between the will and the understanding - let us examine why. It is because a man confuses the two - what he sees with his natural sight and what his thoughts are, so, because his thoughts shares with the sight of the body, he does not distinguish between the will and understanding. So, even though a man's thoughts may come from the other world from good spirits or angels, (though they often come from evil spirits as well) what he sees while living in his body or naturally, he thinks are his own and, thus, he claims those thoughts from the other world as also his and these then come together with his sensual and so, his inherent nature become evil and has falsities not truths, for his inherent nature is love to his 'self' not to the Lord. In truth not one thought is man's.
However, what is known intuitively by man leads him to develop a conscience, for who does not know who does what is just from equity and what is right from rectitude has conscience? The same can be said about the one who acknowledges those who live a good life enters a heavenly society or who lives wickedly is condemned. From this we see that intuition comes by influx from the Lord from Heaven into a person's thoughts, but thoughts which are spiritual also are from angels and spirits, even from bad spirits and the sight of one's natural understanding, especially when united with his sensual nature, cannot see so clearly the truths that are from intuition, so, cannot develop a conscience, which is a guide to his way in this world; the man today having no conjunction with God and Heaven as there was before man's fall. It is not one's 'self' that is to guide one's way, for man has fallen and his self or 'proprium' no longer is vivified, but has been distorted and so, eventually becomes destroyed. Such people fall into imagination of 'self' superior wisdom and in time come to destroy their intuition and become dead as the Word says that those who turn from the Lord God become.
Now, it is also taught in the writings of Swedenborg, the Third Testament, that the body is but a covering and a clothing 'as it were' for the spirit and that the spirit lives or has its life from the inmost where the receptacles or vessels of the will and understanding are and 'as it were' is a dwelling for the Lord Himself, who has created them in man. Ask where in a person is the soul in which the Lord is inmost? Think of the truth that God made man into His image and likeness. Think of the Lord's Love and Wisdom inflowing into these vessels - the will and the understanding - with Goodness and Truthfulness into man. Those Divine qualities are the Divine's Essence and Form and, so, is the Divine Spirit. God is Spirit. The word 'Spirit' comes from breath or life, so it is said, "Jehovah breathed in the breath of life and man became a living soul". The soul is the life of the spirit of man and thus, also the life of the body since the spirit is within the body as life within man.
God's Spirit proceeding forth is God - who is now the Lord, the Divine Human - proceeding forth into His creation, and man is creation's crowning glory. It is Love flowing into the Celestial of man, and Wisdom into the Spiritual of man and the Use of these into the Natural of man where conscience needs become developed and guide him, for, now, his celestial and spiritual have been separated from his natural when he fell from the celestial state when he lived in God's Love and Wisdom in Paradise and from where he had perception and immediate conjunction with the Lord and was taught directly by the Lord. Now, let us examine this in its Divine Order. It begins with the Divine Himself. The inmost and the celestial of Heaven or God with man are seen first, which was said is the Lord's Proceeding Love. This is the Essence of God with man; it is His presence. Yet, essence must have existence and form to be anything; thus the celestial's clothing or covering is the spiritual of Heaven. Then, comes what is called the natural Heaven and is its use, which is the celestial/spiritual. Thus, then, there is the spiritual world's form or existence. Then, from God's Proceeding Divine qualities the celestial and spiritual proceeds or continues to its end, which is called the ultimate(s) or end, thus forming the natural world. In man, in the Lord's dwelling and receptacle - the will and the understanding - is man's celestial and spiritual life form, which the Lord created in His image and likeness. Naturally, we cannot see our spirit, for, we in our present state see with the eyes of our natural body, and thus only what is of this world's substance; it is only the ultimate(s) of creation in which our spirit lives until it is removed which is at our natural physical death and we enter the spiritual world.
Now, let us continue our examination into the natural order of God's creation. We see it is the brain that is first formed after conception. Then, out from the brain is developed its derivates and its form results, and so every part of man. And, we see that all these parts work in unison with and from the brain.
However, they do not work or the body move and act of its own, but from the spirit within - the celestial in accordance to love or will and the spiritual according to the wisdom or understanding - and thus, from the Lord, who is Life Itself. Take one's thinking: man perceives that he thinks from within himself within his head. He draws in with his eyes and feels that the investigation is in his brain. For the brain acts upon the body and the senses of hearing, sight, smell, and taste, together with touch and speech come forth from the head where the brain resides, the face being in the front of the head. These parts of the face all are connected directly with the brain and it appears from them that sensation and life becomes active.
In this we see the affections of one's love and the thoughts of wisdom portrayed in the face and eyes. However, it is the affection and wisdom, from the Divine Love and Wisdom that reaches out and forms the beginning of its purpose, which is to be of use. In this, one learns that the body is for the spirit's use. Herein is love and wisdom in man in the will and understanding and these become manifested in use, making man in the Lord's image and after His likeness. The body, made from the ultimate(s) of creation become 'as if' alive. Such as life is in its beginnings it is in the whole and every part of man, and, thus, not just in the brain. Therefore, love is the beginning, the cause, and wisdom according to that love make the man and, when its order is that of the Divine's Order, the man becomes made into an image and likeness of the Lord. It is otherwise if it is not according to that Divine Order as when man fell from grace as the Word teaches that man refused to follow such Order and he wanted to know good and truth from his 'self' and not from the Lord. Thus, that order in man changed and a knowledge of God must now come to him through his natural understanding and a man's understanding is now ruled by his own will, not God's will. However, since God created man's spiritual and celestial before his natural, and these are now hidden or 'cut-off' from him; a man cannot see with the eyes of his body the deformity of his spirit when he follows his love of self and of the World and instead has a love of 'self', not of the Lord nor love towards the neighbor.
Thus, today we cannot see in man's natural body any change in his natural image, but that change can be seen in his mind and in what he does, that he has no goodness and is not in any truthfulness, except he be taught and led by the Lord, who has presented Himself through the Word and has come into this world putting on the natural body of man. How, then, can it be said man is made in God's image and likeness, since a man's ruling love is of 'self' or is what is one's own (the Word calls this a man's proprium). It is so, because of the respect to the man's mind, which is of one's ruling love and because, as shown, love is of spiritual substance and is not of any natural substance.
Let it suffice, here, only, that mankind fell from his state in Heavenly love as can be seen in Genesis in the story of the Most Ancient Church or of Adam. Therefore, man fell from love to the Lord to a love of self and, thus into an infernal state or into death and hell. (That is why the Lord who was Jehovah God came - to save and was born as a man.) This fall was a gradual declining away from the celestial state. The further away from love to God he turned, death and hell entered. Since, we cannot see with the eyes of our natural body the spiritual, must less the celestial of our being, we cannot see the deformity (already pointed out) of a man's spirit when he does not love the Lord as he was commanded. Yet, in God creating man, He created him in His image and after His likeness, which is in good and truth, the very qualities of Love and Wisdom that are within man, though now cut-off or hidden to him as had already been shown. So, it is that in every man's birth he begins in that same order that was first established and, so, he is in innocence and ignorance. It is only when the man chooses, as of himself, to follow the way of self-love which he inherits such tendencies from his forefathers, that his spirit attaches itself with the evils of self-love and is drawn into hell, and not into Heaven where there are only goods and truths unless he comes into regeneration. This is not seen with our earthy eyes or even with one's own understanding, which is merely the knowledge that follows our will, which is called lusts. It is the man's own will or his lusts that reigns over him.
A man can decide to look up 'as it were' and learn of God; he can learn to love as the Lord loves and, so, can raise his mind to God according to His love. From this you can see that the mind of man is the man, since in the mind resides all affections, emotions and thoughts, for God is Man Himself. Therefore the external of the mind is the body, which feels and acts and, so, is one with the spirit within and is according to the person's ruling love either a heavenly love if it is raised up in love and wisdom or a hellish love if not, and then the man falls further into infernal love and hell.
In all states - the natural, spiritual, or celestial - of man there is a connection with the Lord through the receptacle of will and the understanding when the truths and goods of the Lord are believed and followed willingly. Not so when they are rejected, and rejected they are closed. Now, because the man chooses to love his 'self', he does not understand clearly the truths that the Lord has given him in His written Word and what he sees or understands is distorted because of his love for 'self'.
Thus, the receptacle and dwelling of the Lord in man can make a man in the Lord's form in His image and likeness. However, because man is no longer in conjunction with the Lord, his spirit which is no longer in innocence when he becomes an adult and his affection and thought becomes distorted, thus, also, his will and understanding; in fact, he no longer has will, but instead lust, nor does he have understanding, but only knowledge, which is stored up in his memory along with goods and truths insinuated into him when he was an infant and child. There is a correspondence in man with the will and understanding, that is, with the Lord who dwells within in these receptacles, when the New Church enters man in truth and good, for he then begins to see spiritually. Thus, truths and goods are loved knowing that the Lord sustains him every moment. We have spoken that from the brain all parts are extensions and this is called the body and, that it acts and moves from the mind. In that respect, the mind is the man since it is in every part of him, not just the brain. Let us now see this in man that we might see how conjunction is affected with the Lord and that he comes again to see the Lord's love first most.
In a person there is a correspondence with the will and understand that can be seen in the heart and lungs, and it is in this way known that one's life is from the Lord. Basically, we have shown that all things of the mind have reference to the will and understanding in which we have said are the receptacles for the Lord where He dwells within man. However, all things of the body have reference to the heart and lungs, as the science of anatomy shows. Therefore, there is a correspondence between the mind and the body as there is between the will and understanding with heart and lungs. Now, if man has been separated from his spiritual life and, so, his spirit, then how is he to learn of the Lord's love that he may follow His wisdom which is not natural, but spiritual? If there is a relationship between the body and the mind, then there is also between man and the Lord, whose goods and truths fill the will and understanding where the Lord dwells within man.
You might be wondering what this has to do with a person's faith or one's worship. Yet, it does have everything to do with it. The state that the Jewish Church was in and the first Christian Churches came into was one where they did not know what the spiritual was and how it differs with the natural. So, they do not know such a thing as correspondences or the correspondence between the spiritual and the natural or that such correspondence conjoins them with either Heaven or hell. Nonetheless, these things could have been known, but were not. However, when they are known the written Word can become enlightened to where the man can understand the spiritual sense of the Word, for the Word uses the various parts of the body and its various systems to teach and if their representatives and significations are known, then the spiritual sense is understood. As for instance: the will and understanding with the heart and lungs and these with the mind and body, which are their correspondences.
But, let us show how. Think of one's affection and thought. Aren't they spiritual, for there is no organ in the body in which they naturally exist? Think of action and speech. Aren't they natural; don't they move and act from affection and thought? Example: if we want to do something or want something don't we move or act to do it or get it if our desire is strong enough? Does not one speak from his thoughts from the body, that is, through the vocal cords, tongue and lips? From these we can see they correspond and are a correspondence, such as thought makes the tongue speak and affection together with thought makes the body act. Anyone can see they are two distinct things, for we also can think without speaking. Neither does the body think or will, but the mind does. The mind has a correspondence with the body and all things each with the other.
From this we see that all things of the mind have reference to affection and thought or with will and understanding, while all things of the body have reference to the heart and lungs. In this, we can see correspondences between heart and will and between the understanding and lungs. Still, because man has been so external to accept anything except what is natural, he cannot see this. Man loves the natural and, so, delights mainly in his own understanding, which, we said is but mere natural knowledge. This has left his will to be only for natural things of this world, thus leaving the spiritual thinking that the spiritual is just a purer form of the natural.
In order for us to more clearly see these correspondences between the will with the heart, let us examine a person's affection with the heart's actions and we will learn how they correspond, and thus, see how they are conjoined; for if we are to be together with Heaven and with the Lord and thus, in our regeneration and in salvation we must have an understanding of the receptacles of the will and understanding within in us in which the Lord comes to dwell in and so, reign over us, that we are one with Him. He (is) in us and (we) us in Him, as He is within the Father or the Divine and the Divine within Him. If we look at the effects that the spiritual, that is, that the affections have, which we know springs forth from love, we can begin to understand this correspondence. Example: When our affections for or are to another the rate of our heart changes. The systolic and diastolic motions of the heart changes and vary according to our affections and love. Of course, these changes have been expressed in speech, for we talk of one having a generous heart, or a joyous heart, and a sad heart, or a hard or soft heart and of one made of stone. There are numerous expressions and these are seen in the Word. It is thus that the Word is written by means of correspondences.
Now, the heart is known as a vital organ of life meaning that it is essential to one's life. It is also known that in the body there is a certain heat that if man dies that heat leaves the body. In years past people talked about there being a 'vial heat' or 'vital life' in every man and animal. It was spoken of by conjecture - by theorizing. Some even guessing that such vital heat came from the sun. However, because we do not know what life is that word is not often used today. Nonetheless, if correspondences are known between love and its affections with the heart and its derivations, then we can see that love is the origin of such 'vital heat'. So it is that love flows in by correspondence into the heart and its blood and gives the body life. This again can be seen by the effects it causes. For doesn't a man grow hot and 'as it were' burns according to his love. As an example: he becomes numb and chilled as these actions decreases. Or it can be felt in the heat of the whole body and seen in the flush of the face when love increases. And, when love becomes extinct the body feels cold and the face pallor.
In the Word there is seen this expressed in the life and soul of man as life in man through the blood by means of the action of the heart, for in the Word 'blood' is called the soul, as in Genesis 9: 4 and Leviticus 17: 14.
Earlier in this talk we spoke of there being a celestial and a spiritual Heaven where angels of such qualities are. These angels are from mankind. And, in fact, we said that man was formed first, within celestial and then in the spiritual and natural, wherein he was spiritual/natural before he fell into the natural state alone and his conjunction with Heaven was cut off. Though, mankind had first to be regenerated. Thus, are there two distinguishable kingdoms in Heaven - the celestial and the spiritual kingdom Love to the Lord reigns in the celestial angels and wisdom from that love reigns in the spiritual angels. Since the celestial kingdom is where the heart corresponds to the will or to love, then that kingdom can be called or known as heaven's cardiac kingdom and where the understanding of the spiritual angels reigns there is the pulmonic kingdom. Here, we can begin to see that Heaven is in the form of a man and appears before the Lord's sight as a man which is seen in the written Word of the Divine Human as the 'Grand Man'. Thus, it is that the Lord is Life and that Life flows 'as it were' into a man causing the effect of the body's cardiac and pulmonary motions, for their correspondences are love and wisdom and is in those of the Lord. And, as these qualities are from the Sun of the spiritual world, which is from and of the Lord the Divine Human or the Human and Divine united, they proceed into not only Heaven, but into the universe, thus, into the natural life of man. It was earlier stated that in Heaven there is no space, though there is the appearances of space. Think of Heaven without space and think of omnipresence, for the Lord is omnipresent in love and wisdom, or in good and truth, which He is, He having even said He was. Now, He is present with those who are in place (space) according to their reception of Him, of His good and truth.
We will now turn to examine the correspondence of the understanding with the lungs, for in man like the will of the spiritual man or his mind, the understanding rules. While it appears that the heart and lungs control the natural man or body. Thus, it is that all things of the body correspond to the mind, which is of the spiritual man. That the understanding corresponds to the lungs we must examine from our thought and speech. Example: can anyone think when his breathing stops? On the other hand one can think quietly when his breathing is quiet and when his breathing is deep his thought is deep. We can see a correspondence between the lungs and the respirations and so, of the thought and the influx of love. But let us read from the Word. "Thou shall love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all thy soul" (Matthew 22: 37), and "God will give a new heart and a new spirit" (Ezekiel 36: 26; Ps. 51: 10). We see that heart signifies the love of the will. So, here, 'soul' or 'spirit' signifies the wisdom of the understanding. Since man is to be made in God's image, he is to have a similar spirit or soul. God's spirit is now called the Holy Spirit and Holy Spirit means Divine Wisdom, which is of Divine Truth and is the light or the understanding of man.
From this, when we read that 'the Lord breathed on His disciples' and said, 'receive ye the Holy Spirit' and also where 'God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of lives, and he became a living soul' we see that the Lord is called the 'breath of the nostrils' and the 'breath of life'. And, isn't it respiration that passes though the nostrils and so, a person perceives or is aware through the senses. Just think of the spiritual or the mind and you will see that the correspondence is that a man has understanding, even intelligence and wisdom, from God. Again, when it is known that the word 'wind' and 'spirit' in the Hebrew are the same and that they mean breathing and if man dies, he is said to give up the ghost or spirit, that is, his breath or life ceases.
What becomes evident is that 'to love God with all the heart and all the soul' is to love Him with all the love willingly and with all the understanding, and to 'give a new heart and a new spirit' is to give new a will and a new understanding.
We have said that there is a distinction between the will and the understanding, thus there is also in the heart and the lungs, and so, too, the mind or spirit and the body. There is therefore in man two brains, for those who study the brain and its function knows that there is a cerebrum where the understanding resides 'as it were'. That there are two hemispheres of the brain, also of the heart, of lungs, and of all parts and that all of these two parts are conjoined one with the other. Now, this is because from the Lord flows both Love and Wisdom or goodness and truth. And, because these two are one in the Lord, they need to be one in man that he come into an image and a likeness of Him and that they become reciprocal, for they relate, the truth belonging to the goodness and, the goodness belonging to truth. Herein is the oneness of union: the goodness of love from which comes the truth of wisdom and the truth of wisdom comes from the goodness of love. Thus, it is that the spirit of man is to rule and the body is to be obedient. The spirit is lead by and from the Lord through the Holy Spirit or it is led by one's self, in which case man's will and understanding becomes distorted and, so, his life becomes destroyed and is separated from the Divine's Love and Wisdom.
You might say and are wondering what use has all this knowledge to do with me. However, within the knowledge of correspondences many secrets concerning the will and understanding, and love and wisdom are disclosed. We cannot of ourselves know what love and will are, though we can know what understanding is and do understand and think 'as if' of our self. Neither can we make our heart to beat. Therefore, through correspondences we can learn what love and will are from the heart and lungs, for these can be examined by the eye and, of course, have been and are described by anatomist. Since they correspond to the will and understanding, which cannot be examined by the eye, these secrets can be revealed through them. In this way, the spiritual mysteries become enlightened to those who from a love for the truth, become known and acknowledged and no longer are closed to the understanding.
We have shown that man's mind is his spirit, and the spirit is the man. While the body is the external through which the mind or spirit feels and acts in its world, but this is not known from our natural life, but from correspondences revealed through the Word of the Divine Human. You can understand that when the natural body dies and what remains is spirit, then the spirit comes into the same form, but of spiritual substance, for as was shown the spirit is the man; he is a human from the Lord, because God is Man and we are human from Him.
Finally, let us see that the union of a man's spirit with his body is by correspondences and that we have shown that these are of his will and understanding with his heart and lungs and that separation is through non-correspondence. If you can understand that the man is the spirit, then the spirit has a pulse and respiration as the body does, for they flow from the spirit into the body and produce them. You can see that here there is an exact correspondence between the spirit and the body. Thus, when these duel motions cease to correspond there is a separation, which is death. Therefore, it is that our bodily life depends on the correspondence of its pulse and respiration of our spirit. Once our bodily life ends because there is no longer correspondence between the spiritual and the natural, our life then continues in our spirit. How it continues is determined by how man lived in this world, whether from love to one's self or from love to the Lord. In love to self and to worldly things one appropriate falsities and evil enters into the spirit, into one's mind, as we have already shown, and our spirit continues living in the spiritual world after the body dies, having aversion to the light of Heaven, that is, to the Lord's Good and His Truth as he did in this world. It is otherwise when we appropriate truth and good enters into our spirit, into to our mind. For then our spirit continues living in the spiritual world in Heaven having an affinity for the light of Heaven while in this world from the Lord's Good and Truth flowing into this world.
End.
We have shown that man's mind is his spirit, and the spirit is the man. While the body is the external through which the mind or spirit feels and acts in its world, but this is not known from our natural life, but from correspondences revealed through the Word of the Divine Human. You can understand that when the natural body dies and what remains is spirit, then the spirit comes into the same form, but of spiritual substance, for as was shown the spirit is the man; he is a human from the Lord, because God is Man and we are human from Him.
Finally, let us see that the union of a man's spirit with his body is by correspondences and that we have shown that these are of his will and understanding with his heart and lungs and that separation is through non-correspondence. If you can understand that the man is the spirit, then the spirit has a pulse and respiration as the body does, for they flow from the spirit into the body and produce them. You can see that here there is an exact correspondence between the spirit and the body. Thus, when these duel motions cease to correspond there is a separation, which is death. Therefore, it is that our bodily life depends on the correspondence of its pulse and respiration of our spirit. Once our bodily life ends because there is no longer correspondence between the spiritual and the natural, our life then continues in our spirit. How it continues is determined by how man lived in this world, whether from love to one's self or from love to the Lord. In love to self and to worldly things one appropriate falsities and evil enters into the spirit, into one's mind, as we have already shown, and our spirit continues living in the spiritual world after the body dies, having aversion to the light of Heaven, that is, to the Lord's Good and His Truth as he did in this world. It is otherwise when we appropriate truth and good enters into our spirit, into to our mind. For then our spirit continues living in the spiritual world in Heaven having an affinity for the light of Heaven while in this world from the Lord's Good and Truth flowing into this world.
End.
| About |
| Doctrine
Site Content Copyright 2010 by The Lord's New Chapel All Rights Reserved
Site Concept and Creation Copyright 2010 by Stealth Media Solutions All Rights Reserved