(6) There are two forms into which the operation by influx takes place, the vegetable and the animal.
(7) Both these forms receive the ability to propagate their kind and the means of propagation.
338. (1) What is meant by evil uses on the earth. By evil uses on earth are meant all noxious things in both the animal and vegetable kingdom, also in the mineral kingdom. It is needless to enumerate all the noxious things in these kingdoms, for to do so would merely heap up names, and doing this without indicating the noxious effect that each kind produces would not contribute to the object which this work has in view. For the sake of information a few examples will suffice:-In the animal kingdom there are poisonous serpents, scorpions, crocodiles, great snakes, horned owls, screech owls, mice, locusts, frogs, spiders; also flies, drones, moths, lice, mites; in a word, creatures that destroy gra.s.ses, leaves, fruits, seed, food, and drink, and are harmful to beast and man. In the vegetable kingdom there are all hurtful, virulent, and poisonous herbs, with leguminous plants and shrubs of like character; and in the mineral kingdom all poisonous earths. From these few examples it can be seen what is meant by evil uses on earth; for evil uses are all things that are opposite to good uses (of which, in the preceding paragraph, n. 336).
339. (2) All things that are evil uses are in h.e.l.l, and all things that are good uses are in heaven. Before it can be seen that all evil uses that take form on earth are not from the Lord but from h.e.l.l, something must be premised concerning heaven and h.e.l.l, without a knowledge of which evil uses as well as good may be attributed to the Lord, and it may be believed that they are together from creation; or they may be attributed to nature, and their origin to the sun of nature. From these two errors man cannot be delivered, unless he knows that nothing whatever takes form in the natural world that does not derive its cause and therefore its origin from the spiritual world, and that good is from the Lord, and evil from the devil, that is, from h.e.l.l. By the spiritual world is meant both heaven and h.e.l.l. In heaven are to be seen all those things that are good uses (of which in a preceding article, n. 336). In h.e.l.l are to be seen all those that are evil uses (see just above, n. 338, where they are enumerated). These are wild creatures of every kind, as serpents, scorpions, great snakes, crocodiles, tigers, wolves, foxes, swine, owls of different kinds, bats, rats, and mice, frogs, locusts, spiders, and noxious insects of many kinds; also hemlocks and aconites, and all kinds of poisons, both of herbs and of earths; in a word, everything hurtful and deadly to man. Such things appear in the h.e.l.ls to the life precisely like those on and in the earth. They are said to appear there; yet they are not there as on earth, for they are mere correspondences of l.u.s.ts that swarm out of their evil loves, and present themselves in such forms before others. Because there are such things in the h.e.l.ls, these abound in foul smells, cadaverous, stercoraceous, urinous, and putrid, wherein the diabolical spirits there take delight, as animals do in rank stenches.
From this it can be seen that like things in the natural world did not derive their origin from the Lord, and were not created from the beginning, neither did they spring from nature through her sun, but are from h.e.l.l. That they are not from nature through her sun is plain, for the spiritual inflows into the natural, and not the reverse. And that they are not from the Lord is plain, because h.e.l.l is not from Him, therefore nothing in h.e.l.l corresponding to the evils of its inhabitants is from Him.
340. (3) There is unceasing influx out of the spiritual world into the natural world. He who does not know that there is a spiritual world, or that it is distinct from the natural world, as what is prior is distinct from what is subsequent, or as cause from the thing caused, can have no knowledge of this influx. This is the reason why those who have written on the origin of plants and animals could not do otherwise than ascribe that origin to nature; or if to G.o.d, then in the sense that G.o.d had implanted in nature from the beginning a power to produce such things, - not knowing that no power has been implanted in nature, since nature, in herself, is dead, and contributes no more to the production of these things than a tool does, for instance, to the work of a mechanic, the tool acting only as it is continually moved. It is the spiritual, deriving its origin from the sun where the Lord is, and proceeding to the outmosts of nature, that produces the forms of plants and animals, exhibiting the marvels that exist in both, and filling the forms with matters from the earth, that they may become fixed and enduring. But because it is now known that there is a spiritual world, and that the spiritual is from the spiritual sun, in which the Lord is and which is from the Lord, and that the spiritual is what impels nature to act, as what is living impels what is dead, also that like things exist in the spiritual world as in the natural world, it can now be seen that plants and animals have had their existence only from the Lord though that world, and through that world they have perpetual existence. Thus there is unceasing influx from the spiritual world into the natural. That this is so will be abundantly corroborated in the next chapter. Noxious things are produced on earth through influx from h.e.l.l, by the same law of permission whereby evils themselves from h.e.l.l flow into men. This law will be set forth in the Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Providence.
341. (4) Those things that are evil uses are effected by the operation of influx from h.e.l.l, wherever there are such things as correspond thereto.
The things that correspond to evil uses, that is, to hurtful plants and noxious animals, are cadaverous, putrid, excrement.i.tious, stercoraceous, rancid, and urinous matters; consequently, in places where these are, such herbs and such animalcules spring forth as are mentioned above; and in the torrid zone, like things of larger size, as serpents, basilisks, crocodiles, scorpions, rats, and so forth. Every one knows that swamps, stagnant ponds, dung, fetid bogs, are full of such things; also that noxious insects fill the atmosphere in clouds, and noxious vermin walk the earth in armies, and consume its herbs to the very roots. I once observed in my garden, that in the s.p.a.ce of a half yard, nearly all the dust was turned into minute insects, for when it was stirred with a stick, they rose in clouds. That cadaverous and putrid matters are in accord with these noxious and useless little things, and that the two are h.o.m.ogeneous, is evident from mere observation; and it is still more clearly seen from the cause, which is, that like stenches and fumes exist in the h.e.l.ls, where such little things are likewise to be seen. Those h.e.l.ls are therefore named accordingly; some are called cadaverous, some stercoraceous, some urinous, and so on. But all these h.e.l.ls are covered over, that those vapors may not escape from them. For when they are opened a very little, which happens when novitiate devils enter, they excite vomiting and cause headache, and such as are also poisonous induce fainting. The very dust there is also of the same nature, wherefore it is there called d.a.m.ned dust. From this it is evident that there are such noxious insects wherever there are such stenches, because the two correspond.
342. It now becomes a matter of inquiry whether such things spring from eggs conveyed to the spot by means of air, or rain, or water oozing through the soil, or whether they spring from the damp and stenches themselves. That these noxious animalcules and insects mentioned above are hatched from eggs which have been carried to the spot, or which have lain hidden everywhere in the ground since creation, is opposed to all observation. For worms spring forth in minute seeds, in the kernels of nuts, in wood, in stones, and even from leaves, and upon plants and in plants there are lice and grubs which are accordant with them. Of flying insects, too, there are such as appear in houses, fields, and woods, which arise in like manner in summer, with no oviform matters sufficient to account for them; also such as devour meadows and lawns, and in some hot localities fill and infest the air; besides those that swim and fly unseen in filthy waters, wines becoming sour, and pestilential air. These facts of observation support those who say that the odors, effluvia, and exhalations emitted from plants, earths, and ponds, are what give the initiative to such things. That when they have come forth, they are afterwards propagated either by eggs or offshoots, does not disprove their immediate generation; since every living creature, along with its minute viscera, receives organs of generation and means of propagation (see below, n. 347). In agreement with these phenomena is the fact heretofore unknown that there are like things also in the h.e.l.ls.
343. That the h.e.l.ls mentioned above have not only communication but conjunction with such things in the earths may be concluded from this, that the h.e.l.ls are not distant from men, but are about them, yea, are within those who are evil; thus they are contiguous to the earth; for man, in regard to his affections and l.u.s.ts, and consequent thoughts, and in regard to his actions springing from these, which are good or evil uses, is in the midst either of angels of heaven or of spirits of h.e.l.l; and as such things as are on the earth are also in the heavens and h.e.l.ls, it follows that influx therefrom directly produces such things when the conditions are favorable. All things, in fact, that appear in the spiritual world, whether in heaven or in h.e.l.l, are correspondences of affections or l.u.s.ts, for they take form there in accordance with these; consequently when affections or l.u.s.ts, which in themselves are spiritual, meet with h.o.m.ogeneous or corresponding things in the earths, there are present both the spiritual that furnishes a soul, and the material that furnishes a body. Moreover, within everything spiritual there is a conatus to clothe itself with a body. The h.e.l.ls are about men, and therefore contiguous to the earth, because the spiritual world is not in s.p.a.ce, but is where there is a corresponding affection.
344. I heard two presidents of the English Royal Society, Sir Hans Sloane and Martin Folkes, conversing together in the spiritual world about the existence of seeds and eggs, and about productions from them in the earths. The former ascribed them to nature, and contended that nature was endowed from creation with a power and force to produce such effects by means of the sun"s heat. The other maintained that this force is in nature unceasingly from G.o.d the Creator. To settle the discussion, a beautiful bird appeared to Sir Hans Sloane, and he was asked to examine it to see whether it differed in the smallest particle from a similar bird on earth. He held it in his hand, examined it, and declared that there was no difference. He knew indeed that it was nothing but an affection of some angel represented outside of the angel as a bird, and that it would vanish or cease with its affection. And this came to pa.s.s.
By this experience Sir Hans Sloane was convinced that nature contributes nothing whatever to the production of plants and animals, that they are produced solely by what flows into the natural world out of the spiritual world. If that bird, he said, were to be infilled, in its minutest parts, with corresponding matters from the earth, and thus fixed, it would be a lasting bird, like the birds on the earth; and that it is the same with such things as are from h.e.l.l. To this he added that had he known what he now knew of the spiritual world, he would have ascribed to nature no more than this, that it serves the spiritual, which is from G.o.d, in fixing the things which flow in unceasingly into nature.
345. (5) This is effected by the lowest spiritual separated from what is above it. It was shown in Part Third that the spiritual flows down from its sun even to the outmosts of nature through three degrees, which are called the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural; that these three degrees are in man from creation, consequently from birth; that they are opened according to man"s life; that if the celestial degree which is the highest and inmost is opened, man becomes celestial; if the spiritual degree which is the middle is opened, he becomes spiritual; but if only the natural degree which is the lowest and outermost is opened, he becomes natural; that if man becomes natural only, he loves only corporeal and worldly things; and that so far as he loves these, so far he does not love celestial and spiritual things, and does not look to G.o.d, and so far he becomes evil. From all this it is evident that the lowest spiritual, which is called the spiritual-natural, can be separated from its higher degrees, and is separated in such men as h.e.l.l consists of. This lowest spiritual can separate itself from its higher parts, and look to h.e.l.l, in men only; it cannot be so separated in beasts, or in soils. From which it follows that these evil uses mentioned above are effected on the earth by this lowest spiritual separated from what is above it, such as it is in those who are in h.e.l.l. That the noxious things on the earth have their origin in man, thus from h.e.l.l, may be shown by the state of the land of Canaan, as described in the Word; in that when the children of Israel lived according to the commandments, the earth yielded its increase, likewise the flocks and herds; but when they lived contrary to the commandments the ground was barren, and as it is said, accursed; instead of harvests it yielded thorns and briars, the flocks and herds miscarried, and wild beasts broke in. The same may be inferred from the locusts, frogs, and lice in Egypt.
346. (6) There are two forms into which the operation by influx takes place, the vegetable and the animal form. That there are only two universal forms produced out of the earth is known from the two kingdoms of nature, called the animal and the vegetable kingdoms, also that all the subjects of either kingdom possess many things in common. Thus the subjects of the animal kingdom have organs of sense and organs of motion and members and viscera that are actuated by brains, hearts, and lungs.
So the subjects of the vegetable kingdom send down a root into the ground, and bring forth stem, branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds. Both the animal and the vegetable kingdoms, as regards the production of their forms, derive their origin from spiritual influx and operation out of the sun of heaven where the Lord is, and not from the influx and operation of nature out of her sun; from this they derive nothing except their fixation, as was said above. All animals, great and small, derive their origin from the spiritual in the outmost degree, which is called the natural; man alone from all three degrees, called the celestial, spiritual, and natural.
As each degree of height or discrete degree decreases from its perfection to its imperfection, as light to shade, by continuity, so do animals; there are therefore perfect, less perfect, and imperfect animals. The perfect animals are elephants, camels, horses, mules, oxen, sheep, goats, and others which are of the herd or the flock; the less perfect are birds; and the imperfect are fish and sh.e.l.l-fish; these, as being the lowest of that degree, are as it were in shade, while the former are in light. Yet animals, since they live only from the lowest spiritual degree, which is called the natural, can look nowhere else than towards the earth and to food there, and to their own kind for the sake of propagation; the soul of all these is natural affection and appet.i.te. The subjects of the vegetable kingdom comprise, in like manner, the perfect, less perfect, and imperfect; the perfect are fruit trees, the less perfect are vines and shrubs, and the imperfect are gra.s.ses. But plants derive from the spiritual out of which they spring that they are uses, while animals derive from the spiritual out of which they spring that they are affections and appet.i.tes, as was shown above.
347. (7) Each of these forms receives with its existence the means of propagation. In all products of the earth, which pertain, as was said above, either to the vegetable or to the animal kingdom, there is a kind of image of creation, and a kind of image of man, and also a kind of image of the infinite and the eternal; this was shown above (n. 313-318); also that the image of the infinite and the eternal is clearly manifest in the capacity of all these for infinite and eternal propagation. They all, therefore, receive means of propagation; the subjects of the animal kingdom through seed, in the egg or in the womb or by sp.a.w.ning; and the subjects of the vegetable kingdom through seeds in the ground. From which it can be seen that although the more imperfect and the noxious animals and plants originate through immediate influx out of h.e.l.l, yet afterwards they are propagated mediately by seeds, eggs, or grafts; consequently, the one position does not annul the other.
348. That all uses, both good and evil, are from a spiritual origin, thus from the sun where the Lord is, may be ill.u.s.trated by this experience. I have heard that goods and truths have been sent down through the heavens by the Lord to the h.e.l.ls, and that these same, received by degrees to the lowest deep, were there turned into evils and falsities, which are the opposite of the goods and truths sent down. This took place because recipient subjects turn all things that inflow into such things as are in agreement with their own forms, just as the white light of the sun is turned into ugly colors or into black in those objects whose substances are interiorly of such a form as to suffocate and extinguish the light, and as stagnant ponds, dung-hills, and dead bodies turn the heat of the sun into stenches. From all this it can be seen that even evil uses are from the spiritual sun, but that good uses are changed in h.e.l.l into evil uses. It is evident, therefore, that the Lord has not created and does not create any except good uses, but that h.e.l.l produces evil uses.
349. THE VISIBLE THINGS IN THE CREATED UNIVERSE BEAR WITNESS THAT NATURE HAS PRODUCED AND DOES PRODUCE NOTHING, BUT THAT THE DIVINE OUT OF ITSELF, AND THROUGH THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, HAS PRODUCED AND DOES PRODUCE ALL THINGS.
Speaking from appearances, most men say that the sun by heat and light produces whatever is to be seen in plains, fields, gardens, and forests; also that the sun by its heat hatches worms from eggs, and makes prolific the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the air; and that it even gives life to man. Those who speak from appearances only may speak in this way without ascribing these things to nature, because they are not thinking about the matter; as there are those who speak of the sun as rising and setting, and causing days and years, and being now at this or that alt.i.tude; such persons speak from appearances, and in doing so, do not ascribe such effects to the sun, because they are not thinking of the sun"s fixity or the earth"s revolution. But those who confirm themselves in the idea that the sun produces the things that appear upon the earth by means of its heat and light, end by ascribing all things to nature, even the creation of the universe, and become naturalists and, at last, atheists. These may continue to say that G.o.d created nature and endowed her with the power of producing such things, but this they say from fear of losing their good name; and by G.o.d the Creator they still mean nature, and some mean the innermost of nature, and then the Divine things taught by the church they regard as of no account.
350. There are some who are excusable for ascribing certain visible things to nature, for two reasons. First, because they have had no knowledge of the sun of heaven, where the Lord is, or of influx therefrom, or of the spiritual world and its state, or even of its presence with man, and therefore had no other idea than that the spiritual is a purer natural; consequently, that angels are in the ether or in the stars; and that the devil is either man"s evil or if an actual existence, that he is in the air or the abyss; also that the souls of men, after death, are either in the interior of the earth, or in an undetermined somewhere till the day of judgment; and other like things deduced by fancy out of ignorance of the spiritual world and its sun.
Secondly, they are excusable, because they are unable to see how the Divine could produce everything that appears on the earth, where there are not only good things but also evil things; and they are afraid to confirm themselves in such an idea, lest they ascribe the evil things also to G.o.d, and form a material conception of G.o.d, and make G.o.d and nature one, and thus confound the two.
For these two reasons those are excusable who have believed that nature produces the visible world by a power implanted in her by creation. But those who have made themselves atheists by confirmations in favor of nature are not excusable, because they might have confirmed themselves in favor of the Divine. Ignorance indeed excuses, but does not remove, falsity - which has been confirmed, for such falsity coheres with evil, thus with h.e.l.l. Consequently, those same persons who have confirmed themselves in favor of nature to such an extent as to separate the Divine from nature, regard nothing as sin, because all sin is against the Divine, and this they have separated, and thus have rejected it; and those who in spirit regard nothing as sin, after death when they become spirits, since they are in bonds to h.e.l.l, rush into wickednesses which are in accord with the l.u.s.ts to which they have given rein.
351. Those who believe in a Divine operation in all the details of nature, are able by very many things they see in nature to confirm themselves in favor of the Divine, as fully as others confirm themselves in favor of nature, yea, more fully. For those who confirm themselves in favor of the Divine give attention to the wonders which are displayed in the production both of plants and animals. In the production of plants, how out of a little seed cast into the ground there goes forth a root, and by means of the root a stem, and branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits in succession, even to new seeds; just as if the seed knew the order of succession, or the process by which it is to renew itself. Can any reasonable person think that the sun, which is mere fire, has this knowledge, or that it is able to empower its heat and light to effect these results, or is able to fashion these wonderful things in plants, and to contemplate use? Any man of elevated reason who sees and weighs these things, cannot think otherwise than that they come from Him who has infinite reason, that is, from G.o.d. Those who acknowledge the Divine also see and think this, but those who do not acknowledge the Divine do not see or think this because they do not wish to; thus they sink their rational into the sensual, which draws all its ideas from the lumen which is proper to the bodily senses and which confirms their illusions, saying, Do you not see the sun effecting these things by its heat and light? What is a thing that you do not see? Is it anything?
Those who confirm themselves in favor of the Divine give attention to the wonders which are displayed in the production of animals; to mention here only, in reference to eggs, how the chick in its seed or beginning lies hidden therein, with everything requisite till it is hatched, also with everything pertaining to its subsequent development, until it becomes a bird or winged thing of the same form as its parent. And if one observes the living form, it is such as to fill any one with astonishment who thinks deeply, seeing that in the minutest as in the largest living creatures, even in the invisible, as in the visible, there are the organs of sense, namely, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch; and organs of motion which are muscles, for they fly and walk; also viscera surrounding the heart and lungs, which are set in action by brains. That even the commonest insects enjoy such organisms is shown in their anatomy as described by some writers, and especially by Swammerdam, in his Biblia Naturae. Those who ascribe everything to nature, see all these things, but they merely perceive that they exist, and say that nature produces them. They say this because they have turned their minds away from thinking about the Divine; and those who have done this are unable, when they see the wonderful things in nature, to think rationally, still less spiritually; but they think sensually and materially; and then they think in nature from nature, and not above nature, just as those do who are in h.e.l.l. They differ from beasts only in having the power to think rationally, that is, in being able to understand, and therefore to think otherwise, if they choose.
352. Those who have averted themselves from thinking about the Divine when observing the wonderful things in nature, and who thereby become sensual, do not reflect that the sight of the eye is so gross as to see many little insects as an obscure speck, when yet each one of these is organized to feel and to move, and is accordingly furnished with fibers and vessels, also with a minute heart, pulmonary tubes, viscera, and brains; also that these organs are woven out of the purest substances in nature, their tissues corresponding to that somewhat of life by which their minutest parts are separately moved. When the sight of the eye is so gross that many such creatures, with innumerable particulars in each, appear to it as an obscure speck, and yet those who are sensual think and judge by that sight, it is clear how dulled their minds are, and therefore what thick darkness they are in concerning spiritual things.
353. Any one who chooses may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from things seen in nature, and whoever thinks about G.o.d in reference to life does so confirm himself; as when he observes the birds of the air, how each species knows its food and where to find it, recognizes its kind by sound and sight, and which among other kinds are its friends and which its enemies; how also they mate, have knowledge of the s.e.xual relation, skillfully build nests, lay eggs therein, sit upon these, know the period of incubation, and this having elapsed, bring forth their young, love them most tenderly, cherish them under their wings, bring them food and feed them, until they can do for themselves, perform the same offices, and bring forth a family to perpetuate their kind. Any one who is willing to reflect on the Divine influx through the spiritual world into the natural can see such influx in these things, and if he will, can say from his heart, Such knowledges cannot flow into these creatures out of the sun through its rays of light, for the sun, from which nature derives its origin and essence, is mere fire, consequently its rays of light are wholly dead; and thus he may conclude that such things are from the influx of Divine Wisdom into the outmosts of nature.
354. Any one may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from things visible in nature, when he sees larvae, from the delight of some impulse, desiring and longing to change their terrestrial state to a certain likeness of the heavenly state, and for this purpose creeping into corners, and putting themselves as it were into a womb in order to be born again, and there becoming chrysalises, aurelias, caterpillars, nymphs, and at length b.u.t.terflies; and having undergone this metamorphosis, and each after its kind been decked with beautiful wings, they ascend into the air as into their heaven, and there disport themselves joyfully, form marriage unions, lay eggs, and provide for themselves a posterity, nourished meanwhile with pleasant and sweet food from flowers. Who that confirms himself in favor of the Divine from the visible things in nature can help seeing a kind of image of man"s earthly state in these as larvae, and in them as b.u.t.terflies an image of the heavenly state? Those who confirm themselves in favor of nature see the same things, but because in heart they have rejected the heavenly state of man they call them merely natural instincts.
355. Any one may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from things seen in nature by giving attention to what is known about bees: that they know how to collect wax and suck honey from herbs and flowers, and to build cells like little houses, and set them in the form of a city, with streets through which to come in and go out; that they scent at long distances the flowers and herbs from which they collect wax for their houses and honey for food, and laden with these fly back in a direct line to their hive; thus providing themselves with food and habitation for the coming winter, as if they had foresight and knowledge of it. They also set over them a mistress as queen, out of whom a posterity may be propagated; and for her they build a sort of a palace over themselves with guards around it; and when her time of bringing forth is at hand, she goes attended by her guards from cell to cell, and lays her eggs, which the crowd of followers smear over to protect them from the air, from which a new progeny springs forth for them. When this progeny becomes mature enough to do the same, it is driven from the hive. The expelled swarm first collects, and then in a close body, to preserve its integrity, flies away in quest of a home for itself. Moreover, in the autumn the useless drones are led out and are deprived of their wings to prevent their returning and consuming the food for which they have not labored; not to mention other particulars. From all this it can be seen that bees, because of their use to the human race, have from influx from the spiritual world, a form of government similar to that among men on earth, and even like that of angels in heaven. Can any man of unimpaired reason fail to see that these doings of the bees are not from the natural world?
What has that sun, from which nature springs, in common with a government that vies with and resembles the government of heaven? From these things and others very similar to them in the brute creation, the confessor and worshiper of nature confirms himself in favor of nature, while the confessor and worshiper of G.o.d confirms himself from the same things in favor of the Divine; for the spiritual man sees in them spiritual things and the natural man natural things, thus each according to his character.
As for myself, such things have been proofs to me of an influx of the spiritual into the natural, that is, of the spiritual world into the natural world, thus of an influx from the Lord"s Divine Wisdom. Consider, moreover, whether you can think a.n.a.lytically concerning any form of government, or any civil law, or moral virtue, or spiritual truth, unless the Divine out of His wisdom flows in through the spiritual world ? For myself, I could not and cannot. For having now observed that influx perceptibly and sensibly for about nineteen years continually, I speak as an eye-witness.
356. Can anything natural regard use as an end and dispose uses into series and forms? No one can do this unless he be wise; and no one but G.o.d, whose wisdom is infinite, can so give order and form to the universe.
Who else or what else is able to foresee and provide all things needful for the food and clothing of man, - food from the fruits of earth and from animals, and clothing from the same? How marvelous that so insignificant a creature as the silk-worm should clothe in silk and splendidly adorn both women and men, from queens and kings to maidservants and menservants, and that insignificant insects like the bees should supply wax for the candles by which temples and palaces are made brilliant. These and many other things are manifest proofs that the Lord from Himself by means of the spiritual world, brings about everything that comes into existence in nature.
357. To this must be added that those who have confirmed themselves in favor of nature, from the visible things of the world, until they have become atheists, have been seen by me in the spiritual world; and in the spiritual light their understanding appeared open below, but closed above, because in thought they had looked downward toward the earth, and not upward toward heaven. Above their sensual, which is the bottom of the understanding, appeared something like a veil; which in some flashed with h.e.l.lish fire, in some was black like soot, and in some livid like a corpse.
Therefore let every one beware of confirmations in favor of nature; let him confirm himself in favor of the Divine; there is no lack of material.
358. PART FIFTH.
TWO RECEPTACLES AND ABODES FOR HIMSELF, CALLED WILL AND UNDERSTANDING, HAVE BEEN CREATED AND FORMED BY THE LORD IN MAN; THE WILL FOR HIS DIVINE LOVE, AND THE UNDERSTANDING FOR HIS DIVINE WISDOM.
The Divine Love and Divine Wisdom of G.o.d the Creator, who is the Lord from eternity, and also the creation of the universe, have been treated of; something shall now be said of the creation of man. We read (in Gen. 1:26) that man was created "in the image of G.o.d, after His likeness." By "image of G.o.d" is there meant the Divine Wisdom, and by "likeness" of G.o.d the Divine Love; since wisdom is nothing but an image of love, for in wisdom love presents itself to be seen and recognized, and because it is seen and recognized in wisdom, wisdom is an image of it. Moreover love is the esse of life, and wisdom is the existere of life therefrom. In angels the likeness and image of G.o.d clearly appear, since love from within shines forth in their faces, and wisdom in their beauty, and their beauty is a form of their love. I have seen and know.
359. Man cannot be an image of G.o.d, after His likeness, unless G.o.d is in him and is his life from the inmost. That G.o.d is in man and, from the inmost, is his life, follows from what has been shown above (n. 4-6), that G.o.d alone is life, and that men and angels are recipients of life from Him. Moreover, that G.o.d is in man and that He makes His abode with him, is known from the Word; for which reason it is customary for preachers to declare that men ought to prepare themselves to receive G.o.d, that He may enter into them, and be in their hearts, that they may be His dwelling-place. The devout man says the same in his prayers, and some speak more openly respecting the Holy Spirit, which they believe to be in them when they are in holy zeal, and from that zeal they think, speak, and preach. That the Holy Spirit is the Lord, and not a G.o.d who is a person by Himself, has been shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the Lord (n. 51-53). For the Lord declares:
In that day ye shall know that ye are in Me, and I in you (John 14:20; so also in chap. 15:4, 5; and chap. 17:23).
360. Now because the Lord is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and these two essentially are Himself, it is necessary, in order that He may abide in man and give life to man, that He should create and form in man receptacles and abodes for Himself; the one for love and the other for wisdom. These receptacles and abodes in man are called will and understanding; the receptacle and abode of love is called the will, and the receptacle and abode of wisdom is called the understanding. That these two are the Lord"s in man, and that from these two man has all his life, will be seen in what follows.
361. That every man has these two, will and understanding, and that they are distinct from each other, as love and wisdom are distinct, is known and is not known in the world. It is known from common perception, but it is not known from thought and still less from thought when written out; for who does not know from common perception that the will and the understanding are two distinct things in man? For every one perceives this when he hears it stated, and may himself say to another, This man means well, but does not understand clearly; while that one"s understanding is good, but his will is not; I like the man whose understanding and will are both good; but I do not like him whose understanding is good and his will bad. Yet when he thinks about the will and the understanding he does not make them two and distinguish them, but confounds them, since his thought then acts in common with the bodily sight. When writing he apprehends still less that will and understanding are two distinct things, because his thought then acts in common with the sensual, that is, with what is the man"s own. From this it is that some can think and speak well, but cannot write well. This is common with women. It is the same with many other things. Is it not known by everyone from common perception that a man whose life is good is saved, but that a man whose life is bad is condemned? Also that one whose life is good will enter the society of angels, and will there see, hear, and speak like a man? Also that one who from justice does what is just and from what is right does right, has a conscience? But if one lapses from common perception, and submits these things to thought, he does not know what conscience is; or that the soul can see, hear, and speak like a man; or that the good of life is anything except giving to the poor. And if from thought you write about these things, you confirm them by appearances and fallacies, and by words of sound but of no substance. For this reason many of the learned who have thought much, and especially who have written much, have weakened and obscured, yea, have destroyed their common perception; while the simple see more clearly what is good and true than those who think themselves their superiors in wisdom. This common perception comes by influx from heaven, and descends into thought even to sight; but thought separated from common perception falls into imagination from the sight and from what is man"s own. You may observe that this is so. Tell some truth to any one that is in common perception, and he will see it; tell him that from G.o.d and in G.o.d we are and live and are moved, and he will see it; tell him that G.o.d dwells with man in love and in wisdom, and he will see it; tell him further that the will is the receptacle of love, and the understanding of wisdom, and explain it a little, and he will see it; tell him that G.o.d is Love itself and Wisdom itself, and he will see it; ask him what conscience is, and he will tell you. But say the same things to one of the learned, who has not thought from common perception, but from principles or from ideas obtained from the world through sight, and he will not see. Then consider which is the wiser.
362. WILL AND UNDERSTANDING, WHICH ARE THE RECEPTACLES OF LOVE AND WISDOM, ARE IN THE BRAINS, IN THE WHOLE AND IN EVERY PART OF THEM, AND THEREFROM IN THE BODY, IN THE WHOLE AND IN EVERY PART OF IT.
This shall be shown in the following order:
(1) Love and wisdom, and will and understanding therefrom, make the very life of man.
(2) The life of man in its first principles is in the brains, and in its derivatives in the body.
(3) Such as life is in its first principles, such it is in the whole and in every part.
(4) By means of first principles life is in the whole from every part, and in every part from the whole.
(5) Such as the love is, such is the wisdom, consequently such is the man.
363. (1) Love and wisdom, and will and understanding therefrom, make the very life of man. Scarcely any one knows what life is. When one thinks about life, it seems as if it were a fleeting something, of which no distinct idea is possible. It so seems because it is not known that G.o.d alone is life, and that His life is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. From this it is evident that in man life is nothing else than love and wisdom, and that there is life in man in the degree in which he receives these.
It is known that heat and light go forth from the sun, and that all things in the universe are recipients and grow warm and bright in the degree in which they receive. So do heat and light go forth from the sun where the Lord is; the heat going forth therefrom is love, and the light wisdom (as shown in Part Second). Life, therefore, is from these two which go forth from the Lord as a sun. That love and wisdom from the Lord is life can be seen also from this, that man grows torpid as love recedes from him, and stupid as wisdom recedes from him, and that were they to recede altogether he would become extinct. There are many things pertaining to love which have received other names because they are derivatives, such as affections, desires, appet.i.tes, and their pleasures and enjoyments; and there are many things pertaining to wisdom, such as perception, reflection, recollection, thought, intention to an end; and there are many pertaining to both love and wisdom, such as consent, conclusion, and determination to action; besides others. All of these, in fact, pertain to both, but they are designated from the more prominent and nearer of the two. From these two are derived ultimately sensations, those of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, with their enjoyments and pleasures. It is according to appearance that the eye sees; but it is the understanding that sees through the eye; consequently seeing is predicated also of the understanding. The appearance is that the ear hears; but it is the understanding that hears through the ear; consequently hearing is predicated also of attention and giving heed, which pertain to the understanding. The appearance is that the nose smells, and the tongue tastes but it is the understanding that smells and also tastes by virtue of its perception; therefore smelling and tasting are predicated also of perception. So in other cases. The sources of all these are love and wisdom; from which it can be seen that these two make the life of man.
364. Everyone sees that the understanding is the receptacle of wisdom, but few see that the will is the receptacle of love. This is because the will does not act at all by itself, but only through the understanding; also because the love of the will, in pa.s.sing over into the wisdom of the understanding, is first changed into affection, and thus pa.s.ses over; and affection is not perceived except by something pleasant in thinking, speaking, and acting, which is not noticed. Still it is evident that love is from the will, for the reason that everyone wills what he loves, and does not will what he does not love.
365. (2) The life of man in its first principles is in the brains, and in its derivatives in the body. In first principles means in its firsts, and in derivatives means in what is brought forth and formed from its firsts.
By life in first principles is meant will and understanding. These two are what are in their first principles in the brains, and in their derivatives in the body. It is evident that the first principles or firsts of life are in the brains:
(1) From the feeling itself; since man perceives, when he exerts his mind and thinks, that he thinks in the brain. He draws in as it were the sight of the eye, contracts the forehead, and perceives the mental process to be within, especially inside the forehead and somewhat above it.