AC 3855 - seeds, people, and the inflowing from the Lord

AC 3855
The Lord flows from the highest into the inmosts of a person,
and through these into his interiors,
and through these again into his externals;
thus He flows in mediately, and also immediately;
and as the externals are further from the Divine,
they are also on this account relatively without order,
nor do they suffer themselves to be reduced to such order
as do the internals.

The case herein is the same as it is with seeds,
which are more perfect within than without,
being so perfect within
as to enable them to produce a whole plant,
or a whole tree, in its order,
together with its leaves and fruits,
the external forms of which may easily suffer injury from various causes,
but not so much so the internal or inmost forms of the seeds,
which are in a more interior and perfect nature.

The case is the same with the internals and externals of people,
and therefore when a person is being regenerated,
he is regenerated as to the rational
before he is regenerated as to the natural;
and the regeneration of the natural is both later and more difficult,
because in it are many things which are not in order
and are exposed to injuries from the body and the world....