AC 5323 - "Bend the Knees"

AC 5323

. . . in the original language
"abrech" means "bend the knees,"
and the bending of the knees is adoration.
For all inward endeavors that are of the will,
thus of the love or affection, consequently of the life,
have outward acts or gestures corresponding to them;
which acts or gestures flow from the very correspondence
of outward things with inward ones.
Holy fear with its consequent humiliation
(and therefore adoration),
has acts or gestures corresponding to itself,
namely, bending the knees,
falling down upon the knees,
and also prostrating the body down to the earth.
In this state, if the adoration is from genuine humiliation,
or if the humiliation is from genuine holy fear,
there is a failing of the spirits,
and consequently a giving way of the joints
in the border or intermediate region
where the spiritual is conjoined with the natural,
thus where the knees are;
for the parts below
have correspondence with natural things,
and those above with spiritual things.
So it is that the bending of the knees is a sign
representative of adoration.
With celestial people this act is spontaneous;
but with spiritual people it is a result of will.