AC 5576 - Hunger In Heaven And On Earth

AC 5576 [2-5]

Hunger in the spiritual world or in heaven
is not hunger for food,
because the angels do not feed upon material food,
which is for the body that a person carries about in the world;
but it is hunger for such food as nourishes their minds.
This food, which is called spiritual food,
is to understand truth and be wise in good;
and wonderful to say the angels are nourished by this food;
which has been made evident to me from the fact
that after little children who die
have been instructed in heaven
in the truths of intelligence and the goods of wisdom,
 they no longer appear as little children, but as adults,
and this according to their increase in good and truth;
and also from the fact
that the angels continually long for
the things of intelligence and wisdom,
and that when they are in the evening,
that is, in a state in which these things fail,
they are so far in what is relatively not happiness,
and they then hunger and long for nothing more
than that the morning may dawn for them afresh,
and that they may return into their life of happiness,
which is of intelligence and wisdom.

That to understand truth and to will good is spiritual food,
may also appear to everyone who reflects
that when anyone is enjoying
material food for the nourishment of the body,
his food is more nourishing
if he is at the same time in cheerful spirits
and conversing on agreeable topics,
which is a sign that there is
a correspondence between spiritual food for the soul
and material food for the body.
And the same is further evident from the fact
that when one who longs to imbue his mind
with the things of knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom
is kept from them,
he begins to be saddened and distressed,
and like one who is famished
longs to return to his spiritual food,
and thereby to the nourishment of his soul.

That there is spiritual food which nourishes the soul
as material food nourishes the body
may also be seen from the Word, as in Moses:

Man does not live by bread only;
but by every utterance of the mouth of Jehovah
does man live.
(Deuteronomy. 8:3; Matthew 4:4)

The "utterance of the mouth of Jehovah"
is in general the Divine truth
which proceeds from the Lord,
thus all truth of wisdom,
specifically the Word,
in which and from which are the things of wisdom.

And in John:

Labor not for the meat which perishes,
but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life,
which the Son of man shall give unto you
(John 6:27);

that this meat is the truth of wisdom
which proceeds from the Lord is evident.

From this too it may be known what is meant
by these words of the Lord in the same chapter:

My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
(John 6:55);

namely, that the Lord's "flesh" is Divine good,
and His "blood" Divine truth;
for when the Lord made His whole Human Divine,
then His flesh was nothing else than Divine good,
and His blood Divine truth.
It is evident that in the Divine
nothing material is to be understood;
and therefore "food" in the supreme sense,
that is, when predicated of the Lord,
is the good of the Divine love for saving the human race.
This food is what is meant by the Lord's words in John:

Jesus said to the disciples,
I have meat to eat that you do not know.
My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me,
and to perfect His work
(John 4:32, 34);

"to do the will of Him that sent Him,
and to perfect His work"
is to save the human race;
the Divine from which this is done
is the Divine love.