DLW 205-206 - Sequential Order, Concurrent Order of Discrete Degrees (in the Angels and the Word)

DLW 205

In sequential order
the first degree constitutes the highest element,
and the third the lowest;
but in concurrent order
the first degree constitutes the inmost element,
and the third the outmost.
Discrete degrees exist
in sequential order and in concurrent order.
The sequential order of these degrees
extends from highest to lowest,
or from top to bottom.
In such an order are the angelic heavens.
The third heaven in this order is the highest,
the second heaven is intermediate,
and the first heaven is the lowest.
That is their situation in relation to each other.

In a like sequential order in the heavens
are the states of love and wisdom in angels,
and likewise their states of warmth and light,
and also those of the spiritual atmospheres.
In a like order are all perfections
of the forms and forces there.

When degrees of height or discrete degrees
are in sequential order,
they may then be likened to a column or tower
divided into three levels
through which one may ascend or descend,
whose uppermost story
contains things most perfect and beautiful,
the intermediate story
things less perfect and beautiful,
and the lowest story
things still less perfect and beautiful.

Concurrent order, on the other hand,
which consists of like degrees,
has a different appearance.
In it the highest constituents of sequential order -
which, as we said,
are the most perfect and beautiful -
are at the core,
its lower constituents in an interjacent* area
(*lying or being between or among others)
surrounding that,
and its lowest constituents on the periphery.
They are like concentric layers in a solid object
consisting of three such degrees,
whose core or center contains the finest elements,
round about which are elements less fine,
and in the outmost parts which form the surface,
elements composed of these, and thus cruder.

DLW 206

Since the highest element in sequential order
becomes the inmost in concurrent order,
and the lowest becomes the outmost,
therefore something higher in the Word
symbolizes something more interior,
and something lower
symbolizes something more exterior.
An upward direction and a downward direction
have the same symbolism,
and so, too, do height and depth.