DLW 404 -Affection for Truth, Perception of Truth, Thought

DLW 404 [4]

. . . these three elements -
an affection for truth,
a perception of truth,
and thought -
follow in succession from love,
and that they take form nowhere else
than in the intellect.
For when love enters the intellect,
which happens
when a conjunction of the two has taken place,
it then produces first an affection for truth,
then an affection for understanding what it knows,
and finally an affection for seeing
what in the thought of the body it understands -
thought being nothing other than an internal sight.

Thought, indeed, occurs first,
because it is a faculty of the natural mind.
But thought from a perception of truth
springing from an affection for truth occurs last.
This latter thought is the thought of wisdom,
while the first is a thought from memory
formed in consequence
of the sight of the natural mind.

All operations of love or the will
apart from the intellect have to do
not with affections for truth
but with affections for good.

 

DLW 400 - The Human Form

DLW 400

(2) Love or the will
continually strives toward the human form
and toward all the elements
that make up the human form.

. . . Its endeavor and effort is toward the human form
for the reason that God is human,
and Divine love and wisdom constitute His life,
from which comes everything connected with life.

DLW 399 - What Is the Core of Life?

DLW 399

(1) Love or the will is a person's very life.
This follows from the correspondence
of the heart with the will . . .
for as the heart functions in the body,
so the will does in the mind.
Moreover, as all the constituents of the body
depend for their existence and motion on the heart,
so all the constituents of the mind
depend for their existence and life on the will.
We say on the will, but we mean on love,
because the will is the recipient vessel of love,
and love is life itself,
and love which is life itself
comes from the Lord alone.

It can be known from the heart
and its extension throughout the body
by means of the arteries and veins
that love or the will is a person's life,
because things that correspond to each other
function similarly,
with the difference
that one is natural and the other spiritual.

 

DLW 394, 398 - The Soul

DLW 394 [2]

. . . the human soul which lives after death
is a person's spirit;
that this spirit is in complete form human;
that its soul is the will and intellect,
and that the soul of these
is love and wisdom from the Lord;
that these two are what constitute a person's life,
which comes from the Lord alone;
and that for Him to be received by the person,
the Lord causes the life to appear
as though it were the person's.
Nevertheless, to keep people
from attributing life to themselves as theirs
and so turning away from a reception of Him,
the Lord also taught
that every element of love that is called good,
and every element of wisdom that is called truth,
comes from Him,
and nothing of them from any person,
and that because these two are life,
every element of life that is life comes from Him.

DLW 398

. . . love and wisdom,
and consequently the will and intellect,
are what are termed the soul . . .
can be known from the correspondence
of the heart with the will,
and of the lungs with the intellect . . ..

 

DLW 390, 391-392 - The Will & Heart and the Intellect & Lungs; (7) Conjunction and Correspondence in Life and Death

DLW 390

(7) The conjunction of a person's spirit with the body
is due to the correspondence
of his will and intellect with his heart and lungs,
and their disjunction
to the absence of that correspondence.

Since a person's spirit possesses
a pulse and respiration just as the body does,
it follows therefore
that there is a like correspondence
of the pulse and respiration of a person's spirit
with the pulse and respiration of his body,
for the mind, as we said, is his spirit.
Consequently, when the correspondence
of these two motions ceases,
a separation takes place, which is death.

In short, the life of a person's body depends on
the correspondence of its pulse and respiration
with the pulse and respiration of his spirit,
and when that correspondence ceases,
the life of the body ceases,
and his spirit departs
and continues its life in the spiritual world,
a life which is so like his life in the natural world
that he does not know he has died.

DLW 391-392

It is apparent from this also
that the conjunction of the spirit and body in a person
is due to the correspondence
of their two cardiac motions and pulmonary motions.

The reason these two motions,
the cardiac and the pulmonary,
occur and continue is that the entire angelic heaven,
both in general and in particular,
possesses these two motions of life.
The entire angelic heaven possesses them
because the Lord infuses them from the sun
where He is and which emanates from Him.
For that sun engenders these two motions
from the Lord.
Moreover, because all the constituents
of heaven and the world
descend in succession from the Lord
through that sun in such a nexus and form,
like the links of a chain
from the first to the lasts of them,
and because the life of love and wisdom
originates from Him,
and all the forces of the universe spring from life,
it is apparent that the origin of these motions
lies nowhere else.

It follows that the varying of these motions
occurs in accordance with
the reception of love and wisdom.

 

DLW 386, 388 - The Will & Heart and the Intellect & Lungs (6) Mind, Body, Spirit

DLW 386

(6) A person's mind is his spirit,
and the spirit is the person,
the body being the outward instrument
by which the mind or spirit senses and acts
in the physical world.

DLW 388

. . . it can also be seen
that a person's mind is the person himself.
For the first framework of the human form,
or the human form itself,
with each and every one of its constituents,
comes from its first elements
continued from the brain through the nerves . . ..

This is the form
into which a person comes after death,
who is then called a spirit or angel,
and who is in every measure of perfection
a human being, only a spiritual one.
The material form
which is added and superimposed in the world
is not the human form per se,
but is its product,
being added and superimposed to enable
the person to perform useful services
in the natural world,
and also to take with him
from the purer substances of the world
some fixed containing vessel
for his spiritual constituents
and so continue and perpetuate his life.

. . . a person's mind possesses,
not only in general but also in every particular,
a constant effort toward the human form,
because God is human.

 

DLW 385 - The Will & Heart and the Intellect & Lungs (5) Correspondences Reveal Secrets

DLW 385

(5) Through that correspondence
one can discover many secrets
relating to the will and intellect,
and so also to love and wisdom.
People in the world scarcely know
what the will is and what love is,
since a person cannot of himself love
and from loving will in the manner
that he can seemingly of himself
understand and think -
just as he cannot of himself
compel the heart to pump in the manner
that he can of himself compel the lungs to breathe.

Now because people in the world scarcely know
what the love and will are,
and yet know what the heart and lungs are -
for the latter two are visible to the eyes
and can be examined,
and by anatomists
also have been examined and described,
whereas the will and intellect
are not visible to the eyes and cannot be examined -
therefore when it is known that they correspond
and by correspondence operate in union,
many secrets can be discovered
relating to the will and intellect
which could not otherwise be discovered.

DLW 382, 383, 384 - The Will & Heart and the Intellect & Lungs (4) The Intellect Corresponds to the Lungs

DLW 382 [end of 1-2,3]

Everyone may also observe in himself
that the intellect corresponds to the lungs
by considering both his thought and his speech.

As regards thought,
it is impossible for anyone to think
without his pulmonary respiration's
concurring and according.
Consequently when someone thinks quietly,
he breathes quietly.
If he thinks deeply, he breathes deeply.

As regards speech,
not the least utterance of a word
flows from the mouth
without the ancillary aid of the lungs.
For sound which is articulated into words
issues wholly from the lungs

DLW 383 [3-4]

Because breath passes through the nostrils,
therefore the nose symbolizes perception . . ..

It is owing to this, too,
that the word for spirit and wind
in Hebrew and in some other languages
is the same.
For the word "spirit"
is derived from a word meaning "to breathe."
Consequently when a person dies
he is also said to breathe his last
and yield up the spirit.

It is owing to this as well
that people believe
the spirit to be a gust of wind or some airy entity,
like a puff of breath exhaled from the lungs,
and the soul likewise.

It can be seen from this
that to love God
with all one's heart and all one's soul
means to do so
with all one's love and all one's intellect,
and that giving a new heart and a new spirit
means giving a new will and a new intellect.

DLW 384

Since all the mind's constituents
are connected with the will and intellect,
and all the body's constituents
with the heart and lungs,
therefore in the head
the brain is divided into two structures,
and these are as distinct from each other
as the will and intellect from each other.
The cerebellum serves primarily the will,
and the cerebrum primarily the intellect.

In the body, the heart and lungs are likewise
separated from the rest of the organs there.
They are separated by the diaphragm
and enveloped in their own covering,
called the pleura,
and they form that part of the body called the chest.

In the remaining constituents of the body,
called its members, organs and viscera,
these two elements are conjoined.
Consequently the parts exist in pairs,
such as the arms and hands,
loins and feet, eyes and nostrils,
and, inside the body,
the kidneys, ureters, and testes.
Even organs that do not exist in pairs
are divided into a right and left side -
including the cerebrum itself into two hemispheres,
the heart itself into two ventricles,
and the lungs themselves into two lobes.
Moreover, the right side of these relates to
the goodness of truth,
and the left side to the truth of good.

 

DLW 379, 380 - The Will & Heart and the Intellect & Lungs (3) The Will Corresponds to the Heart

DLW 379 [1, 2]

. . . one who knows that there is a correspondence
of love and its affections
with the heart and its derivatives
may also know
that love is the origin of the vital warmth.
For love emanates from the spiritual sun
where the Lord is as warmth,
and it is also felt by the angels as warmth.
This spiritual warmth,
which in its essence is love,
is what flows by correspondence
into the heart and its blood,
imparting to it its warmth
and at the same time animating it.

Because love is a person's life,
therefore the heart
is the first and last vessel of that life.
Moreover, because love is a person's life,
and the soul maintains its life in the body
by means of the blood,
therefore blood in the Word is called the soul.

DLW 380

The fact that the blood is red
is owing also to the correspondence
of the heart and blood with love and its affections.
For the spiritual world has in it colors of every kind.
The colors red and white are the fundamental ones,
and the rest take their variations from them
and from their opposites,
which are a dark fiery color and black.
The color red there corresponds to love,
and the color white corresponds to wisdom.

The color red corresponds to love
for the reason that it takes its origin from
the fire of the sun in the spiritual world;
and the color white corresponds to wisdom
for the reason that it takes its origin from
the light of the sun there.
Because, then,
there is a correspondence of love with the heart,
therefore the blood cannot but be red
and attest its origin.

It is in consequence of this
that in the heavens
where love toward the Lord reigns,
the light is a flaming one,
and the angels there are clad in purple garments;
and in the heavens where wisdom reigns,
the light is bright white,
and the angels there
are clad in garments of white linen.

 

DLW 374 - The Will & Heart and the Intellect & Lungs (2) A Correspondence

DLW 374 [1,3]

(2) There is a correspondence
of the will and intellect
with the heart and lungs,
and consequently a correspondence
of all the mind's constituents
with all the body's constituents.

The two planes are distinct.
I can think and not speak,
and I can will and not act.
We also know that the body does not think or will,
but that thought descends into speech,
and will into action.

[3]  people have become so externally oriented
that they have been unwilling
to acknowledge anything but the natural realm.
This has been their love's delight,
and so the delight of their intellect.
Consequently to elevate their thought
above the natural realm
to something spiritual apart from anything natural
has been unappealing to them.
Owing to their natural love and its delight, therefore,
they have been unable to think of a spiritual entity
as being anything other than a purer natural one,
and of correspondence as being
anything other than something flowing in
by a continuous means.
Indeed, the merely natural person cannot think
of anything apart from the natural realm.
Anything apart from that to him does not exist.

DLW 371-372 - The Will & Heart and the Intellect & Lungs (1); DLW 373 - Nothingness

DLW 371

There is a correspondence
of the will with the heart,
and of the intellect with the lungs.
We propose to demonstrate this
according to the following outline:

(1) All the constituents of the mind
are connected with the will and intellect,
and all the constituents of the body
with the heart and lungs.

(2) There is a correspondence
of the will and intellect with the heart and lungs,
and consequently a correspondence
of all the mind's constituents
with all the body's constituents.

(3) The will corresponds to the heart.

(4) The intellect corresponds to the lungs.

(5) Through that correspondence
one can discover many secrets
relating to the will and intellect,
and so also to love and wisdom.

(6) A person's mind is his spirit,
and the spirit is the person,
the body being the outward instrument
by which the mind or spirit senses and acts
in the physical world.

DLW 372

(1) All the constituents of the mind
are connected with the will and intellect,
and all the constituents of the body
with the heart and lungs.

By the mind
we mean nothing else than the will and intellect,
which comprise in their entirety
all that a person feels and all that a person thinks,
thus all elements that pertain
to a person's affection and thought.
The things that a person feels are properties of his will,
and those that he thinks are properties of his intellect.

People know
that all the components of a person's thought
are properties of his intellect,
since a person thinks with the intellect.
But it is not so well known
that all the components of a person's affection
are properties of his will.
It is not so well known
for the reason that when a person thinks,
he does not pay attention to his affection,
but only to what he is thinking.
Similarly, when he hears someone speaking,
he does not pay attention to the intonation
but to the utterance itself.
And yet the affection in thinking
is like the intonation in speech,
which is why from the intonation of a speaker
one discerns his affection,
and from the utterance his thought.

Affection is a property of the will
because every affection is a property of love,
and the recipient vessel of love is the will,
as we showed above.

A person who does not know
that affection is a property of the will
confuses affection with thought;
for he says that it is one with thought.
But in fact they are not one,
but operate as one.

DLW 373

Please do not think of these things
as existing in a vacuum.
A vacuum is nothingness,
and in nothing nothing happens,
and from nothing nothing springs. 

 

 

DLW 363, 368 - Love and Wisdom Form Our Character

DLW 363

(1) Love and wisdom,
and consequently the will and intellect,
constitute a person's very life.
Scarcely anyone knows what life is.
When anyone thinks about it,
it seems as though it were something vaporous,
of which no idea is possible.
It seems so because people do not know
that God alone is life,
and that His life is Divine love and wisdom.
Consequently it is apparent
that nothing else is the life in a person,
and that it is the life in him
in the degree that he receives it.

DLW 368

(5) The character of the love determines
the character of the wisdom,
and so the character of the person.
The reason is
that the character of the love and wisdom
determines the character of the will and intellect.
For the will is the recipient vessel of love,
and the intellect the recipient vessel of wisdom . . .
and these two form the person and his character.

Love is multifarious -
so multifarious that its varieties are limitless -
as can be seen
from the human race on earth and in the heavens.
One finds not one person or one angel
so like another
that there is no distinction between them.
It is love that distinguishes them,
for everyone is the embodiment of his love.

People suppose that it is wisdom
that distinguishes them,
but wisdom is the product of love,
wisdom being its form.
For love is the essence of life,
and wisdom the expression of life
springing from that essence.

 

Part Five: DLW 358-359 - The Human Vessels Where the Lord Lives

DLW 358

The Lord created and formed in mankind
two recipient vessels and abodes for Himself,
called will and intellect,
the will for His Divine love,
and the intellect for His Divine wisdom.

We read that man was created in the image of God,
according to His likeness (Genesis 1:26).
By the image of God there
is meant His Divine wisdom,
and by the likeness of God His Divine love.
For wisdom is nothing else than the image of love,
since love presents itself
to be seen and recognized in wisdom;
and because it is seen and recognized in wisdom,
wisdom is an image of it.
Love is moreover the essence of life,
and wisdom the expression of life springing from it.

DLW 259

A likeness and image of God
is clearly apparent in angels,
for love shines from within in their faces,
and wisdom in their beauty,
beauty being the outward expression of their love. 

 

 

DLW 350 - Attributing Creation to Nature and Not to the Lord

DLW 350

Some people must indeed be pardoned
for having attributed
certain visible phenomena to nature,
for the following twofold reason:
first, that they have not known anything
about the sun of heaven where the Lord is,
and the influx from it,
nor anything about the spiritual world and its state,
nor, indeed, of its presence with mankind.
And therefore they could not help but think
that anything spiritual
was a purer form of something natural;
thinking thus that angels existed
either in the stratosphere or in the stars;
and in regard to the devil,
either that it was the evil in mankind,
or if the devil actually existed,
that he existed either in the air
or in the depths of the earth;
also that people's souls after death
existed either at the center of the earth
or in some limbo or other until the Day of Judgment;
and other like things
which their fancy persuaded them of,
owing to their ignorance
of the spiritual world and its sun.

The second reason they must be pardoned
is that they could not have known
how the Divine produces
all the phenomena that appear on the earth,
where one finds both good things and bad,
fearing to confirm the notion in themselves
lest they ascribe the bad things as well to God,
or lest they form a material concept of God,
making God and nature one
and so confusing the two.

For these two reasons they must be pardoned
who have believed that nature
produces the phenomena they see
by a power implanted from creation.

However, those who
by confirmations on the side of nature
have made themselves atheists,
cannot be pardoned,
because they could have
confirmed themselves
on the side of the Divine.
Ignorance, indeed, excuses,
but it does not take away falsity
that has been confirmed;
for such falsity is bound together with evil,
thus with hell.

 

DLW 336, 343, 344, 348 - Evil Forms of Use

DLW 336

Evil forms of use were not created by the Lord,
but arose together with hell.
We call all good endeavors
having actual expression forms of use,
and we also call all evil endeavors
having actual expression forms of use;
but the latter we call evil forms of use,
and the first, good forms of use.

Now because
all good endeavors come from the Lord,
and all evil endeavors from hell,
it follows that the Lord created
only good forms of use,
and that evil forms of use arose from hell.

By the forms of use
that we are considering specifically
in the present discussion
we mean all forms that appear on the earth,
such as animals of every kind
and plants of every kind.
All of these that are useful to mankind
come from the Lord,
and those which are harmful to mankind
come from hell.

By forms of use from the Lord
we mean likewise all matters
that perfect a person's rational faculty,
and which enable the person to receive
a spiritual character from the Lord.
Conversely, by evil forms of use
we mean all matters that destroy the rational faculty,
and which render a person
incapable of becoming spiritual.

We call things that are harmful to mankind
forms of use
because they are of use to evil people in doing evil,
and for the reason also
that they are helpful for absorbing malignancies,
and so also as remedies.

We use the term "use" in both senses,
like the term "love,"
as referring to a good love or an evil love;
and love calls everything that it does useful.

DLW 343

. . . the hells are not apart from people
but surround them,
being indeed in people who are evil,
so that they are in contact with the earth.
For in respect to his affections and lusts
and consequent thoughts,
and springing from these his actions,
which are good or evil forms of use,
a person is either in the midst of angels of heaven
or in the midst of spirits of hell.

DLW 344

That if a person becomes merely natural,
he loves only things
connected with his person and the world;
and that to the extent he loves these,
to the same extent he is averse
to celestial and spiritual things,
and does not look to God,
and to that extent becomes evil.

DLW 348

. . . even evil forms of use
come from the spiritual sun,
but that they are good forms of use
turned into evil ones in hell.

It is apparent, therefore,
that the Lord did not and does not
create anything but good forms of use,
while hell produces evil ones.

 

DWL 335 - Not For His Sake, But For Ours

DLW 335

Even though we call these forms of use,
because they have relation
through mankind to the Lord,
still it cannot be said
that they are forms of use originating from
mankind for the sake of the Lord.
Rather they are forms of use originating from
the Lord for the sake of mankind,
because all useful ends
are infinitely one in the Lord,
and do not originate in mankind
except from the Lord.
For a person cannot do good of himself
but only from the Lord.
Good is what we are calling a useful end.

The essence of spiritual love
is to do good to others,
not for one's own sake,
but for their sake.
Infinitely more is it the essence of Divine love.

The case is the same as with
the love of parents for their children,
who do good to them out of love,
not for their own sake but for the children's sake.
This is clearly seen
in a mother's love for her little children.

Because the Lord is to be
adored, worshiped and glorified,
people believe that He loves adoration,
worship and glory for His own sake.
But in fact He loves these for mankind's sake,
since a person comes thereby into a state
such that the Divine can flow in and be perceived,
because the person thereby
sets aside his native character
which inhibits the influx and reception.
For his native character,
which is love of self,
hardens the heart and closes it up.
He sets this character aside by acknowledging
that of himself he does nothing but evil,
and from the Lord only good,
thus occasioning
a softening and humbling of the heart
from which springs adoration and worship.

It follows from this
that the uses the Lord performs
for Himself through mankind
exist to the end that He may
do good to people out of love,
and because this is His love,
their reception of it is His love's delight.

Let no one suppose, therefore,
that the Lord dwells in those
who merely adore Him,
but that He dwells in those
who do His commandments,
thus who do things of use.
It is in such people that He has His abode,
and not the first.

 

DLW 333-334 - Gifts of Use From the Lord

DLW 333

Forms of use
for receiving a spiritual character from the Lord
are all matters having to do with religion
and so with worship,
thus which teach
an acknowledgment and knowledge of God,
and a knowledge and acknowledgment
of goodness and truth, and consequently eternal life.
These are similarly learned like other disciplines
from parents, teachers, sermons and books,
and especially through efforts
to pursue a life in accordance with them.
In the Christian world they are learned
through doctrines and sermons drawn from the Word,
and through the Word from the Lord.

These forms of use
can be described in their range and scope
in the same terms as forms of use to the body,
as for example, in terms of nourishment, clothing,
lodging, recreation and enjoyment, protection,
and the preservation of condition,
provided one applies them to the soul -
its nourishment to goods of love,
its clothing to truths of wisdom,
its lodging to heaven,
its recreation and enjoyment
to felicity of life and heavenly joy,
its protection to evils assailing,
and the preservation of its condition to eternal life.

All of these boons are bestowed by the Lord
according to a person's acknowledgment
that the same boons which are matters of the body
are also all from the Lord,
and that a person is only as a servant or steward
set over the goods of his Lord.

DLW 334

These gifts have been given to mankind
to use and enjoy,
and they are free gifts,
as is clearly apparent
from the state of angels in heaven,
who likewise have a body, rational faculty,
and spiritual character,
as people do on earth.
They are nourished without cost,
for they are daily given their food.
They are clothed without cost,
because they are given their clothing.
They have their lodging without cost,
because they are given their houses.
Nor do they worry about any of these things.
Moreover, to the extent
that they are spiritually rational,
they experience enjoyment, protection,
and the preservation of their condition.

The difference is
that angels see that these are gifts from the Lord,
because things there
are created in accordance with
the state of their love and wisdom . . .,
while people do not see this,
because things here recur yearly
and exist not in accordance with
the state of people's love and wisdom,
but according to the care they expend on them.

 

DLW 322, 326 - The Human Form Is a Form of Uses

DLW 322

That the universe of the spiritual world
resembles in an image the human being
can be plainly seen from the fact
that all the phenomena just enumerated . . .
vividly appear and take form around an angel
and around angelic societies as effects
seemingly produced or created by them -
effects that remain around them and do not go away.
Their being effects
seemingly produced or created by them
follows from the fact that when an angel leaves,
or when a society transfers elsewhere,
the phenomena no longer appear.
Moreover, when other angels come in their stead,
the appearance of all their surroundings changes.
Parks change in respect to
the trees and fruits they contain.
Flower gardens change in respect to
the kinds of roses and seeds found in them.
Fields change as well
in respect to their herbs and grasses,
and the species of animals and birds change, too.

These phenomena take form and change . . .
because they all exist in accordance with
the affections and consequent thoughts of the angels.
For they are correspondent forms.
And because forms that correspond
accord with that to which they correspond,
therefore they are a representative image of it.

This image is not apparent
when any of these phenomena are viewed
in terms of their forms,
but it is seen when they are viewed
in terms of their uses.

DLW 326

It can now be seen from this
that regarded from the perspective of their uses,
all constituents of the created universe
resemble in an image the human being,
and this attests to the fact that God is human.
For the phenomena we enumerated above
do not spring up around
a person or angel from the angel,
but from the Lord through the angel.
They arise, in fact,
from an influx of the Lord's Divine love and wisdom
into the angel, who is their recipient vessel,
and are produced before his eyes
as a creation of the universe.
Therefore they know in their world
that God is human,
and that the universe,
regarded in terms of its uses,
is an image of Him.

 

DLW 308 - The Ends in Creation Are Useful Ends

DLW 308

Who does not clearly see
that the ends in creation are useful ends
when he considers
that nothing can come into being
from God the Creator
and so be created by Him
except what is useful,
and that to be useful,
it must exist for the sake of others?
Moreover, that usefulness to oneself
is also usefulness to others,
for to be of use to oneself
is to be in a state to be of use to others?

Anyone who considers this
can also consider
that any useful endeavor
that is truly useful
cannot spring from mankind,
but exists in mankind from Him
from whom all that comes into being
is of use,
thus from the Lord.

 

DLW 297, 298, 301 - Love, Wisdom, Useful Endeavor

DLW 297

Everyone who thinks with some enlightenment
can see that love has as its end and intends
some useful endeavor,
and that it produces the useful endeavor
through wisdom;
for love cannot produce any useful endeavor of itself,
but only by means of wisdom.
Indeed, what is love
unless there is something that is loved?
This something is useful endeavor.
And because useful endeavor
is that which is loved,
and it is produced through wisdom,
it follows that useful endeavor
is the containing medium of love and wisdom.

. . . It can be seen from this
that the aforementioned three elements -
the Divine element of love,
the Divine element of wisdom,
and the Divine element of useful endeavor -
are in the Lord,
and that in essence they are the Lord.

DLW 298

. . . God as a person is the supreme form
embracing all useful endeavors,
from which
all other useful endeavors in the created universe
take their origin,
and consequently
that regarded in terms of its useful endeavors,
the created universe is an image of Him.

We call useful endeavors those phenomena which,
being from the human God, or the Lord,
are from creation in order.
However, we do not call useful endeavors
those which spring from people's native character,
for their native character is hell,
and its endeavors are contrary to order.

DLW 301

It is furthermore clearly apparent from angelic ideas,
which are independent of space,
that nothing in the created universe has life
except the human God alone, or the Lord,
that nothing moves
except as the result of life from Him,
and that nothing has existence
except through the sun from Him -
consequently that it is a truth
that in God we live, move, and have our being. ^1
__________

'For in him we live, and move, and have our being.'
As some of your own poets have said,
'For we are also His offspring.'

(Acts of the Apostles 17:28)

 

DLW 285, 286 - Thinking About God the Creator

DLW 285 [3]

God,
who appears far above the spiritual world as the sun,
to whom cannot be attributed
any appearance of space,
must not be thought of in terms of space.
One can then comprehend the fact
that He created the universe,
not out of nothing,
but out of Himself.
One can further comprehend that His human body
cannot be thought of as great or small,
or as having any stature,
because this, too, involves space;
consequently that in the first and last of things,
and in the greatest and least of them,
He is the same;
and furthermore that His Humanity
is inmostly within every created thing,
but independently of space.

DLW 286

The assertion that God could not have created
the universe and all its constituents
without His being human
may be quite clearly comprehended
by any intelligent person from this consideration,
that he cannot deny to himself
that God encompasses in Him love and wisdom,
mercy and clemency, and absolute good and truth,
because these originate from Him.
And because he cannot deny this,
he also cannot deny that God is human.
For none of these qualities
can exist apart from a human being,
since the human being is the underlying vessel
of which they are predicated,
and to divorce them from that vessel
is to say they have no reality.

Think of wisdom
and envision it apart from any person.
Does it have any reality?
Can you conceive of it
as something ethereal or as something flame-like?
You cannot,
unless perhaps you conceive of it in such entities,
and if you do,
it must be wisdom in a form
like that possessed by the human being.
It must be altogether in his form.
Not one element can be missing
for wisdom to exist in it.

In a word, the form of wisdom is human;
and because the form of wisdom is human,
so, too, is the form of love, of mercy, of clemency,
of goodness and of truth,
since these go hand in hand with wisdom.

 

DLW 284 - DLW So Far

DLW 284

In Part One of this work our subject was God,
and we said that He is Divine love and wisdom,
that He is life,
and that He is the substance and form
which is the one and only absolute being.

In Part Two we discussed
the spiritual sun and its world,
and the natural sun and its world;
and we said that God created the universe
with all of its constituents
by means of the two suns.

In Part Three we dealt with the degrees
in which each and all created things exist.

Here in Part Four we will now take up
God's creation of the universe.

We are considering all these matters
because angels have lamented before the Lord
that when they look into the world
they see nothing but darkness,
and that they find in people no knowledge of God,
heaven and the creation of nature
on which to rest their wisdom.

 

DLW 282 - The Creator

PART FOUR
DLW 282

The Lord from eternity,
who is Jehovah,
created the universe and everything in it
from Himself and not from nothing.
People throughout the world know,
and every wise person
from an interior perception acknowledges,
that there is one God
who is the Creator of the universe.
People also know from the Word that God,
the Creator of the universe,
is called Jehovah,
so named from the verb to be,
because He alone just is. ¹
That the Lord from eternity is that Jehovah -
this we demonstrated in
The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem
Regarding the Lord
by citing many proofs from the Word.

Jehovah is called the Lord from eternity
because it was Jehovah who assumed a humanity
in order to save people from hell.
Moreover at that time He commanded His disciples
to call Him Lord. ²
Consequently in the New Testament
Jehovah is called the Lord,
as can be seen
from considering the following statement.

[In the Old Testament:]

You shall love Jehovah your God
with all your heart, and with all your soul...
(Deuteronomy 6:5)

And in the New Testament:

You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, and with all your soul...
(Matthew 22:37)

The same substitution is found in other passages
taken from the Old Testament
and quoted in the Gospels.
__________

Footnotes:

1. See Exodus 3:13-15. Cf. John 8:58. (Below)
The name Jehovah in Hebrew (יָהוֶה)
is derived from the verb הֹוָה (=היה) meaning be,
and it resembles the third person form יָהיָה
meaning he is.
The Hebrew verb form is imperfect in aspect,
so that it encompasses also the meanings
he will be and he has been.
Cf. the phrase who is and who was
and who is to come in Revelation 1:4, 8, 11:17.

Moses said to God,
"Behold, when I come to the children of Israel,
and tell them,
'The God of your fathers has sent me to you;'
and they ask me, 'What is His name?'
What should I tell them?"

God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM,"
and He said,
"You shall tell the children of Israel this:
'I AM has sent me to you.'"

God said moreover to Moses,
"You shall tell the children of Israel this,
'Yahweh, the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.'
This is My name forever,
and this is My memorial to all generations.
(Exodus 3:13-15)

Jesus said to them,
"Most certainly, I tell you,
before Abraham came into existence, I AM."
(John 8:58)


2. You call me, 'Teacher' and 'Lord.'
You say so correctly, for so I am.
(John 13:13)

 

DLW 279 - Our Actions; DLW 280 - Our Words

DLW 279

. . . the angels who are with a person
perceive individually the particular qualities
which are present from the mind in an action.
Spiritual angels perceive those qualities
which are present in it from the intellect,
while celestial angels perceive those qualities
which are present in it from the will.

. . . It should nevertheless be known
that those elements of the mind
which are applicable
to a subject presented for consideration
or under consideration
are at the center,
while the rest are positioned round about
according to their relevance.

Angels say that they perceive a person's character
from a single act,
though in a varying likeness of his love
according to its determinations
into affections and so into thoughts.

In a word,
every action or every work of a spiritual person is,
in the sight of angels,
like a flavorful, useful, and beautiful fruit,
which when opened and eaten
yields flavor, utility, and delight.

DLW 280

The same is the case with a person's speech.
From the sound of his speech
angels discern a person's love,
from the articulation of the sound his wisdom,
and from the sense of the words his knowledge.
Moreover they say that these three elements
are discerned in every single word,
because a word is a kind of containing vessel,
having in it sound, articulation, and meaning.

I have been told by angels of the third heaven
that they perceive
from each of a speaker's words in sequence
his general state of mind
and at the same time some of his particular states.

Every single expression in the Word contains
some spiritual element relating to Divine wisdom
and some celestial element relating to Divine love,
and these are perceived by angels
when a person reads the Word with reverence . . ..

 

DLW 271 - Opposites; DLW 273 - The Devil and Satan

DLW 271

Evils and falsities stand in complete opposition
to goods and truths,
because evils and falsities are diabolical and hellish,
while goods and truths are Divine and heavenly.
Everyone on hearing it
acknowledges that evil and good are opposites,
and likewise the falsity accompanying evil
and the truth accompanying good.
But because people who are caught up in evil
have no other sensation
and so no other perception
than that evil is good -
for evil delights their senses,
especially the senses of sight and hearing,
and consequently delights their thoughts
and so perceptions as well -
therefore, even though they acknowledge
that evil and good are opposites,
still when they are caught up in evil,
they are moved by the delight of it to say
that evil is good, and good evil.

No one can see good when he is caught up in evil,
but a person prompted by good can see evil.
Evil lies below as though in a cave.
Good sits above as though on a mountain.

DLW 273 [2-4]

. . . in hell the love of ruling from the love of self
is the dominant love.
This love is there called the devil,
and the affections for falsity arising from that love
with their accompanying thoughts are called his crew.
It is the same in every society of hell,
with diversities like the diversities found
in species of the same genus.

In the same form, too, is the natural mind
which is caught up in evils and their resulting falsities.
Consequently the natural person
who is of such a character
comes also after death into a society of hell like him,
and he then acts in concert with it
in each and every thing that he does.
For he comes into his own form,
that is, into the states of his own mind.

Subordinate to the first love called the devil
is another love as well, called Satan.
This is a love of possessing the goods of others
by any evil art whatever.
Clever malicious practices and cunning devices
are its crew.

People who are in this latter hell
are in general called satanic spirits,
while people in the first hell
are in general called devils;
and those who do not act there
in a clandestine manner do not deny their name.
It is in consequence of this
that the hells collectively are called
the devil and Satan.

The natural mind which is a hell
stands in complete opposition to the spiritual mind,
which is a heaven.

 

DLW 264-265, 270 - When We Abuse Rationality and Freedom

DLW 264

The origin of evil
comes from abuse of the faculties
which are peculiar to mankind
and are called rationality and freedom.
By rationality we mean
the faculty of understanding truths and thus falsities,
and of understanding goods and thus evils;
and by freedom we mean
the faculty of thinking, willing and doing these freely.

It can be seen from preceding discussions,
and it will be further seen from subsequent ones,
that a person possesses these two faculties
from creation and so from birth;
that they come from the Lord;
that they are not taken away;
that they produce the appearance
that a person thinks, speaks, wills and acts
as though of himself;
that the Lord dwells in every person in these faculties;
that owing to that conjunction
a person lives to eternity;
that a person can be reformed and regenerated
in consequence of these faculties
and not apart from them;
and that it is these faculties
which distinguish the human being from animals.

DLW 265

That the origin of evil
comes from abuse of these faculties
will be explained according to the following outline:

(1) An evil person possesses these two faculties
just as much as a good one.

(2) An evil person abuses these faculties
to defend evils and falsities,
whereas a good person uses them
to defend goods and truths.

(3) Confirmed evils and falsities remain in a person
and become matters of his love and so of his life.

(4) Qualities that have become
matters of one's love and life
are passed on hereditarily to offspring.

(5) All evils, both those inborn
and those additionally acquired,
have their seat in the natural mind.

DLW 270 [2]

. . . the natural mind of itself
acts in opposition to the spiritual mind.

 

DLW 263 - The Natural Mind and the Spiritual Mind

DLW 263 [2-4]

When the natural mind
is prompted by the delights of its love
and the gratifications of its thought,
which in themselves are evil and false,
then the reaction of the natural mind
removes those elements
which belong to the spiritual mind
and bars the door to them
to keep them from entering,
causing the action to come from such things
as accord with its reaction.
The result is an action and reaction
of the natural mind
which is opposed to the action and reaction
of the spiritual mind.
This in turn causes a closing of the spiritual mind,
like the twisting of a spiral into the opposite direction.

On the other hand, if the spiritual mind is opened,
then the action and reaction
of the natural mind are reversed.
For the spiritual mind acts from above or from within
and at the same time
through those elements in the natural mind
which have been disposed from within
or from without to obey it,
and it twists into the opposite direction the spiral
in which the natural mind acts and reacts.
That is because the natural mind is from birth
in a state of opposition to matters
belonging to the spiritual mind,
a state it acquires by heredity from parents,
as people know.

Of such a nature is the change of state called
reformation and regeneration.
The state of the natural mind before reformation
may be likened to a spiral
twisting or curving downward,
while after reformation
it may be likened to a spiral
twisting or curving upward.
Consequently a person before reformation
looks downward to hell,
but after reformation upward to heaven.

DLW 253 - The Essence of Faith and Charity: DLW 258 - Becoming Rational

DLW 253 [3]

. . . faith in its essence is truth,
and truth is manifold;
and charity is all the work that a person does
from the Lord in his occupation -
work that a person then does from the Lord
when he refrains from evils as being sins.

The case is entirely as stated before,
that the end is everything in the cause,
and that the end through the cause
is everything in the effect.
The end is charity or good,
the cause is faith or truth,
and the effects are good works or useful services.
From this it is apparent
that no more charity can be introduced into works
than that measure of charity
which has been conjoined with truths
that are called truths of faith.
Through these truths
charity enters into works
and gives them their quality.

DLW 258

Every person is born into
the faculty of understanding truths,
and this even to the inmost degree
in which angels of the third heaven dwell.
For the human intellect,
rising up by a continuous ascent
around the two higher degrees,
receives the light of the wisdom of those degrees . . ..
Therefore a person can become rational
in the measure of his elevation.
If he is elevated to the third degree,
he becomes rational from the third degree.
If he is elevated to the second degree,
he becomes rational from the second degree.
And if he is not elevated,
he is rational in the first degree.
We say that he becomes rational from those degrees,
because the natural degree
is the common vessel receptive of their light.

If a person does not become rational
to the highest level of which he is capable,
it is because the love which resides in his will
cannot be elevated in the same way
as the wisdom which resides in his intellect.
The love which resides in his will
can be elevated only
by his refraining from evils as being sins,
and afterward by his doing goods of charity,
or useful services,
which the person then does from the Lord.
Consequently, if the love residing in his will
is not elevated at the same time,
then no matter how far the wisdom
residing in his intellect may ascend,
still it sinks back down again to his love.
Therefore if a person's love
is not elevated at the same time
into the spiritual degree,
he still is rational only in the lowest degree.

It can be seen from this
that a person's rationality is in appearance
as though of three degrees -
a rationality from the celestial degree,
a rationality from the spiritual degree,
and a rationality from the natural degree.
It can be seen, too,
that whether a person's rationality is elevated or not,
still it remains in the person as a faculty
that can be elevated.

DLW 242, 243 - Receiving Spiritual Light and Spiritual Warmth

DLW 242

Spiritual light flows in
through the three degrees in a person,
but not spiritual warmth
except to the extent
that the person refrains from evils as being sins
and looks to the Lord.
From what we have demonstrated previously,
it follows that the sun in heaven
is the first emanation
of the Lord's Divine love and wisdom,
and that from it emanate light and warmth -
light from His wisdom, and warmth from His love;
that light is the vehicle of wisdom,
and warmth the vehicle of love;
and that to the extent a person comes into wisdom,
to the same extent he comes into that Divine light,
and to the extent he comes into love,
to the same extent
he comes into that Divine warmth.

From what we have demonstrated previously
it follows also that there are three degrees
of light and three degrees of warmth,
or three degrees of wisdom
and three degrees of love,
and that these degrees
have been formed in people
in order that people may be recipients
of the Lord's Divine love and wisdom,
thus of the Lord.

The point to be now demonstrated here
is that spiritual light flows in
through the three degrees in a person,
but not spiritual warmth except to the extent
that the person refrains from evils as being sins
and looks to the Lord.
Or in other words,
that a person is capable of receiving wisdom
even to the third degree,
but not love except to the extent
that the person refrains from evils
as being sins and looks to the Lord.
Or to put it in still other words,
that a person's intellect may be elevated into wisdom,
but not his will
except to the extent
he refrains from evils as being sins.

DLW 243

I have often seen simple spirits
who knew only that there is a God
and that the Lord was born a man,
and scarcely anything else,
and I have perceived that they fully understood
the secrets of angelic wisdom,
almost as angels do.
And not only they,
but also many of the devil's crew.
Yet they understood these things
when they heard them,
and not when they thought to themselves.
For when they heard them,
a light entered in from above,
but when they thought to themselves,
then no other light could enter
than such as corresponded to their warmth or love.
Consequently, after they heard these secrets
and comprehended them,
upon turning their attention away
they retained nothing.
Indeed, those who were of the devil's crew
then rejected these things and utterly denied them.
The reason was that the fire of their love and its light,
being an illusory fire and light,
induced in them a darkness
by which the heavenly light entering in from above
was extinguished.

DLW 236, 237, 241 - The Opening of the Three Degrees of End, Cause, Effect

DLW 236

These three degrees of height
exist in every person from birth
and can be progressively opened,
and as they are opened,
the person is in the Lord and the Lord in him.

DLW 237

We call these three degrees of height
natural, spiritual, and celestial . . ..

When a person is born,
he comes first into the natural degree,
and this grows in him by a continuous progression
according to his accumulations of knowledge
and the understanding he acquires
by means of them,
until it reaches the highest point of understanding
called rationality.

But still this does not result
in the opening of the second degree,
which we call spiritual.
This degree is opened by a love of useful endeavors
in accord with one's intellectual attainments -
only by a spiritual love of useful endeavors,
a love which is love for the neighbor.
This degree may likewise grow
by a continuous progression of the degree
until it reaches its highest point,
and it grows
by the accumulation of concepts of truth and good,
or of spiritual truths.

But even so, these still do not bring about
the opening of the third degree,
which we call celestial.
Rather this degree is opened by
a celestial love of useful endeavors,
a love which is love toward the Lord;
and love toward the Lord is nothing other
than to commit the precepts of the Word to life,
the sum of which is to refrain from evils
because they are hellish and diabolical,
and to do good things
because they are heavenly and Divine.

These three degrees
are thus progressively opened in a person.

DLW 241

Everyone who consults his reason
when it is in a state of light
can see that a person's love is in all things his end,
for what he loves he thinks about, resolves, and does.
Consequently he has it as his end.
A person can also see in the light of his reason
that wisdom is the cause,
for he, or rather his love,
which is his end,
seeks out in the intellect
the means by which to achieve its end,
thus consulting his wisdom,
and these means form the cause
by which the end is achieved.
It is evident without explanation
that useful endeavor is the effect.

One person's love, however,
is not the same as another's.
Consequently neither is one person's wisdom
the same as another's;
nor, therefore, his useful endeavor.
And because these three are homogeneous,
. . . it follows that
whatever the character of the love is in a person,
such is the character of the wisdom in him,
and such is the character of his useful endeavor.

We say wisdom,
but we mean whatever is a matter of his intellect.

 

DLW 230, 232 - Three Degrees of Height

DLW 230

There are three infinite and uncreated
degrees of height in the Lord,
and three finite and created degrees in people.
There are in the Lord
three infinite and uncreated degrees of height
for the reason that the Lord
is love itself and wisdom itself . . .
and because the Lord is love itself and wisdom itself,
therefore He is also useful endeavor itself.
For love has as its end a useful result,
which it produces through wisdom.
Indeed, love and wisdom without a useful result
have no terminus or end point,
or no resting place in which to make their abode.
Consequently they cannot be said
to have being or expression
without having a useful result
in which to be and express themselves.

DLW 232

We call these three degrees in the case of angels
celestial, spiritual, and natural,
and to them the celestial degree is one of love,
the spiritual degree one of wisdom,
and the natural degree one of useful endeavors.

We so name these degrees for the reason
that the heavens are distinguished into two kingdoms,
one kingdom being called celestial
and the other spiritual,
to which is attached a third kingdom
in which people dwell in the world,
which is a natural kingdom.

Moreover, the angels of which
the celestial kingdom consists are governed by love,
and the angels of which
the spiritual kingdom consists
are governed by wisdom,
while people in the world
are governed by useful endeavors.
So it is, therefore,
that these kingdoms are conjoined.

 

DLW 222, 224 - Discrete & Continuous Degrees are In All Created Things

DLW 222

Degrees of both kinds Exist
in the greatest and least of all created things.

DLW 224

The reason there is not
the least element of love and wisdom,
not the least element of affection and thought,
and not the least element of any idea in the thought
which does not have in it degrees of both kinds
arises from the fact
that love and wisdom are substance and form,
and so likewise affection and thought.
And because there is no form
which does not have it in these degrees,
as we said above,
it follows that the same degrees exist in them.
For to separate
love and wisdom or affection and thought
from substance possessing form
is to reduce them to nothing,
because they do not exist apart from
the subjects of which they are predicated.
Rather they are states of these subjects
perceived by a person in their variation,
states which render them discernible.

DLW 221 - Every Person Embodies

DLW 221 [3]

For every person is an embodiment
of the good and truth in him.
It is this alone that makes a person human.
In the Lord's case, however,
by assuming a natural humanity
He became the embodiment
of Divine good and truth itself,
or to say the same thing,
the embodiment of Divine love and wisdom itself,
both in the firsts of creation and in the lasts of it.
Consequently, in the angelic heavens
He appears as the sun
with a more intense radiance
and with greater splendor
since His advent into the world
than before His advent.


 

DLW 218 - Endeavor, Force and Motion; DLW 220 - Useful Services

DLW 218

Endeavor, force and motion operate in conjunction
only in accordance with discrete degrees,
which are conjoined
not through a continuous connection of them,
since they are discrete,
but through correspondences.
For endeavor is not force,
and force is not motion.
Rather force is produced by endeavor -
force being endeavor awakened -
and motion is produced by force.
Consequently no power exists in endeavor alone,
nor in force alone,
but in motion, which is their product.

DLW 220

Since the whole organism or body directs its powers
principally into the arms and hands,
which are its extremities,
therefore arms and hands in the Word
symbolize power,
and the right hand a superior power.

Since the evolution and emergence of degrees
into a state of power is as stated,
therefore the angels who are present with a person
and in correspondence with all his constituents
know merely from any action done through the hands
what the person is like in regard to his intellect and will,
and so in regard to his charity and faith,
thus in regard to the inner life
which is the life of his mind,
and in regard to the outward life
which results from that in the body.

Such a recognition gained by angels
simply from the action of the body through the hands
has often astonished me,
but I have nevertheless had it shown me
a number of times through personal experience.
I have also been told that it is for this reason
that inaugurations into the ministry
are performed by the laying on of hands,
and that to touch with the hand
symbolically means to communicate,
in addition to many other like things.

I have concluded from this
that everything pertaining to charity and faith
exists in works,
and that charity and faith without works
are like halos around the sun
which fade or are dispelled by a cloud.
That is why the Word so often mentions works
and tells us to do them,
saying that a person's salvation depends on them.
Moreover, the person who does them is called wise,
while the person who does not do them
is called foolish.

One should know, however,
that by works here are meant
useful services which are actually done.
For it is in these and in accordance with these
that everything pertaining to charity and faith exists.
Charity and faith
have this correspondence with useful services,
because although their correspondence
is a spiritual one,
it is effected by means of
substances and materials which are its vessels.

DLW 213, 214, 215, 216 - Succession of Degrees, and They All Matter

DLW 213

As regards love and wisdom,
love is the end,
wisdom the cause or means,
and useful endeavor the effect,
and useful endeavor
embraces, contains, and is the foundation
of love and wisdom.
Moreover, useful endeavor
so embraces and so contains them
that all the qualities of the love
and all the qualities of the wisdom
are actually present in it,
useful endeavor being the concurrence of these.

DLW 214

Affection, thought and action
also exist in a succession of like degrees,
because every affection has some relation to love,
every thought some relation to wisdom,
and every action some relation to useful endeavor.

Charity, faith and good work
exist in a succession of like degrees;
for charity is a matter of affection,
faith a matter of thought,
and good work a matter of action.

Will, understanding and practice
similarly exist in a succession of like degrees;
for will is a matter of love and so of affection,
understanding a matter of wisdom and so of faith,
and practice a matter of useful endeavor
and so of work.

As all the qualities of wisdom and love
are present in useful endeavor,
therefore, so all the qualities of thought and affection
are present in action,
all the qualities of faith and charity in good work,
and so on.
But all of these must be homogeneous,
that is to say, accordant.

DLW 215

A fact made known to me is
that from simply seeing a person's deed or work,
angels perceive and see
every quality of the will and thought of the doer -
angels of the third heaven
perceiving and seeing from his will
the end prompting the action,
and angels of the second heaven
perceiving and seeing the cause
through which the end thus acts.

It is because of this
that works and deeds
are so often commanded in the Word,
and that it says a person is known by them.
(Matthew 7:16, 20, 12:33; Luke 6:44)

 

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.

 

DLW 203 - When a Person Becomes an Angel; DLW 204 - Simple Elements and Composite Elements

DLW 203

Since the interior regions in a person,
which are those of his will and intellect,
are like the heavens in their degrees -
because a person is,
in respect to the interior elements
which are those of his mind,
a heaven in miniature form -
therefore the perfections of these
are also like those of the heavens.
These perfections, however,
are not apparent to any person
as long as he lives in the world,
for he is then in the lowest degree;
and from the lowest degree
one cannot discern the higher degrees.
But after death they are discerned,
for the person then comes into the degree
which corresponds to his love and wisdom.
For he then becomes an angel,
thinking and saying things inexpressible
to his natural self.
Indeed, he then experiences an elevation
of all his mental faculties
not in a simple progression,
but in a threefold progression.
This latter progression has in it degrees of height,
while the first has in it degrees of breadth.

No others, however,
ascend and are elevated into these degrees
but people who in the world
have been governed by truths
and have applied them to life.

DLW 204 - Simple and Composite Elements

It seems as though prior elements are less perfect
than subsequent ones,
or simple elements less perfect than composite ones;
but the prior elements
from which subsequent ones originate,
or the simple elements
from which composite ones originate,
are nevertheless more perfect.
The reason is that prior or simple elements
are more naked and less covered over
with substances and materials devoid of life.
They are also, so to speak, more Divine,
and consequently nearer to
the spiritual sun where the Lord is.
For perfection itself resides in the Lord,
and thus in the sun which is the first emanation
of His Divine love and wisdom.
Therefore it exists as well
in those subsequent elements
which most immediately follow,
and so on in order down to the lowest elements,
which are less and less perfect
the further removed they are.

If prior and simple elements did not have in them
such surpassing perfection,
no person, and no animal either,
could be produced from sperm
and afterward continue to survive;
nor could the seeds of trees and bushes
sprout and reproduce their kind.
For the more prior any prior element is,
and the more simple any simple element is,
the more perfect it is,
and therefore the more immune to harm.

 

DLW 189 - Degrees of Height, Degrees of Breadth

DLW 189

Degrees of height are homogeneous,
with one following after another in succession,
like end, cause and effect.
Since degrees of breadth or continuous degrees
are like those in a progression of light to dark,
of heat to cold, of hard to soft, of dense to rare,
of thick to thin, and so on,
and these degrees are known from
sense experience and visual observation,
whereas degrees of height or discrete degrees are not,
therefore we must deal chiefly
with the latter in this part of the work;
for without a concept of these latter degrees,
one cannot see causes.

 

DLW 184, 188 - Continuous and Discrete Degrees

DLW 184 [1, 2]

Degrees are of two kinds -
degrees of height and degrees of breadth.

Continuous degrees is the term we use
for diminutions or decreases in a progression
from coarser to finer,
or from denser to rarer;
or rather they are as the increments or increases
in a progression from finer to coarser,
or from rarer to denser,
precisely as is the case in the progression
of light to dark or of heat to cold.

Discrete degrees, on the other hand,
are completely different.
They are like prior, subsequent and last elements,
or like end, cause and effect.
We call these discrete degrees,
because the prior element exists in itself,
the subsequent element in itself,
and the last element in itself,
but yet taken together they form a single entity.

DLW 188

. . . nothing of any cause in its true nature
can be learned
without a concept of both kinds of degrees.
Therefore we mean to deal with them
throughout this part of the work.
For the purpose of this volume is to uncover causes
and from their standpoint view effects,
and thus dispel the darkness
which envelops the person of the church
in regard to God, to the Lord,
and to those Divine matters in general
which are called spiritual.