The
Intercourse Between The Soul and The Body
Which
is Believed to be either by
Physical
Influx, or by Spiritual Influx, or by Pre-Established Harmony
by Emanuel Swedenborg
Originally published in
Latin,
1. Concerning the intercourse between the soul and the body, or the operation
of one into the other, and of one with the other, there are three opinions and
traditions, which are hypotheses. The first is called Physical Influx, the
second Spiritual Influx, and the third Pre-established Harmony. The first,
which is called Physical Influx, is from the appearances of the senses and the
fallacies therefrom, since it appears as if the objects of sight, which affect
the eyes, flow into thought and produce it; in like manner that speech, which
moves the ears, flows into the mind and introduces ideas there; and similarly
with the senses of smell, taste, and touch. Since the organs of these senses
first receive the impressions from contact with the world, and according as
they are affected the mind appears to think and also to will; for this reason
the ancient philosophers and schoolmen believed that influx was derived from
these organs into the soul, and thus they adopted the hypothesis of physical or
natural influx. The second hypothesis, which is called Spiritual Influx, by
some occasional influx, is from order and its laws; since the soul is a
spiritual substance, and therefore purer, prior, and interior, but the body is
material, and therefore grosser, posterior, and exterior; and it is according
to order that purer should flow into grosser, prior into posterior, and
interior into exterior, thus spiritual into material, and not the reverse.
Consequently it is of order that the thinking mind should flow into the sight
according to the state induced on the eyes from objects, which state the mind
also disposes at will; and likewise the perceptive mind into the hearing
according to the state induced on the ears from speech. The third hypothesis,
which is called Pre-established Harmony, is from the appearances and fallacies
of reason, since the mind in its operation acts together and at the same time
with the body. But yet every operation is first successive and afterward
simultaneous. Successive operation is influx, and simultaneous operation is
harmony; as when the mind thinks and afterward speaks, or when it wills and
afterward acts. It is therefore a fallacy of reason to establish simultaneous
operation and to exclude successive. Besides these three opinions concerning
the intercourse of the soul and the body, no fourth is possible, for either the
soul must operate on the body, or the body on the soul, or both continually
together.
2. Since spiritual influx is from order and its laws, as was said, therefore
this influx has been acknowledged and received by the wise in the learned world
in preference to the other two hypotheses. All that which is from order is
truth, and truth manifests itself by the light implanted in it, even in the
shade of reason, in which hypotheses are. But there are three things that
involve this hypothesis in shade, ignorance of what the soul is, ignorance of
what the spiritual is, and ignorance of what influx is; therefore these three
must first be unfolded before reason sees the truth itself. For hypothetical
truth is not truth itself, but only a conjecture of truth. It is as a picture
on the wall seen at night by the light of the stars, on which the mind induces
various forms according to its fancy. It is otherwise when the light of the sun
after the dawn shines upon it, and disposes and brings to view not only its
generals, but also its particulars. So out of the shade of truth in which this
hypothesis is, truth is opened when it is known what the spiritual is and what
is its quality in comparison with the natural, also what the human soul is and
its quality, as well as the nature of the influx that flows into the soul and
through it into the perceptive and thinking mind, and from this into the body.
But these things cannot be explained except by one to whom it has been granted
by the Lord to associate with angels in the spiritual world and at the same
time with men in the natural world. And because this has been granted to me, I
have been able to describe both the spiritual and the natural, and their
nature; which has been done in the work on Conjugal Love, the spiritual is
described there in the Relation (CL n. 326-399); the human soul (CL n. 315); influx
(CL n. 380); and more fully (CL n. 415-422). Who does not know, or may not
know, that the good of love and the truth of faith flow from God into man, and
that they flow into his soul, and are felt in his mind, and flow out from his
thought into his speech, and from his will into his actions? That spiritual
influx, and its origin and derivation, are from this, will be manifested in the
following order:--
III. The sun of the spiritual world is pure love, from Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it.
VIII. Therefore everything which proceeds from this sun, regarded in itself, is dead.
IX. The spiritual clothes itself with the natural, as a man clothes himself with a garment.
XI. The reception of that influx is according to the state of love and wisdom with a man.
XIII. It is altogether otherwise with beasts.
XV. Ends are in the first degree, causes in the second, and effects in the third.
(Original List of Contents)
I.
There are two worlds, the spiritual world, where spirits and angels are, and the
natural world, where men are.
II. The spiritual world existed and subsists from its own sun, and the natural
world from its sun.
III. The sun of the spiritual world is pure love from Jehovah God, who is in the
midst of it.
IV. From that sun proceed heat and light, and the heat proceeding from it is in
its essence love, and the light thence is in its essence wisdom.
V. Both that heat and that light flow into man, the heat into his will, where
it produces the good of love, and the light into his understanding, where it
produces the truth of wisdom.
VI. These two, heat and light, or love and wisdom, flow conjointly from God
into the soul of man, and through this into his mind, its affections and
thoughts, and from these into the senses, speech, and actions of the body.
VII. The sun of the natural world is pure fire, and by means of this sun the
world of nature existed and subsists.
VIII. Therefore everything which proceeds from this sun, regarded in itself, is
dead.
IX. The spiritual clothes itself with the natural, as a man clothes himself
with a garment.
X. Spiritual things thus clothed in a man enable him to live a rational and
moral man, thus a spiritually natural man.
XI. The reception of that influx is according to the state of love and wisdom
with man.
XII. The understanding in man can be elevated into the light, that is, into the
wisdom in which the angels of heaven are, according to the cultivation of his
reason; and his will can be elevated in like manner into beat, that is, into
love, according to the deeds of his life; but the love of the will is not
elevated, except so far as man wills and does those things which the wisdom of
the understanding teaches.
XIII. It is altogether otherwise with beasts.
XIV. There are three degrees in the spiritual world, and three degrees in the
natural world, according to which all influx takes place.
XV. Ends are in the first degree, causes in the second, and effects in the
third.
XVI. From these things it is evident what is the quality of spiritual influx
from its origin to its effects.
Each of
these propositions shall now be briefly illustrated.
3. That there is a spiritual world, in which spirits and angels are, distinct
from the natural world in which men are, has hitherto been deeply hidden even
in the Christian world. The reason is, because no angel has descended and
taught it by word of mouth, and no man has ascended and seen it. Lest therefore
from ignorance of that world, and the uncertain faith concerning heaven and
hell resulting from it, man should be infatuated to such a degree as to become
an atheistic naturalist, it has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my
spirit, and to elevate it into heaven, and also to let it down into hell, and
to present to view the quality of both. Thence it has thus been manifested to
me that there are two worlds, which are distinct from each other; one in which
all things are spiritual, which is therefore called the spiritual world, and
the other in which all things are natural, and thence is called the natural
world; and that spirits and angels live in their own world, and men in theirs;
and also that every man passes by death from his own world into the other, and
in this he lives to eternity. A knowledge of both of these worlds must be given
first, in order that influx, which is here treated of, may be disclosed from
its beginning; for the spiritual world flows into the natural world, and
actuates it in all its parts, both with men and with beasts, and also
constitutes the vegetative activity in trees and herbs.
4. That there is one sun of the spiritual world and another of the natural
world, is because those worlds are altogether distinct; and a world derives its
origin from its sun; for a world in which all things are spiritual cannot arise
from a sun all things from which are natural, for thus there would be physical
influx, which however is contrary to order. That the world existed from the
sun, and not the reverse, is manifest from the effect of the cause, namely,
that the world, in each and every part subsists by means of the sun; and
subsistence demonstrates existence, wherefore it is said that subsistence is
perpetual existence; from which it is evident, that if the sun were removed,
its world would fall into chaos, and this chaos into nothing. That in the spiritual
world there is a sun other than that in the natural world, I can testify, for I
have seen it. It appears fiery like our sun, of a nearly similar magnitude, it
is distant from the angels as our sun is from men; but it does not rise nor
set, but stands movable at a middle altitude between the zenith and the
horizon, whence the angels have perpetual light and perpetual spring. The man
of reason, who knows nothing concerning the sun of the spiritual world, easily
goes astray in his idea of the creation of the universe, which, when he deeply
considers it, he perceives no otherwise than as being from nature; and as the
origin of nature is the sun, no otherwise than as being from its sun as a
creator. Moreover no one can apprehend spiritual influx, unless he also knows
its origin; for all influx is from a sun, spiritual influx from its sun, and
natural influx from its sun. The internal sight of man, which is that of his
mind, receives influx from the spiritual sun, but his external sight, which is
that of his body, receives influx from the natural sun; and both conjoin
themselves together in operation, in like manner as the soul conjoins itself
with the body. From these things it is evident into what blindness, thick
darkness, and foolishness they may fall who know nothing about the spiritual
world and its sun: into blindness, because the mind that depends on the sight
of the eye alone becomes in its reasonings like a bat, which flies by night
here and there to a suspended cloth; into thick darkness, because the sight of
the mind, when the sight of the eye flows into it from within, is deprived of
all spiritual light, and becomes like an owl; into foolishness, because the man
still thinks, but from natural things concerning spiritual things, and not the
reverse; thus insanely, stupidly, and foolishly.
5. Spiritual things cannot proceed from any other source than from love, and
love cannot proceed from any other source than from Jehovah God, Who is love
itself. Wherefore the sun of the spiritual world, from which all spiritual
things flow forth as from their fountain, is pure love from Jehovah God, Who is
in the midst of it. That sun itself is not God, but is from God, and is the
nearest sphere around Him from Him. By means of this sun the universe was
created by Jehovah God; by which universe are meant all worlds in the aggregate
which are as many as the stars in the expanse of our heaven. That creation was
effected by means of that sun, which is pure love, thus by Jehovah God, is
because love is the very esse of life, and wisdom is the existere of life
therefrom, and all things were created from love by wisdom. This is meant by
these words in John:--
The Word was with God, and God was the Word, all things were made by Him, and
without Him nothing was made which was made; and the world was made by Him
(John 1:1, 3, 10).
"The
Word" there is the Divine truth; thus also the Divine wisdom; wherefore
also the Word is there called the light which enlightens every man (John 1:9),
in like manner as does the Divine wisdom by Divine truth. Those who derive the
origin of worlds from any other source than from the Divine love through the
Divine wisdom, are deluded like persons of disordered brain, who see specters
as men, phantoms as lights, and imaginary beings as real figures. For the
created universe is a connected work, from love by wisdom. You will see this if
you are able to investigate the connections of things in their order from
firsts to lasts. As God is one, so also the spiritual sun is one; for the
extension of space cannot be predicated of spiritual things, which are the
derivations of that sun; and essence and existence without space is everywhere
in spaces without space; thus the Divine love is from the beginning of the
universe to all its boundaries. That the Divine fills all things, and by
filling preserves all things in the state in which they were created, reason
sees remotely, and closely so far as it knows the quality of love as it is in
itself, with its conjunction with wisdom for the perception of ends, its influx
into wisdom for the exhibition of causes; and its operation through wisdom for
the production of effects.
6. It is known that in the Word, and thence in the common language of
preachers, the Divine love is expressed by fire, as that heavenly fire fills
the heart and kindles holy desires to worship God. The reason is because fire
corresponds to love, and therefore signifies it. From this it is that Jehovah
God was seen as fire in the bush before Moses, and in like manner on mount
Sinai before the sons of
The Light which enlightens every man (John 1:8).
And says
in other places that:--
He is the Light itself (John 3:19; 8:12; 12:35, 36, 46).
That is,
that He is the Divine truth itself, which is the Word, thus wisdom itself. It
is believed that natural light which is also rational light, is from the light
of our world; but it is from the light of the sun of the spiritual world; for
the sight of the mind flows into the sight of the eye, thus also the lights,
and not the reverse. If the reverse took place, there would he physical influx
and not spiritual influx.
7. It is known that all things universally have relation to good and truth, and
that there is not given a single entity in which there is not what has relation
to those two. From this it is that in man there are two receptacles of life,
one which is the receptacle of good, which is called the will, and another
which is the receptacle of truth, which is called the understanding; and as
good is of love, and truth is of wisdom, the will is the receptacle of love,
and the understanding is the receptacle of wisdom. That good is of love, is
because what a man loves, this he wills, and when he does it he calls it good;
and that truth is of wisdom, is because all wisdom is from truths; yea, the
good which a wise man thinks, is truth, and this becomes good when he wills it
and does it. He who does not rightly distinguish between these two receptacles
of life, which are the will and the understanding, and does not form a clear
notion concerning them, vainly endeavors to know spiritual influx; for there is
influx into the will, and there is influx into the understanding; there is an
influx of the good of love into man's will, and there is an influx of the truth
of wisdom into his understanding, both of them from Jehovah God immediately
through the sun in the midst of which He is, and mediately through the angelic
heaven. These two receptacles, the will and the understanding, are as distinct
as heat and light; for the will receives the heat of heaven, which in its
essence is love, and the understanding receives the light of heaven, which in
its essence is wisdom, as was said above. There is an influx from the human
mind into the speech, and there is an influx into the actions; the influx into
the speech is from the will through the understanding, but the influx into the
actions is from the understanding through the will. They who know only of the
influx into the understanding, and not at the same time into the will, and who
reason and conclude from this, are like one-eyed persons, who see the objects
on one side only, and not at the same time on the other; and like maimed
persons, who do their work awkwardly with one hand only; and like the lame who
hobble on one foot with a crutch. From these few things it is made plain, that
spiritual heat flows into man's will, and produces the good of love, and that
spiritual light flows into his understanding, and produces the truth of wisdom.
8. The spiritual influx hitherto treated of by men of learning, is the influx
from the soul into the body, and not any influx into the soul, and through that
into the body; although it is known that all the good of love, and all the
truth of faith, flow from God into man, and that nothing of them is from man;
and those things which flow in from God, flow directly into his soul and
through the soul into the rational mind, and through this into those things
which constitute the body. If anyone investigates spiritual influx in any other
manner, he is like one who stops up the source of a fountain, and still seeks
there for unfailing waters; or like one who deduces the origin of a tree from
the root and not from the seed; or like one who examines derivatives without
the beginning. For the soul is not life in itself, but is a recipient of life
from God, Who is life in itself; and all influx is of life, thus from God. This
is meant by this passage:--
Jehovah God breathed into the nostrils of the man the soul of lives, and the man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7).
"To breathe into the
nostrils the soul of lives," signifies to implant the perception of good
and truth. And the Lord also says of Himself:--
As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given also to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:26).
"Life
in Himself" is God; and the life of the soul is life that flows in from
God. Now because all influx is of life, and life operates through its
receptacles, and the inmost or first of the receptacles in man is his soul,
therefore, than influx may be rightly perceived, it is necessary to begin from
God, and not from an intermediate station. If the beginning were from an
intermediate station, the doctrine of influx would be like a chariot without
wheels, or like a ship without sails. Since it is so, therefore in the
preceding articles the sun of the spiritual world has been treated of, in the
midst of which is Jehovah God (n. 5); and the influx thence of love and wisdom,
thus of life (n. 6, 7). The reason that life from God flows into man through
the soul, and through this into his mind, that is, into its affections and
thoughts, and from these into the senses, speech, and actions of the body, is
because these are of life in successive order; for the mind is subordinate to
the soul, and the body is subordinate to the mind. And the mind has two lives,
one of the will and another of the understanding. The life of the will is the
good of love, the derivations of which are called affections, and the life of
the understanding is the truth of wisdom, the derivations of which are called
thoughts. By these together the mind lives. But the senses, speech, and actions
are the life of the body; that these are from the soul through the mind,
follows from the order in which they are; and from this they manifest
themselves before a wise man without investigation. The human soul, because it
is a superior spiritual substance, receives influx immediately from God; but
the human mind, because it is an inferior spiritual substance, receives influx
from God mediately through the spiritual world; and the body, because it is
from the substances of nature, which are called material, receives influx from
God mediately through the natural world. That the good of love and the truth of
wisdom flow from God into the soul of man conjointly, that is, united into one,
but that they are divided by man in their progression, and are conjoined only
with those who suffer themselves to be led by God, will be seen in the
following articles.
9. That nature and its world, by which are meant the atmospheres, and the
earths which are called planets, among which is the terraqueous globe on which
we dwell, and also each and all of the things which yearly adorn its surface,
subsist solely from the sun, which constitutes their centre, and which by the
rays of its light and the temperings of its heat is everywhere present,
everyone knows with certainty from experience, from the testimony of the
senses, and from the writings which treat of the way in which the world has
become inhabited. And as the perpetual subsistence of these things is from the
sun, reason may with certainty conclude that their existence also is thence;
for perpetually to subsist is perpetually to exist as they first existed. From
this it follows that the natural world was created by Jehovah God secondarily
through this sun. That there are spiritual things and that there are natural
things, which are entirely distinct from each other, and that the origin and
maintenance of spiritual things is from a sun which is pure love, in the midst
of which is the Creator and founder of the universe, Jehovah God, has been
heretofore shown; but that the origin and maintenance of natural things is from
a sun which is pure fire, and that the latter is from the former, and both from
God, follows of itself, as the posterior follows from the prior, and the prior
from the first. That the sun of nature and its worlds is pure fire, all its
effects clearly show; as the concentration of its rays into a focus by optical
instruments, from which proceeds fire burning with vehemence and also flame;
the nature of its heat, which is similar to heat from elementary fire; the
graduation of that heat coordinator to its angle of incidence, whence are the
varieties of climate, and also the four seasons of the year; besides many
things, from which reason, by the senses of its body, may confirm the truth
that the sun of the natural world is mere fire, and also that it is fire in its
purity itself. Those who know nothing concerning the origin of spiritual things
from their own sun, but only concerning the origin of natural things from
theirs, can scarcely avoid confounding spiritual things and natural things, and
concluding, through the fallacies of the senses and thence of the reason, that
spiritual things are nothing but pure natural things, and that from the
activity of the latter, excited by light and heat, wisdom and love arise.
Those, because they see nothing else with their eyes, and smell nothing else
with their nostrils, and breathe nothing else with their breast than nature,
therefore ascribe all rational things to it also, and thus absorb naturalism,
as a sponge does waters. But these may be compared to charioteers who yoke the
horses behind the chariot and not before it. It is otherwise with those who
distinguish between spiritual things and natural things, and deduce the latter
from the former; these also perceive that the influx of the soul into the body
is spiritual, and that natural things, which are of the body, serve the soul
for vehicles and means, that it may produce its effects in the natural world.
If you conclude otherwise, you may be likened to a crab, which in walking
assists its progress with its tail, and draws its eyes backward at every step;
and your rational sight may be compared to the sight of the eyes of Argus in
the back of his head, when those in his forehead were asleep. These persons
also believe themselves to be Arguses when they reason; for they say, Who does
not see that the origin of the universe is from nature? and what then is God
but the inmost extension of nature? and the like irrational things; of which
they boast more than the wise do of rational things.
10. Who does not see from the reason of his understanding, if this is a little
elevated above the sensual things of the body, that love regarded in itself is
alive, and that the appearance of its fire is life, and, on the contrary, that elementary
fire regarded in itself is respectively dead; consequently, that the sun of the
spiritual world, because it is pure love, is alive: and that the sun of the
natural world, because it is pure fire, is dead; and similarly all things which
proceed and exist from them? There are two things which produce all the effects
in the universe, Life and Nature, and they produce them according to order when
life from within actuates nature. It is otherwise when nature from within
brings life to act, which takes place with those who place nature, which in
itself is dead, above and within life, and thence who strive solely after the
pleasures of the senses and the lusts of the flesh, and care nothing for the
spiritual things of the soul and the truly rational things of the mind. Such
persons, on account of that inversion, are they who are called "the
dead"; such are all atheistic naturalists in the world, and all satans in
hell. They are also called "the dead" in the Word, as in David:--
They joined themselves to Baal-peor, "and
ate the sacrifices of the dead (Ps. 106:28).
The enemy persecuteth my soul, he maketh me to
sit in darkness like the dead of the world (Ps. 143:3).
To bear the coming of the bound, and to open to
the sons of death (Ps. 102:21).
And in
the Apocalypse:--
I know thy worlds, that thou hast a name that
thou livest, but thou art dead; be watchful and establish the thing which
remain that are ready to die (Apoc. 3:1, 2).
They are
called "the dead," because spiritual death is damnation, and
damnation is the lot of those who believe that life is from nature, and thus
that the light of nature is the light of life, and thereby hide, suffocate, and
extinguish every idea of God, of heaven, and of eternal life. Such persons are
like owls, which see light in darkness and darkness in light, that is,
falsities as truths and evils as goods; and because the delights of evil are
the delights of their hearts, they are not unlike those birds and beasts which
devour the bodies of the dead as dainties, and perceive the fetid odors from
sepulchres as balsams. Such persons also do not see any other influx than
physical or natural; if notwithstanding they affirm influx to be spiritual,
this is not done from any idea of it but from the mouth of a teacher.
11. It is known that in every operation there is an active and a passive; and
that from the active alone nothing exists, and nothing from the passive alone.
It is the same with the spiritual and the natural; the spiritual, because it is
a living force, is active, and the natural, because it is a dead force, is
passive. Hence it follows that whatever has existed in this solar world from
the beginning, and afterwards exists every moment, is from the spiritual
through the natural, and this not only in the subjects of the animal kingdom,
but also in the subjects of the vegetable kingdom. Another similar thing is
also known, namely, that in every thing which is effected there is a principal
and an instrumental, and that these two, when anything is done, appear as one,
although they are distinctly two; wherefore this also is one of the canons of
wisdom, that the principal cause and the instrumental cause make together one
cause; so also do the spiritual and the natural. That these two in producing
effects appear as one, is because the spiritual is within the natural as the
fibre is within the muscle, and as the blood is within the arteries; or as the
thought is within the speech, and the affection in sounds; and it makes itself
felt by means of the natural. From these things, but still as if through a
lattice, it is evident that the spiritual clothes itself with the natural, as a
man clothes himself with a garment. The organic body with which the soul
clothes itself is here likened to a garment, because it clothes the soul, and
the soul also puts off the body, and casts it away as exuviae when by death it
emigrates from the natural world into its own spiritual world. For the body
grows old like a garment; but not the soul, because this is a spiritual
substance, which has nothing in common with the changes of nature, which
progress from their beginnings to their ends, and are periodically terminated.
They who do not consider the body as the vesture or covering of the soul, and
as being in itself dead, and only adapted to receive the living forces flowing
in through the soul from God, cannot help concluding, from fallacies, that the
soul lives by itself, and the body by itself, and that there is a
pre-established harmony between the lives of the two; or even that the life of
the soul flows into the life of the body, or the life of the body into the life
of the soul, and thus they conceive influx as either spiritual or natural; when
yet it is a truth which is proved by every thing that is created, that what is
posterior does not act from itself, but from what is prior, from which it
proceeded; thus that neither does this act from itself, but from something
still prior; and thus that nothing acts except from the First which acts from
itself, thus from God. Besides, there is only one life, and this is not capable
of being created, but is eminently capable of flowing into forms organically
adapted to its reception. Such forms are each and all of the things in the
created universe. It is believed by many that the soul is life, and thus, that
a man, because he lives from the soul, lives from his own life, thus from
himself, and therefore not by an influx of life from God; but these cannot help
tying a sort of Gordian knot of fallacies, and entangling in it all the
judgments of their mind, whence are mere insanities in spiritual things; or
constructing a labyrinth, from which the mind can never, by any thread of
reason, retrace its way and extricate itself; they also actually let themselves
down as it were in caverns under the earth, where they dwell in eternal
darkness. For from such a belief proceed innumerable fallacies, each of which
is horrible; as that God transfused and transcribed Himself into men, and that
thus every man is a sort of Deity, which lives from itself, and thus that he
does good and is wise from himself; likewise that he possesses faith and
charity in himself, and thus derives them from himself, and not from God;
besides many monstrous beliefs such as prevail with those in hell, who, when
they were in the world, believed that nature lived, or produced life by its own
activity. When these look towards heaven they see its light as mere thick
darkness. I once heard the voice of one saying from heaven, that if a spark of
life in man were his own, and not of God in him, there would be no heaven, nor
anything therein, and hence that there would not be any church on earth, and
consequently no life eternal. More upon this subject may be consulted in the
Relation inserted in the work on Conjugal Love (CL n. 132-136).
12. From the principle established above, that the soul clothes itself with a
body as a man clothes himself with a garment, this follows as a conclusion. For
the soul flows into the human mind, and through this into the body, and carries
life with it, which it continually receives from the Lord, and thus transfers
it mediately into the body, where by the closest union it makes the body as it
were to live. Thence from a thousand testimonies of experience, it is evident
that the spiritual united to the material, as a living force with a dead force,
causes man to sneak rationally and to act morally. It appears as if the tongue
and lips speak from a certain life in themselves, and that the arms and hands
act in a like manner; but it is the thought, which in itself is spiritual, that
speaks, and the will, which likewise is spiritual, that acts, and each through
its own organs, which in themselves are material, because taken from the
natural world. That it is so appears in the day, provided this is attended to:
remove thought from speech, is not the mouth dumb in a moment? also remove will
from action, do not the hands rest in a moment? The union of spiritual things
with natural, and the appearance of life therefrom in material things, may be
compared to generous wine in a clean sponge, and to the sweet must in a grape,
and to the savory liquor in an apple, and also to the aromatic odor in
cinnamon. The fibres containing all these things are matters which neither
taste nor are fragrant from themselves, but from the fluids in and between
them; wherefore if you squeeze out those juices, they are dead filaments. So
are the organs proper to the body, if life is taken away. That man is rational
from the union of spiritual things with natural, is evident from the analytical
processes of his thought; and that he is moral from the honorableness of his
conduct and the graces of his bearing. These he has from the faculty of
receiving influx from the Lord through the angelic heaven, where is the very
abode of wisdom and love, thus of rationality and morality.
From
these things it is perceived, that what is spiritual and what is natural, being
united in man, cause him to live a spiritually natural man. The reason that he
lives in a similar and yet dissimilar manner after death, is because his soul
is then clothed with a substantial body, as in the natural world it was clothed
with a material body. It is believed by many that the perceptions and thoughts
of the mind, because they are spiritual, flow in naked, and not through
organized forms. But those dream thus who have not seen the interiors of the
head, where perceptions and thoughts are in their beginnings; and that the
brains are there, interwoven and composed of the cineritious and medullary
substances, and that there are glands, cavities, septa, and the meninges and
matres, which surround them all; and that a man thinks and wills sanely or
insanely according to the sound or perverted state of all those things; thence
that he is rational and moral according to the organic formation of his mind.
For nothing could be predicated of the rational sight of man, which is the
understanding, without forms organized for the reception of spiritual light,
just as nothing could be predicated of the natural sight without the eyes; and
so in other instances.
13. That a man is not life, but an organ recipient of life from God, and that
love together with wisdom is life, also that God is love itself and wisdom
itself, and thus life itself, has been demonstrated above. Thence it follows
that so far as a man loves wisdom, or so far as wisdom in the bosom of love is
with him, so far he is an image of God, that is, a receptacle of life from God;
and, on the contrary, so far as he is in opposite love, and thence in insanity,
so far he does not receive life from God, but from hell, which life is called
death. Love itself and wisdom itself are not life, but are the esse of life,
but the delights of love and the pleasantnesses of wisdom, which are
affections, constitute life, for the esse of life exists by these. The influx
of life from God carries with it those delights and pleasantnesses just as does
the influx of light and heat in springtime, into human minds, and also into
birds and beasts of every kind, yea into plants, which then germinate and
become prolific; for the delights of love and the pleasantnesses of wisdom
expand minds and adapt them to reception, as joys and gladness expand the face
and adapt it to the influx of the cheerfulness of the soul. The man who is
affected with the love of wisdom, is like the garden in Eden, in which are two
trees, the one of life and the other of the knowledge of good and evil. The
tree of life is the reception of love and wisdom from God, and the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil is the reception of them from himself. But the
latter is insane, and still believes that it is wise like God, while the former
is truly wise, and believes that no one is wise but God alone, and that man is
wise so far as he believes this, and more wise so far as he feels that he wills
it. But more on this subject may be seen in the Relation inserted in the work
on Conjugial Love (CL n. 132-136).
I will
here add an arcanum confirming these things from heaven. All the angels of
heaven turn their forehead to the Lord as a sun, and all the angels of hell
turn the back of the head to Him; and the latter receive influx into the
affections of their will, which in themselves are lusts, and make the understanding
favor them; but the former receive influx into the affections of their
understanding, and make the will favor them. Hence these are in wisdom, but the
others are in insanity; for the human understanding dwells in the cerebrum,
which is under the forehead, and the will in the cerebellum, which is in the
back of the head. Who does not know that a man who is insane from falsities,
favors the cupidities of his own evil, and confirms them by reasons from the
understanding; and that a wise man sees from truths the quality of the
cupidities of his will, and curbs them? A wise man does this because he turns
his face to God, that is, he believes in God, and not in himself; but an insane
man does the other thing because he turns his face from God, that is, he
believes in himself, and not in God. To believe in himself is to believe that
he loves and is wise from himself, and not from God, and this is signified by
eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; but to believe in God is
to believe that he loves and is wise from God, and not from himself, and this
is to eat of the tree of life (Rev. 2:7).
From
these things, but still only as in the light of the moon by night, it may be
perceived that the reception of the influx of life from God is according to the
state of love and wisdom with a man. This influx may further be illustrated by
the influx of light and heat into plants, which blossom and bear fruit
according to the structure of the fibres which form them, thus according to
reception. It may also be illustrated by the influx of the rays of light into
precious stones, which modify them into colors according to the situation of
the parts composing them, thus also according to reception; and likewise by
optical glasses and by drops of rain, which exhibit rainbows according to the
incidences, refractions, and thus the receptions of light. The case is similar
with human minds as to spiritual light, which proceeds from the Lord as a sun,
and perpetually flows in, but is variously received.
14. By the human mind are meant its two faculties, which are called the understanding
and the will. The understanding is the receptacle of the light of heaven, which
in its essence is wisdom, and the will is the receptacle of the heat of heaven,
which in its essence is love, as was shown above. These two; wisdom and love,
proceed from the Lord, as a sun, and flow into heaven universally and
particularly, whence the angels have wisdom and love; and they also flow into
this world universally and particularly, whence men have wisdom and love. But
these two united proceed from the Lord, and likewise united flow into the souls
of angels and men, but they are not received united in their minds. Light which
makes the understanding is first received there, and love which constitutes the
will is received gradually. This also is of providence, because every man is to
be created anew, that is, reformed, and this is effected through the
understanding; for from infancy he must acquire the knowledges of truth and
good, which will teach him to live well, that is, to will and act rightly. Thus
the will is formed through the understanding.
For the
sake of this end, there is given to man the faculty of elevating his
understanding almost into the light in which the angels of heaven are, that he
may see what he ought to will and thence to do, in order that he may be
prosperous in the world for a time, and be happy after death to eternity. He
becomes prosperous and happy if he procures for himself wisdom, and keeps his
will under obedience to it; but unprosperous and unhappy if he subjects his
understanding under obedience to his will. The reason is, because the will from
birth inclines to evils, even to enormous ones; wherefore unless it were curbed
by the understanding, a man would rush into heinous thing, yea, from his inborn
savage nature, he would depopulate and slaughter for the sake of himself all
those who do not favor and indulge him. Furthermore, unless the understanding
could be separately perfected, and the will by means of it, a man would not be
a man, but a beast. For without that separation, and without the ascent of the
understanding above the will, be would not be able to think, and from thought
to speak, but only to express his affection by sounds; neither would he be able
to act from reason, but only from instinct; still less would he be able to know
the things which are of God, and God by means of them, and thus to be conjoined
to Him, and to live to eternity.
For a
man thinks and wills as from himself, and this as from himself is the
reciprocal of conjunction; for there cannot be conjunction without a
reciprocal, just as there cannot be conjunction of the active with the passive
without reaction. God alone acts, and man suffers himself to be acted on, and
he reacts in all appearance as from himself, though interiorly it is from God.
From these things rightly perceived it may be seen what is the quality of the
love of a man's will if it is elevated by means of the understanding, and what
is its quality if it is not elevated; consequently, what is the quality of the
man. But this quality of a man if the love of his will is not elevated by means
of the understanding shall be illustrated by comparisons. He is like an eagle
which flies on high, and as soon as it sees the food below which is the object
of its desire, as chickens, young swans, yea, young lambs, swoops down in a
moment and devours them. He is also like an adulterer, who conceals a harlot in
a cellar below, and by turns goes up to the highest part of the house, and
talks wisely with those who dwell there about chastity, and by turns hastens
away from his companions, and indulges his lasciviousness below with his
harlot. He is also like a thief on a tower, who there pretends to keep watch,
but who, as soon as he sees an object of plunder below, hastens down and seizes
it. He man also be compared to marsh-flies, which fly in a column over the head
of a running horse, but which fall down when the horse stops, and immerse
themselves in their marsh. Such is the man whose will or love is not elevated
by means of the understanding, for he then stands still below at the foot,
immersed in the unclean things of nature and the lusts of the senses. It is
altogether otherwise with those who subdue the allurements of the cupidities of
the will by means of the wisdom of the understanding. With these the
understanding afterwards enters into a conjugial covenant with the will, thence
wisdom with love, and they dwell together above with delights.
15. Those who judge from the mere appearance to the senses of the body,
conclude that beasts have will and understanding as well as men, and hence that
the only distinction is that man can speak, and thus describe what he thinks
and desires, while beasts can only express this by sounds. Yet beasts have not
will and understanding, but only an image of each, which the learned call an
analogue. That a man is a man, is because his understanding can be elevated
above the desires of his will, and thus can know and see them from above, and
also moderate them; but a beast is a beast because its desires impel it to do
whatever it does. Wherefore a man is a man in that his will is under obedience
to his understanding; but a beast is a beast in that its understanding is under
obedience to its will. From these things this conclusion follows, that the
understanding of man, because it receives the light that flows in from heaven,
and apprehends and perceives this as its own, and from it thinks analytically
with all variety, altogether as from itself; is alive, and thence a true
understanding; and that the will of man, because it receives the inflowing love
of heaven, and from it acts as from itself, is alive, and is thence truly will;
but the contrary is the case with beasts. Wherefore those who think from the
lusts of the will are likened to beasts, and also in the spiritual world they
appear at a distance as beasts; they also act like beasts, with this difference
only, that they can act otherwise if they will. Eat those who restrain the
lusts of their will by means of the understanding, and therefore act rationally
and wisely, appear in the spiritual world as men, and are angels of heaven. In
a word, the will and the understanding in beasts always cohere; and because the
will in itself is blind, for it is of heat and not of light, it makes the
understanding blind also. Hence a beast does not know and understand its own
actions; and yet it acts, for it acts from an influx from the spiritual world;
and such action is instinct. It is believed that a beast thinks from the understanding
what it does, but this is not so; it is impelled to act only from natural love,
which is in it from creation, with the assistance of the senses of its body.
That a man thinks and speaks is solely because his understanding can be
separated from his will, and can be elevated even into the light of heaven; for
the understanding thinks, and thought speaks. That beasts act according to the
laws of order inscribed on their nature, and some beasts as it were morally and
rationally, differently from many men, is because their understanding is blind
obedience to the desires of their will, and therefore they are not able to
pervert these by depraved reasonings, as men do.
It to be
observed, that by the will and the understanding of beasts in the foregoing
statements, is meant an image and analogue of them. Analogues are so named from
appearance. The life of a beast may be compared with a somnambulist who walks
and acts from the will while the understanding is a deep sleep; and also with a
bad man, who walk through the streets with a dog leading him; and also with a
foolish person, who from custom and the habit thence acquired does his work
according to rules; likewise with a person void of memory, and therefore
deprived of understanding, who still knows or learns how to clothe himself, to
eat dainties, to love the sex, to walk the streets from house to house, and to
do such things as soothe the senses and gratify the flesh, by the allurements
and pleasures of which he is carried along, though he does not think, and
therefore cannot speak. From these things it is plain how much they are
deceived who believe that beasts enjoy rationality, and are only distinguished
from men by the external figure, and by their not being able to give utterance
to the rational things which they hide within. From which fallacies many even
conclude that if man lives after death beasts also will live after death, and,
on the contrary, that if beasts do not live after death neither will man;
besides many dreams arising from ignorance about the will and the
understanding, and also about degrees, by means of which, as by a ladder, the
mind of man mounts up to heaven.
16. It is discovered, by the investigation of causes from effects, that there
are degrees of two kinds, one in which are things prior and posterior, and
another in which are things greater and less. The degrees which distinguish
things prior and posterior are to be called degrees of altitude, and also
discrete degrees; but the degrees by which things greater and less are
distinguished from each other are to be called, degrees of latitude, and also
continuous degrees. Degrees of altitude, or discrete degrees, are like the
generations and compositions of one thing from another; as, for example, of any
nerve from its fibres, and of any fibre from its fibrils; or of any piece of
wood, stone, or metal from its parts, and of any part from its particles. But
degrees of latitude or continuous degrees are like the increments and
decrements of the same degree of altitude as to breadth, length, height, and
depth; as of greater and smaller volumes of water, or air, or ether; and as of
large and small masses of wood, stone, or metal. All and each of the things ill
both worlds, the spiritual and the natural, are, from creation, in degrees of
both these kinds. The whole animal kingdom in this world is in those degrees
both in general and in particular; and the whole vegetable kingdom and the
whole mineral kingdom likewise; as also is the expanse of atmospheres from the
sun even to the earth. There are therefore three atmospheres discretely
distinct according to the degrees of altitude, both in the spiritual world and
in the natural world, because each world has its sun; but the atmospheres of
the spiritual world, by virtue of their origin, are substantial, and the
atmospheres of the natural world, by virtue of their origin, are material. And
because the atmospheres descend from their origins according to those degrees,
and are the containants, and, as it were, the carriers of light and heat, it
follows that there are three degrees of light and heat. And because light in
the spiritual world in its essence is wisdom, and heat there in its essence is
love, as was shown above in its own article, it follows also that there are
three degrees of wisdom and three degrees of love, hence three degrees of life;
for they are graded by those things through which they pass.
Hence it
is that there are three angelic heavens: a highest, which is also called the
third heaven, where are the angels of the highest degree; a middle, which is
also called the second heaven, where are the angels of the middle degree; and a
lowest, which is also called the first heaven, where are the angels of the
lowest degree. Those heavens are also distinguished according to the degrees of
wisdom and love. Those who are in the lowest heaven are in the love of knowing truths
and goods; those who are in the middle heaven are in the love of understanding
them; and those who are in the highest heaven are in the love of being wise,
that is, of living according to those things which they flow and understand.
Since the angelic heavens are distinguished into three degrees, therefore the
human mind is also distinguished into three degrees, because the human mind is
an cage of heaven, that is, it is a heaven in the least form. Hence it is that
man can become an angel of one of those three heavens, and this is effected
according to his reception of wisdom and love from the Lord: an angel of the
lowest heaven if he receives only the love of knowing truths and goods; an
angel of the middle heaven if he receives the love of understanding them; and
an angel of the highest heaven if he receives the love of being wise, that is,
of living according to them. That the human mind is distinguished into three
regions, according to the three heavens, may be seen in the Relation inserted
in the work on Conjugial Love (CL n. 270).
From
these things it is evident that all spiritual influx to man and into man
descends from the Lord through these three degrees, and that it is received by
man according to the degree of wisdom and love in which he is. The knowledge of
these degrees is of the greatest use at the present day; since many, because
they do not know them, subsist and inhere in the lowest degree, in which are
the senses of their body, and from ignorance, which is intellectual thick
darkness, cannot be elevated into spiritual light, which is above them. Hence
naturalism invades them, as it were spontaneously, as soon as they enter on any
investigation and inquiry concerning the human soul and mind, and its
rationality, and still more if they inquire concerning heaven and the life
after death. Thus they become comparatively like those who stand in the market
places with telescopes in their hands, looking at the sky, and utter vain
predictions; and also like those who chatter and also reason concerning every
object they see, and every thing they hear, without there being in it anything
rational from the understanding. But such persons are like butchers, who
believe themselves to be skilled in anatomy, because they have examined the
viscera of oxen and sheep outwardly but not inwardly. But it is a truth, that
to think from the influx of natural light, not enlightened by the influx of
spiritual light, is nothing else than dreaming, and to speak from such thought
is to talk nonsense. But more concerning these degrees may be seen in the work
on The Divine Love and The Divine Wisdom (DLW n. 173-281).
17. Who does not see that the end is not the cause, but that it produces the
cause, and that the cause is not the effect, but that it produces the effect;
consequently that they are three distinct things which follow in order? The end
with man is the love of his will, for what a man loves, this he proposes to
himself and intends; the cause with him is the reason of his understanding, for
by means of it the end seeks for mediate or efficient causes; and the effect is
the operation of the body from them and according to them. Thus there are three
things in man, which follow each other in order, in like manner as the degrees
of altitude follow each other. When these three things appear in act, then the
end is inwardly in the cause, and the end through the cause is in the effect,
wherefore the three coexist in the effect. On this account it is said in the
Word, that everyone shall be judged according to his works; for the end, or the
love of his will, and the cause, or the reason of his understanding, are
together in the effects, which are the works of his body; thus the quality of
the whole man is in them. They who do not know these things, and do not thus
distinguish the objects of reason, cannot avoid terminating the ideas of their
thought in the atoms of Epicurus, the nomads of Leibnitz, or in the simple
substances of Wolff, and thus they close up their understandings as with a
bolt, so that they cannot even think from reason concerning spiritual influx,
because they cannot think concerning any progression; for the author says
concerning his simple substance, that if it is divided it falls into nothing.
Thus the understanding stands still in its first light, which is merely from
the senses of the body, and does not advance a step further. Hence it is not
known but that the spiritual is a subtile natural, and that beasts have a
rational as well as men, and that the son is a breath of wind such as is
breathed forth from the breast when a person dies; besides many things which
are not of light but of thick darkness. Since all things in the spiritual world
and all things in the natural world proceed according to these degrees, as was
shown in the preceding article, it is evident that intelligence properly
consists in knowing and extinguishing them, and seeing them in their order. By
means of these degrees, also, every man is known as to his quality, when his
love is known; for, as was said above, the end which is of the will, and the
causes which are of the understanding, and the effects which are of the body,
follow from his love, as a tree from its seed, and as fruit from the tree.
There
are three kinds of loves, the love of heaven, the love of the world, and the
love of self; the love of heaven is spiritual, the love of the world is
material, and the love of self is corporeal. When the love is spiritual, all
the things which follow from it, as forms from their essence, derive their
spiritual nature; similarly if the principal love is the love of the world or
of wealth, and thus is material, all the things which follow from it, as
derivatives from their principle derive their material nature; likewise if the
principal love is the love of self, or of eminence above all others, and thus
is corporeal, all the things which follow from it derive their corporeal
nature. The reason is, because the man who is in this love regards himself
alone, and thus immerses the thoughts of his mind in his body. Wherefore, as
was just now said, he who knows the ruling love of anyone, and at the same time
the progression of ends to causes and of causes to effects, which three things
follow in order according to the degrees of altitude, knows the whole man. Thus
the angels of heaven know everyone with whom they speak; they perceive his love
from the tone of his speech; and they see his image from his face, and his
character from the gestures of his body.
18. Spiritual influx has hitherto been deduced from the soul into the body, but
not from God into the soul and thus into the body. This has been done, because
no one knew anything concerning the spiritual world, and concerning the sun
there, from which all spiritual things flow as from their fountain, and thus
nothing concerning the influx of spiritual things into natural things. Now
because it has been granted me to be in the spiritual world and in the natural
world at the same time, and thus to see each world and each sun, I am obliged
by my conscience to manifest these things; for what is the use of knowing,
unless what is known to one be also known to others? Without this, what is
knowing but collecting and storing up riches in a casket, and only looking at
them occasionally and counting them over, without any thought of use from them?
Spiritual avarice is nothing else. But that it may be fully known what and of
what quality spiritual influx is, it is necessary to know what the spiritual is
in its essence, and what the natural is, and also what the human soul is. Lest
therefore this short treatise should be defective through ignorance of these
things, it is important to consult some Relations inserted in the work on
Conjugial Love; concerning the spiritual, in the Relation there (CL n.
326-329); concerning the human soul (CL n. 315); and concerning the influx of
spiritual things into natural things (CL n. 380); and more fully (CL n.
415-422).
19. To these things I will add this Relation.
After
these things were written, I prayed to the Lord that I might be permitted to
converse with disciples of Aristotle, and at the same time with disciples of
Descartes, and with disciples of Leibnitz, in order that I might draw forth the
opinions of their minds concerning the intercourse between the soul and the
body. After my prayer, there were present nine men, three Aristotelians, three
Cartesians, and three Leibnitzians; and they stood around me the admirers of
Aristotle on the left side, the followers of Descartes on the right, and the
supporters of Leibnitz behind. Quite a distance away, and at intervals from
each other, were seen three persons as it were crowned with laurel, and I knew
from an inflowing perception that they were those three great leaders or
teachers themselves. Behind Leibnitz stood one holding in his hand the skirt of
his garment, and I was told that it was Wolff. Those nine men, when they beheld
one another, at first saluted and spoke to one another in a courteous tone. But
presently there arose from below a spirit with a torch in his right hand, which
he shook before their faces, whereupon they became enemies, three against
three, and looked at one another with a fierce countenance; for they were
seized with the lust of disputing and discussing.
Then the
Aristotelians, who were also schoolmen, began to speak, saying, Who does not
see that objects flow in through the senses into the soul, as one enters
through the doors into a chamber, and that the soul thinks according to such
influx? When a lover sees a beautiful virgin or his bride, does not his eye
sparkle and carry the love of her into the soul? When a miser sees bags of
money, does he not burn for them with every sense, and thence convey this order
into the soul, and excite the cupidity of possessing them? When a proud man
hears his praises from another, does he not prick up his ears, and do not these
transmit those praises to the soul ? Are not the senses of the body like outer
courts, through which alone there is entrance to the soul? From these things
and innumerable others like them, who can conclude otherwise than that influx
is from nature, or is physical?
To these
statements the followers of Descartes, who had held their fingers on their
foreheads, and now withdrew them, replied, saying, Alas, you speak from appearances.
Do you not know that the eye does not love a virgin or a bride from itself, but
from the soul? Likewise that the senses of the body do not covet the bags of
money from themselves, but from the soul? and similarly that the ears do not
seize on the praises of flatterers in any other manner? Is it not perception
that causes sensation? and perception is of the soul, and not of the organs.
Tell, if you can, what else makes the tongue and lips to speak but the thought?
and what else makes the hands to work but the will? and thought and will are of
the soul, and not of the body. Thus what makes the eye to see, and the ears to
hear, and the other organs to feel, but the soul? From these things, and
innumerable others like them, everyone whose wisdom is above the sensual things
of the body, concludes, that there is no influx of the body into the soul, but
of the soul into the body, which we call occasional, and also spiritual influx.
When
these had been heard, the three men who stood behind the former triads, who
were the supporters of Leibnitz, lifted up their voices, saying, We have heard
the arguments on both sides, and have compared them, and we have perceived that
in many particulars the latter are stronger than the former, and that in many
others the former are stronger than the latter; wherefore if it is permitted,
we will settle the dispute. And on being asked how, they said, There is not any
influx of the soul into the body, nor of the body into the soul, but there is a
unanimous and instantaneous operation of both together, which a celebrated
author has distinguished by a beautiful name, calling it pre-established
harmony. Hereupon there appeared again the spirit with the torch in his hand,
but now in his left, and he shook it at the back of their heads, whence their
ideas of everything became confused and they cried out together, Neither our
soul nor body knows what part to take, wherefore let us decide this dispute by
lot, and we will favor the lot which comes out first. And they took three
pieces of paper, and wrote on one of them, physical influx, on another
spiritual influx, and on the third, pre-established harmony; and they put these
three pieces into a hat. Then they chose one of their number to draw, and he,
putting in his hand, took hold of that on which was written spiritual influx;
and when this was seen and read, they all said, yet some with a clear and
flowing, some with a faint and smothered voice, Let us favor this because it
came out first. But then an angel suddenly stood by, and said, Do not believe
that the paper in favor of spiritual influx came out by chance, but from
providence; for you do not see its truth because you are in confused ideas, but
the truth itself presented itself to the hand of him that drew the lots, that
you might favor it.
20. I
was once asked how from a philosopher I became a theologian; and I answered, In
the same manner that fishermen were made disciples and apostles by the Lord;
and that I also from early youth had been a spiritual fisherman. On hearing
this the inquirer asked, What is a spiritual fisherman? I replied that a
fisherman in the spiritual sense of the Word, signifies a man who investigates
and teaches natural truths, and afterwards spiritual truths rationally. To the
question, How is this demonstrated? I said, From these passages in the Word:--
Then the waters shall fail from the sea, and
the river shall be dried up and become dry, therefore the fishers shall mourn,
and all that cast a hook into the sea shall be sad (Isa. 19:5, 8).
In
another place:--
Upon the river whose waters were healed, the
fishers stood from Engedi; they were there in the spreading forth of nets;
according, to its kind was their fish, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding
many (Ezek. 47:9, 10).
And in
another place:--
The saying of Jehovah, Behold, I will send to
many fishers, who shall fish the sons of Israel (Jer. 16:16).
Thence it is evident, why the Lord chose
fishermen for disciples, and said:--
Come ye after Me, and I will make you fishers
of men (Matt. 4:18, 19; Mark 1:16, 17).
And to Peter after he had caught a multitude of
fishes:--
From henceforth thou shalt catch men (Luke 5:9,
10).
Afterwards
I demonstrated the origin of this signification of fishermen from The
Apocalypse Revealed; namely, because "water" signifies natural truths
(AR n. 50, 932); likewise "a river" (AR n. 409, 932);
"fish," those who are in natural truths (AR n. 405); and thence
"fishermen" signify those who investigate and teach truths. On
hearing this my interrogator raised his voice and said, Now I can understand
why the Lord called and chose fishermen to be His disciples, and therefore I do
not wonder that He has also called and chosen you, since, as you have said, you
were from early youth a fisherman in a spiritual sense, that is, an
investigator of natural truths; that you are now an investigator of spiritual
truths, is because thee are founded on the former. To this be added, because he
was a man of reason, that the Lord alone knows who is adapted to receive and to
teach those things which are of His New Church, whether some one among the
primates, or some one among their servants. moreover, what theologian among
Christians does not first study philosophy at college, before he is inaugurated
as a theologian; and from what other source has he intelligence? At last he
said, Since you are become a theologian, explain what is your theology. I
replied, These are the two principles of it, That God is one, and that there is
a conjunction of charity and faith. To which he replied, Who denies these? I
answered, The theology of the present day, when interiorly examined.
THE END