THE LORD FROM ETERNITY, WHO IS JEHOVAH, CREATED THE UNIVERSE AND ALL
THINGS THEREOF FROM HIMSELF, AND NOT FROM NOTHING.
It is known throughout the world, and acknowledged by every wise man from
interior perception, that God, who is the Creator of the universe, is One;
and it is known from the Word that God the Creator of the universe is
called "Jehovah," which is from the verb to be, because He alone is. That
the Lord from eternity is that Jehovah is shown by many statements from
the Word in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the Lord. Jehovah
is called the Lord from eternity, since Jehovah assumed a Human that He
might save men from hell; He then commanded His disciples to call Him
Lord. Therefore in the New Testament Jehovah is called "the Lord;" as can
be seen from this:
Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy
soul (Deut. 5:5);
but in the New Testament:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all
thy soul (Matt. 22:35).
It is the same in other passages in the Gospels, taken from the Old
Testament.
283. Every one who thinks from clear reason sees that the universe was
not created out of nothing, for he sees that not anything can be made out
of nothing; since nothing is nothing, and to make anything out of nothing
is a contradiction, and a contradiction is contrary to the light of truth,
which is from Divine Wisdom; and whatever is not from Divine Wisdom is not
from Divine Omnipotence. Every one who thinks from clear reason sees also
that all things have been created out of a Substance that is Substance in
itself for that is Esse itself, out of which every thing that is can take
form; and since God alone is Substance in itself, and therefore Esse
itself, it is evident that from this source alone is the formation of
things. Many have seen this, because reason causes them to see it; and
yet they have not dared to confirm it, fearing lest they might thereby be
led to think that the created universe is God, because from God, or that
nature is from itself, and consequently that the inmost of nature is what
is called God. For this reason, although many have seen that the formation
of all things is from God alone and out of his Esse, yet they have not
dared to go beyond their first thought on the subject, lest their
understanding should become entangled in a so-called Gordian knot, beyond
the possibility of release. Such release would be impossible, because their
thought of God, and of the creation of the universe by God, has been in
accordance with time and space, which are properties of nature; and from
nature no one can have any perception of God and of the creation of the
universe; but every one whose understanding is in any interior light can
have a perception of nature and of its creation out of God, because God
is not in time and space. That the Divine is not in space may be seen
above (n. 7-10); that the Divine apart from space fills all the spaces
of the universe (n. 69-72); and that the Divine apart from time is in
all time (n. 73-76). In what follows it will be seen that although God
has created the universe and all things thereof out of Himself, yet there
is nothing whatever in the created universe that is God; and other things
besides, which will place this matter in its proper light.
284. Part First of this Work treated of God, that He is Divine Love and
Divine Wisdom; that He is life, and that He is substance and form, which
is the very and only Esse. Part Second treated of the spiritual sun and
its world, and of the natural sun and its world, and of the creation of
the universe with all things thereof from God by means of these two suns.
Part Third treated of degrees in which are each and all things that have
been created. Part Fourth will now treat of the creation of the universe
from God. All these subjects are now explained, because the angels have
lamented before the Lord, that when they look upon the world they see
nothing but darkness, and among men no knowledge of God, of heaven, or of
the creation of nature, for their wisdom to rest upon.
285. THE LORD FROM ETERNITY, THAT IS, JEHOVAH, COULD NOT HAVE CREATED
THE UNIVERSE AND ALL THINGS THEREOF UNLESS HE WERE A MAN.
Those who have a corporeal natural idea of God as a Man, are wholly unable
to comprehend how God as a Man could have created the universe and all
things thereof; for they think within themselves, How can God as a Man
wander all over the universe from space to space, and create? Or how can
He, from His place, speak the word, and as soon as it is spoken, creation
follow? When it is said that God is a Man, such ideas present themselves
to those whose conception of the God-Man is like their conception of a man
in the world, and who think of God from nature and its properties, which
are time and space. But those whose conception of God-Man is not drawn from
their conception of a man in the world, nor from nature and its space and
time, clearly perceive that unless God were a man the universe could not
have been created. Bring your thought into the angelic idea of God as
being a Man, putting away, as much as you can, the idea of space, and you
will come near in thought to the truth. In fact, some of the learned
have a perception of spirits and angels as not in space, because they have
a perception of the spiritual as apart from space. For the spiritual is
like thought, which although it is in man, man is nevertheless able by
means of it to be present as it were elsewhere, in any place however
remote. Such is the state of spirits and angels, who are men even as
regards their bodies. In whatever place their thought is, there they
appear, because in the spiritual world spaces and distances are
appearances, and make one with the thought that is from their affection.
From all this it can be seen that God, who appears as a sun far above
the spiritual world, and to whom there can belong no appearance of space,
is not to be thought of from space. And it can then be comprehended that
He created the universe out of Himself, and not out of nothing; also that
His Human Body cannot be thought great or small, that is, of any one
stature, because this also pertains to space; consequently that in things
first and last, and in things greatest and least, He is the same; and
still further, that the Human is the inmost in every created thing,
though apart from space. That the Divine is the same in things greatest
and least may be seen above (n. 77-82); and that the Divine apart from
space fills all spaces (n. 69-72). And because the Divine is not in space,
it is not continuous [nec est continuum], as the inmost of nature is.
286. That God unless He were a Man could not have created the universe
and all things thereof, may be clearly apprehended by any intelligent
person from this, that he cannot deny that in God there is Love and
Wisdom, mercy and clemency, and also goodness itself and truth itself,
inasmuch as these are from God. And because he cannot deny this, neither
can he deny that God is a Man; for abstractly from man not one of these
is possible; for man is their subject, and to separate them from their
subject is to say that they are not. Think of wisdom, and place it outside
of man - is it anything? Can you conceive of it as something ethereal, or
as something flaming? You cannot; unless perchance you conceive of it as
being within these; and if within these, it must be wisdom in a form such
as man has; it must be wholly in the form of man, not one thing can be
lacking if wisdom is to be in that form. In a word, the form of wisdom is
man; and because man is the form of wisdom, he is also the form of love,
mercy, clemency, good and truth, because these make one with wisdom. That
love and wisdom are not possible except in a form, see above (n. 50-53).
287. That love and wisdom are man is further evident from the fact that
the angels of heaven are men in beauty in the measure in which they are
in love and its wisdom from the Lord. The same is evident from what is
said of Adam in the Word, that he was created into the likeness and into
the image of God (Gen. 1:26), because into the form of love and wisdom.
Every man on earth is born into the human form as regards his body, for
the reason that his spirit, which is also called his soul, is a man; and
this is a man because it is receptive of love and wisdom from the Lord;
and so far as these are received by the spirit or soul of man, so far it
becomes a man after the death of the material body which it had drawn
about it; and so far as these are not received it becomes a monster, which
derives something of manhood from the ability to receive.
288. Because God is a Man, the whole angelic heaven in the aggregate
resembles a single man, and is divided into regions and provinces
according to the members, viscera, and organs of man. Thus there are
societies of heaven which constitute the province of all things of the
brain, of all things of the facial organs, and of all things of the
viscera of the body; and these provinces are distinct from each other,
just as those organs are in man; moreover, the angels know in what
province of Man they are. The whole heaven is in this image, because
God is a Man. God is also heaven, because the angels, who constitute
heaven, are recipients of love and wisdom from the Lord, and recipients
are images. That heaven is in the form of all things of man is shown in
the Arcana Coelestia, at the end of various chapters.
289. All this makes evident how empty are the ideas of those who think
of God as something else than a Man, and of the Divine attributes as not
being in God as a Man, since these separated from man are mere figments
of reason. That God is very Man, from whom every man is a man according
to his reception of love and wisdom, may be seen above (n. 11-13). This
truth is here corroborated on account of what follows, that the creation
of the universe by God, because He is a Man, may be perceived.
290. THE LORD FROM ETERNITY, THAT IS, JEHOVAH, BROUGHT FORTH FROM HIMSELF
THE SUN OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, AND FROM THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE AND
ALL THINGS THEREOF.
The sun of the spiritual world was treated of in Part Second of this
work, and the following propositions were there established:-Divine
Love and Divine Wisdom appear in the spiritual world as a sun (n. 83-88).
Spiritual heat and spiritual light go forth from that sun (n. 89-92).
That sun is not God, but is a Proceeding from the Divine Love and Divine
Wisdom of God-Man; so also are the heat and light from that sun (n. 93-98).
The sun of the spiritual world is at a middle altitude, and appears far
off from the angels like the sun of the natural world from men
(n. 103-107). In the spiritual world the east is where the Lord appears
as a sun, and from that the other quarters are determined (n. 119-123,
125-128). Angels turn their faces constantly to the Lord as a sum
(n. 129-134, 135-139). The Lord created the universe and all things
thereof by means of the sun, which is the first proceeding of Divine
Love and Divine Wisdom (n. 151-156). The sun of the natural world is mere
fire, and nature, which derives its origin from that sun, is consequently
dead; and the sun of the natural world was created in order that the work
of creation might completed and finished (n. 157-162). Without a double
sun, one living and the other dead, no creation is possible (n. 163-166).
291. This also, among other things, is shown in Part Second:-that the
spiritual sun is not the Lord, but is a Proceeding from His Divine Love
and His Divine Wisdom. It is called a proceeding, because the sun was
brought forth out of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom which are in themselves
substance and form, and it is by means of this that the Divine proceeds.
But as human reason is such as to be unwilling to yield assent unless it
sees a thing from its cause, and therefore has some perception of how it
is, - thus in the present case, how the sun of the spiritual world, which
is not the Lord, but a proceeding from Him, was brought forth - something
shall be said on this subject. In regard to this matter I have conversed
much with the angels. They said that they have a clear perception of it
in their own spiritual light, but that they cannot easily present it to
man, in his natural light, owing to the difference between the two kinds
of light and the consequent difference of thought. The matter, however,
may be likened, they said, to the sphere of affections and of thoughts
therefrom which encompasses each angel, whereby his presence is made
evident to others near and far. But that encompassing sphere, they said,
is not the angel himself; it is from each and everything of his body,
wherefrom substances are constantly flowing out like a stream, and what
flows out surrounds him; also that these substances, contiguous to his
body, as they are constantly moved by his life's two fountains of motion,
the heart and the lungs, arouse the same activities in the atmospheres,
and thereby produce a perception as of his presence with others;
therefore that it is not a separate sphere of affections and of thoughts
therefrom that goes forth and is continuous from him, although it is so
called, since the affections are mere states of the mind's forms in the
angel. They said, moreover, that there is such a sphere about every
angel, because there is one about the Lord, and that the sphere about
the Lord is in like manner from Him, and that that sphere is their sun,
that is, the sun of the spiritual world.
292. A perception has often been granted me of such a sphere around each
angel and spirit, and also a general sphere around many in a society. I
have also been permitted to see it under various appearances, in heaven
sometimes appearing like a thin flame, in hell like gross fire, also
sometimes in heaven like a thin and shining white cloud, and in hell like
a thick and black cloud. It has also been granted me to perceive these
spheres as various kinds of odors and stenches. By these experiences I
was convinced that a sphere, consisting of substances set free and
separated from- their bodies, encompasses every one in heaven and every
one in hell.
293. It was also perceived that a sphere flows forth, not only from
angels and spirits but also from each and all things that appear in the
spiritual world, - from trees and from their fruits, from shrubs and from
their flowers, from herbs, and from grasses, even from the soils and from
their very particles. From which it was patent that both in the case of
things living and things dead this is a universal law, That each thing is
encompassed by something like that which is within it, and that this is
continually exhaled from it. It is known, from the observation of many
learned men, that it is the same in the natural world - that is, that
there is a wave of effluvia constantly flowing forth out of man, also out
of every animal, likewise out of tree, fruit, shrub, flower, and even out
of metal and stone. This the natural world derives from the spiritual,
and the spiritual world from the Divine.
294. Because those things that constitute the sun of the spiritual world
are from the Lord, but are not the Lord, they are not life in itself, but
are devoid of life in itself; just as those things that flow forth from
angel or man, and constitute spheres around him are not the angel or the
man, but are from him, and devoid of his life. These spheres make one
with the angel or man no otherwise than that they are concordant; and
this they are because taken from the forms of their bodies, which in them
were forms of their life. This is an arcanum which angels, with their
spiritual ideas, are able to see in thought and also express in speech,
but men with their natural ideas are not; because a thousand spiritual
ideas make one natural idea, and one natural idea cannot be resolved by
man into any spiritual idea, much less into so many. The reason is that
these ideas differ according to degrees of height, which were treated of
in Part Third.
295. That there is such a difference between the thoughts of angels and
the thoughts of men was made known to me by this experience: The angels
were asked to think spiritually on some subject, and afterwards to tell
me what they had thought. This they did; but when they wished to tell me
they could not, and said that these things could not be expressed in
words. It was the same with their spiritual language and their spiritual
writing; there was not a word of spiritual language that was like any
word of natural language; nor was there anything of spiritual writing
like natural writing, except the letters, each of which contained an
entire meaning. But what is wonderful, they said that they seemed to
themselves to think, speak, and write in the spiritual state in the same
manner that man does in the natural state, when yet there is no similarity.
From this it was plain that the natural and the spiritual differ according
to degrees of height, and that they communicate with each other only by
correspondences.
296. THERE ARE IN THE LORD THREE THINGS THAT ARE THE LORD, THE DIVINE OF
LOVE, THE DIVINE OF WISDOM, AND THE DIVINE OF USE; AND THESE THREE ARE
PRESENTED IN APPEARANCE OUTSIDE OF THE SUN OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, THE
DIVINE OF LOVE BY HEAT, THE DIVINE OF WISDOM BY LIGHT AND THE DIVINE OF
USE BY THE ATMOSPHERE WHICH IS THEIR CONTAINANT.
That heat and light go forth out of the sun of the spiritual world, heat
out of the Lord's Divine Love, and light out of His Divine Wisdom, may
be seen above (n. 89-92, 99-102, 156-150). Now it will be shown that the
third which goes forth out of that sun is the atmosphere, which is the
containant of heat and light, and that this goes forth out of the Lord's
Divine which is called Use.
297. Any one who thinks with any enlightenment can see that love has use
for an end and intends it, and brings it forth by means of wisdom; for
love can bring forth no use of itself, but only by wisdom as a medium.
What, in fact, is love unless there be something loved? That something
is use; and because use is that which is loved, and is brought forth by
means of wisdom, it follows that use is the containant of wisdom and love.
That these three, love, wisdom and use follow in order according to
degrees of height, and that the outmost degree is the complex, containant,
and base of the prior degrees has been shown (n. 209-216, and elsewhere).
From all this it can be seen that these three, the Divine of Love, the
Divine of Wisdom, and the Divine of Use, are in the Lord, and are the
Lord in essence.
298. That man, as regards both his exteriors and his interiors, is a form
of all uses, and that all the uses in the created universe correspond to
those uses in him, will be fully shown in what follows; it need only be
mentioned here, that it may be known that God as a Man is the form itself
of all uses, from which form all uses in the created universe derive
their origin, thus that the created universe, viewed as to uses, is an
image of Him. Those things are called uses which from God-Man, that is,
from the Lord, are by creation in order; but those things which are from
what is man's own are not called uses; since what is man's own is hell,
and whatever is therefrom is contrary to order.
299. Now since these three, love, wisdom, and use, are in the Lord, and
are the Lord; and since the Lord is everywhere, for He is omnipresent;
and since the Lord cannot make Himself present, such as He is in Himself
and such as He is in His own sun, to any angel or man, He therefore
presents Himself by means of such things as can be received, presenting
Himself, as to love by heat, as to wisdom by light, and as to use by an
atmosphere. The Lord presents Himself as to use by an atmosphere, because
an atmosphere is a containant of heat and light, as use is the containant
of love and wisdom. For light and heat going forth from the Divine Sun
cannot go forth in nothing, that is, in vacuum, but must go forth in a
containant which is a subject. This containant we call an atmosphere; and
this encompasses the sun, receiving the sun in its bosom, and bearing it
to heaven where angels are, and then to the world where men are, thus
making the Lord's presence everywhere manifest.
300. That there are atmospheres in the angelic world, as well as in the
natural world, has been shown above (n. 173-178, 179-183). It was there
declared that the atmospheres of the spiritual world are spiritual, and
the atmospheres of the natural world are natural. It can now be seen,
from the origin of the spiritual atmosphere most closely encompassing the
spiritual sun, that everything belonging to it is in its essence such as
the sun is in its essence. The angels, by means of their spiritual ideas,
which are apart from space, elucidate this truth as follows: There is
only one substance from which all things are, and the sun of the spiritual
world is that substance; and since the Divine is not in space, and is the
same in things greatest and least, this is also true of that sun which is
the first going forth of God-Man; furthermore, this one only substance,
which is the sun, going forth by means of atmospheres according to
continuous degrees or degrees of breadth, and at the same time according
to discrete degrees or degrees of height presents the varieties of all
things in the created universe. The angels declared that these things are
totally incomprehensible, unless spaces be removed from the ideas; and
if not removed, appearances must needs induce fallacies. But so long as
the thought is held that God is the very Esse from which all things are,
fallacies cannot enter.
301. It is evident, moreover, from angelic ideas, which are apart from
space, that in the created universe nothing lives except God-Man, that is,
the Lord, neither is anything moved except by life from Him, nor has being
except through the sun from Him; so that it is a truth, that in God we
live, and move, and have our being.
302. THE ATMOSPHERES, OF WHICH THERE ARE THREE BOTH IN THE SPIRITUAL AND
IN THE NATURAL WORLD, IN THEIR OUTMOSTS CLOSE INTO SUBSTANCES AND MATTERS
SUCH AS ARE IN LANDS.
It has been shown in Part Third (n. 173-176), that there are three
atmospheres both in the spiritual and in the natural world, which are
distinct from each other according to degrees of height, and which, in
their progress toward lower things, decrease [in activity] according to
degrees of breadth. And since atmospheres in their progress toward lower
things decrease [in activity], it follows that they constantly become
more compressed and inert, and finally, in outmosts, become so compressed
and inert as to be no longer atmospheres, but substances at rest, and in
the natural world, fixed like those in the lands that are called matters.
As such is the origin of substances and matters, it follows, first, that
these substances and matters also are of three degrees; secondly, that
they are held together in mutual connection by encompassing atmospheres;
thirdly, that they are fitted for the production of all uses in their
forms.
303. That such substances or matters as are in earths, were brought forth
by the sun through its atmospheres any one will readily acknowledge who
reflects that there are continual mediations from the First to outmosts,
and that nothing can take form except from what is prior to itself, and
so finally from the First. The First is the sun of the spiritual world,
and the First of that sun is God-Man, or the Lord. Now as atmospheres are
those prior things, whereby the spiritual sun manifests itself in outmosts,
and as these prior things continually decrease in activity and expansion
down to the outmosts, it follows that when their activity and expansion
come to an end in outmosts they become substances, and matters such as are
in lands, which retain within them, from the atmospheres out of which they
originated, an effort and conatus to bring forth uses. Those who do not
evolve the creation of the universe and all things thereof by continuous
mediations from the First [Being], can but hold hypotheses, disjoined and
divorced from their causes, which, when surveyed by a mind with an interior
perception of things, do not appear like a house, but like heaps of
rubbish.
304. From this universal origin of all things in the created universe,
every particular thereof has a similar order; in that these also go forth
from their first to outmosts which are relatively in a state of rest, that
they may terminate and become permanent. Thus in the human body fibers
proceed from their first forms until at last they become tendons; also
fibers with vessels proceed from their first forms until they become
cartilages and bones; upon these they may rest and become permanent.
Because of such a progression of fibers and vessels in man from firsts
to outmosts, there is a similar progression of their states, which are
sensations, thoughts, and affections. These, also, from their firsts,
where they are in light, proceed through to outmosts, where they are in
shade; or from their firsts, where they are in heat, to outmosts where
they are not in heat. With such a progression of these there is also a
like progression of love and of all things thereof, and of wisdom and all
things thereof. In a word, such is the progression of all things in the
created universe. This is the same as was shown above (n. 222-229), that
there are degrees of both kinds in the greatest and least of all created
things. There are degrees of both kinds even in the least things of all,
because the spiritual sun is the sole substance from which all things are
(according to the spiritual ideas of the angels, n. 300).
305. IN THE SUBSTANCES AND MATTERS OF WHICH LANDS ARE FORMED THERE IS
NOTHING OF THE DIVINE IN ITSELF, BUT STILL THEY ARE FROM THE DIVINE IN
ITSELF.
From the origin of lands (treated of in the preceding chapter), it can be
seen, that in their substances and matters there is nothing of the Divine
in itself, but that they are devoid of all-that is Divine in itself. For
they are, as was said, the endings and closings of the atmospheres, whose
heat has died away into cold, whose light into darkness, and whose activity
into inertness. Nevertheless, by continuation from the substance of the
spiritual sun, they have brought with them what there was in that substance
from the Divine, which (as said above, n. 291-298), was the sphere
encompassing God-Man, or the Lord. From that sphere, by continuation from
the sun through the atmospheres as mediums have arisen the substances and
matters of which the lands are formed.
306. The origin of lands from the spiritual sun through the atmospheres,
as mediums, can no otherwise be described by expressions flowing out of
natural ideas, but may by expressions flowing out of spiritual ideas,
because these are apart from space, and for this reason, they do not fall
into any expressions of natural language. That spiritual thoughts, speech,
and writings differ so entirely from natural thoughts, speech, and
writings, that they have nothing in common, and have communication only
by correspondences, may be seen above (n. 295). It may suffice, therefore,
if the origin of lands be perceived in some measure naturally.
307. ALL USES, WHICH ARE ENDS OF CREATION ARE IN FORMS, WHICH FORMS THEY
TAKE FROM SUBSTANCES AND MATTERS SUCH AS ARE IN LANDS.
All things treated of hitherto, as the sun, atmospheres, and lands, are
only means to ends. The ends of creation are those things that are
produced by the Lord as a sun, through the atmospheres, out of lands;
and these ends are called uses. In their whole extent these are all things
of the vegetable kingdom, all things of the animal kingdom, and finally
the human race, and the angelic heaven which is from it. These are called
uses, because they are recipients of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom also
because they have regard to God the Creator from whom they are, and
thereby conjoin Him to His great work; by which conjunction it comes
that, as they spring forth from Him, so do they have unceasing existence
from Him. They are said to have regard to God the Creator from whom they
are, and to conjoin Him to His great work, but this is to speak according
to appearance. It is meant that God the Creator causes them to have regard
and to conjoin themselves to Him as it were of themselves; but how they
have regard and thereby conjoin will be declared in what follows.
Something has been said before on these subjects in their place, as that
Divine Love and Divine Wisdom must necessarily have being and form in
other things created by themselves (n. 37-51); that all things in the
created universe are recipients of Divine Love and Divine Wisdom
(n. 55-60); that the uses of all created things ascend by degrees to man,
and through man to God the Creator from whom they are (n. 65-68).
308. Who does not see clearly that uses are the ends of creation, when
he considers that from God the Creator nothing can have form, and
therefore nothing can be created, except use; and that to be use, it
must be for the sake of others; and that use for the sake of self is
also for the sake of others, since a use for the sake of self looks to
one's being in a state to be of use to others? Whoso considers this is
also able to see, that use which is use cannot spring from man, but must
be in man from that Being from whom everything that comes forth is use,
that is, from the Lord.
309. But as the forms of uses are here treated of, the subject shall be
set forth in the following order:
(1) In lands there is a conatus to produce uses in forms, that is, forms
of uses.
(2) In all forms of uses there is a kind of image of the creation of the
universe.
(3) In all forms of uses there is a kind of image of man.
(4) In all forms of uses there is a kind of image of the Infinite and
the Eternal.
310. (1) In lands there is a conatus to produce uses in forms, that is,
forms of uses. That there is this conatus in lands, is evident from their
source, since the substances and matters of which lands consist are
endings and closings of atmospheres which proceed as uses from the
spiritual sun (as may be seen above, n. 305, 306). And because the
substances and matters of which lands consist are from that source, and
their aggregations are held in connection by the pressure of the
surrounding atmospheres, it follows that they have from that a perpetual
conatus to bring forth forms of uses. The very quality that makes them
capable of bringing forth they derive from their source, as being the
outmosts of atmospheres, with which they are constantly in accord. Such
a conatus and quality are said to be in lands, but it is meant that they
are present in the substances and matters of which lands consist, whether
these are in the lands or in the atmospheres as exhalations from the
lands. That atmospheres are full of such things is well known. That there
is such a conatus and such quality in the substances and matters of lands
is plain from the fact that seeds of all kinds, opened by means of heat
even to their inmost core, are impregnated by the most subtle substances
(which can have no other than a spiritual origin), and through this they
have power to conjoin themselves to use, from which comes their prolific
principle. Then through conjunction with matters from a natural origin
they are able to produce forms of uses, and thereafter to deliver them
as from a womb, that they may come forth into light, and thus sprout up
and grow. This conatus is afterwards continuous from the lands through
the root even to outmosts, and from outmosts to firsts, wherein use itself
is in its origin. Thus uses pass into forms; and forms, in their
progression from firsts to outmosts and from outmosts to firsts, derive
from use (which is like a soul) that each and every thing of the form is
of some use. Use is said to be like a soul, since its form is like a body.
It also follows that there is a conatus more interior, that is, the conatus
to produce uses for the animal kingdom through vegetable growths, since by
these animals of every kind are nourished. It further follows that in all
these there is an inmost conatus, the conatus to perform use to the human
race. From all this these things follow: (1) that there are outmosts, and
in outmosts are all prior things simultaneously in their order, according
to what has been frequently explained above; (2) that as there are degrees
of both kinds in the greatest and least of all things (as was shown above,
n. 222-229), so there are likewise in this conatus; (3) that as all uses
are brought forth by the Lord out of outmosts, so in outmosts there must
be a conatus to uses.
311. Still none of these are living conatus, for they are the conatus of
life's outmost forces; within which forces there exists, from the life
out of which they spring, a striving to return at last to their origin
through the means afforded. In outmosts, atmospheres become such forces;
and by these forces, substances and matters, such as are in the lands,
are molded into forms and held together in forms both within and without.
But the subject is too large to allow a more extended explanation here.
312. The first production from these earthy matters, while they were
still new and in their simple state, was production of seed; the first
conatus therein could not be any other.
313. (2) In all forms of uses there is a kind of image of creation. Forms
of uses are of a threefold kind; forms of uses of the mineral kingdom,
forms of uses of the vegetable kingdom, and forms of uses of the animal
kingdom. The forms of uses of the mineral kingdom cannot be described,
because they are not visible to the eye. The first forms are the substances
and matters of which the lands consist, in their minutest divisions; the
second forms are aggregates of these, and are of infinite variety; the
third forms come from plants that have fallen to dust, and from animal
remains, and from the continual evaporations and exhalations from these,
which are added to lands and make their soil. These forms of the mineral
kingdom in three degrees represent creation in an image in this, that,
made active by the sun through the atmospheres and their heat and light,
they bring forth uses in forms, which uses were creative ends. This image
of creation lies deeply hidden within their conatus (of which see above,
n. 310).
314. In the forms of uses of the vegetable kingdom an image of creation
appears in this, that from their firsts they proceed to their outmosts,
and from outmosts to firsts. Their firsts are seeds, their outmosts are
stalks clothed with bark; and by means of the bark which is the outmost
of the stalk, they tend to seeds which, as was said, are their firsts.
The stalks clothed with layers of bark represent the globe clothed with
lands, out of which come the creation and formation of all uses. That
vegetation is effected through the outer and inner barks and coatings, by
a climbing up, by means of the coverings of the roots (which are continued
around the stalks and branches), into the beginnings of the fruit, and in
like manner through the fruits into the seeds, is known to many. An image
of creation is displayed in forms of uses in the progress of the formation
of uses from firsts to outmosts, and from outmosts to firsts; also in
this, that in the whole progression there lies the end of producing fruit
and seeds, which are uses. From what has been said above it is plain, that
the progression of the creation of the universe was from its First (which
is the Lord encircled by the sun) to outmosts which are lands, and from
these through uses to its First, that is, the Lord; also that the ends of
the whole creation were uses.
315. It should be known that to this image of creation the heat, light,
and atmospheres of the natural world contribute nothing whatever. It is
only the heat, light, and atmospheres of the sun of the spiritual world
that do this, bringing that image with them, and clothing it with the
forms of uses of the vegetable kingdom. The heat, light, and atmospheres
of the natural world simply open the seeds, keep their products in a
state of expansion, and clothe them with the matters that give them
fixedness. And this is done not by any forces from their own sun (which
viewed in themselves are null), but by forces from the spiritual sun, by
which the natural forces are unceasingly impelled to these services.
Natural forces contribute nothing whatever towards forming this image of
creation, for the image of creation is spiritual. But that this image may
be manifest and perform use in the natural world, and may stand fixed and
be permanent, it must be materialized, that is, filled in with the matters
of that world.
316. In the forms of uses of the animal kingdom there is a similar image
of creation, in that the animal body, which is the outmost thereof, is
formed by a seed deposited in a womb or an ovum, and this body, when
mature, brings forth new seed. This progression is similar to the
progression of the forms of uses of the vegetable kingdom: seeds are
the beginnings; the womb or the ovum is like the ground; the state before
birth is like the state of the seed in the ground while it takes root;
the state after birth until the animal becomes prolific is like the growth
of a tree until it reaches its state of fruit-bearing. From this
parallelism it is plain that there is a likeness of creation in the forms
of animals as well as in the forms of plants, in that there is a
progression from firsts to outmosts, and from outmosts to firsts. A like
image of creation exists in every single thing there is in man; for there
is a like progression of love through wisdom into uses, consequently a
like progression of the will through the understanding into acts, and of
charity through faith into deeds. Will and understanding, also charity
and faith, are the firsts as their source; acts and deeds are the
outmosts; from these, by means of the enjoyments of uses, a return is
made to their firsts, which, as was said, are the will and understanding,
or charity and faith. That the return is effected by means of the
enjoyments of uses is very evident from the enjoyments felt in those
acts and deeds which are from any love, in that they flow back to the
first of the love from which they spring and that thereby conjunction
is effected. The enjoyments of acts and deeds are what are called the
enjoyments of uses. A like progression from firsts to outmosts, and from
outmosts to firsts, is exhibited in the forms most purely organic of
affections and thoughts in man. In his brains there are those star-like
forms called the cineritious substances; out of these go forth fibers
through the medullary substance by the neck into the body; passing through
to the outmosts of the body, and from outmosts returning to their firsts.
This return of fibers to their firsts is made through the blood vessels.
There is a like progression of all affections and thoughts, which are
changes and variations of state of those forms or substances, for the
fibers issuing out of those forms or substances are comparatively like
the atmospheres from the spiritual sun, which are containants of heat
and light; while bodily acts are like the things produced from the lands
by means of atmospheres, the enjoyments of their uses returning to the
source from which they sprang. But that the progression of these is such,
and that within this progression there is an image of creation, can hardly
be comprehended fully by the understanding, both because thousands and
myriads of forces operating in act appear as one, and because the
enjoyments of uses do not appear as ideas in the thought, but only affect
without distinct perception. On this subject see what has been declared
and explained above, as follows: The uses of all created things ascend
by degrees of height to man, and through man to God the Creator from whom
they are (n. 65-68). The end of creation takes form in outmosts, which
end is that all things may return to the Creator and that there may be
conjunction (n. 167-172). But these things will appear in still clearer
light in the following Part, where the correspondence of the will and
understanding with the heart and lungs will be treated of.
317. (3) In all forms of uses there is a kind of image of man. This has
been shown above (n. 61-64). That all uses, from firsts to outmosts and
from outmosts to firsts, have relation to all parts of man and have
correspondence with them, consequently that man is, in a kind of image,
a universe, and conversely that the universe viewed as to uses is in
image a man, will be seen in the following chapter.
318. (4) In all forms of uses there is a kind of image of the Infinite
and the Eternal. The image of the Infinite in these forms is plain from
their conatus and power to fill the spaces of the whole world, and even
of many worlds, to infinity. For a single seed produces a tree, shrub,
or plant, which fills its own space; and each tree, shrub, or plant
produces seeds, in some cases thousands of them, which, when sown and
grown up, fill their own spaces; and if from each seed of these there
should proceed as many more, reproduced again and again, in the course
of years the whole world would be filled; and if the production were
still continued many worlds would be filled; and this to infinity.
Estimate a thousand seeds from one, and multiply the thousand by a
thousand ten times, twenty times, even to a hundred times, and you
will see. There is a like image of the Eternal in these forms; seeds
are propagated from year to year, and the propagations never cease; they
have not ceased from the creation of the world till now, and will not
cease to eternity. These two are standing proofs and attesting signs that
all things of the universe have been created by an Infinite and Eternal
God. Beside these images of the Infinite and Eternal, there is another
image of the Infinite and Eternal in varieties, in that there can never
be a substance, state, or thing in the created universe the same as or
identical with any other, neither in atmospheres, nor in lands, nor in
the forms arising out of these. Thus not in any of the things which fill
the universe can any thing the same be produced to eternity. This is
plainly to be seen in the variety of the faces of human beings; no one
face can be found throughout the world which is the same as another, nor
can there be to all eternity, consequently not one mind, for the face is
the type of the mind.
319. ALL THINGS OF THE CREATED UNIVERSE, VIEWED IN REFERENCE TO USES
REPRESENT MAN IN AN IMAGE, AND THIS TESTIFIES THAT GOD IS A MAN
By the ancients man was called a microcosm, from his representing the
macrocosm, that is, the universe in its whole complex; but it is not
known at the present day why man was so called by the ancients, for no
more of the universe or macrocosm is manifest in him than that he derives
nourishment and bodily life from its animal and vegetable kingdoms, and
that he is kept in a living condition by its heat, sees by its light,
and hears and breathes by its atmospheres. Yet these things do not make
man a microcosm, as the universe with all things thereof is a macrocosm.
The ancients called man a microcosm, or little universe, from truth which
they derived from the knowledge of correspondences, in which the most
ancient people were, and from their communication with angels of heaven;
for angels of heaven know from the things which they see about them that
all things of the universe, viewed as to uses, represent man as an image.
320. But the truth that man is a microcosm, or little universe, because
the created universe, viewed as to uses is, in image, a man, cannot come
into the thought and from that into the knowledge of any one on earth from
the idea of the universe as it is viewed in the spiritual world; and
therefore it can be corroborated only by an angel, who is in the spiritual
world, or by some one to whom it has been granted to be in that world,
and to see things which are there. As this has been granted to me, I am
able, from what I have seen there, to disclose this arcanum.
321. It should be known that the spiritual world is in external appearance,
wholly like the natural world. Lands, mountains, hills, valleys, plains,
fields, lakes, rivers, springs of water are to be seen there, as in the
natural world; thus all things belonging to the mineral kingdom. Paradises,
gardens, groves, woods, and in them trees and shrubs of all kinds bearing
fruit and seeds; also plants, flowers, herbs, and grasses are to be seen
there; thus all things pertaining to the vegetable kingdom. There are also
to be seen there, beasts, birds, and fishes of every kind; thus all things
pertaining to the animal kingdom. Man there is an angel or spirit. This is
premised that it may be known that the universe of the spiritual world is
wholly like the universe of the natural world, with this difference only,
that things in the spiritual world are not fixed and settled like those in
the natural world, because in the spiritual world nothing is natural but
every thing is spiritual.
322. That the universe of that world represents man in an image can be
clearly seen from this, that all things just mentioned (n. 321) appear
to the life, and take form about the angel, and about the angelic
societies, as if they were produced or created by them; they are about
them permanently, and do not pass away. That they are as if they were
produced or created by them is seen by their no longer appearing when
the angel goes away, or when the society passes to another place; also
when other angels come in place of these the appearance of all things
about them is changed - in the paradises the trees and fruits are changed,
in the flower gardens the flowers and seeds, in the fields the herbs and
grasses, also the kinds of animals and birds are changed. Such things
take form and are changed in this manner, because all these things take
form according to the affections and consequent thoughts of the angels,
for they are correspondences. And because things that correspond make one
with that to which they correspond they are an image representative of
it. The image itself is not seen when these things are viewed in their
forms, it is seen only when they are viewed in respect to uses. It has
been granted me to perceive that angels, when their eyes were opened by
the Lord, and they saw these things from the correspondence of uses,
recognized and saw themselves therein.
323. Inasmuch as these things which have existence about the angels,
corresponding to their affections and thoughts, represent a universe,
in that there are lands, plants, and animals, and these constitute an
image representative of the angel, it is evident why the ancients called
man a microcosm.
324. That this is so has been abundantly confirmed in the Arcana
Coelestia, also in the work Heaven and Hell, and occasionally in the
preceding pages where correspondence is treated of. It has been there
shown also that nothing is to be found in the created universe which has
not a correspondence with something in man, not only with his affections
and their thoughts, but also with his bodily organs and viscera; not with
these however as substances, but as uses. From this it is that in the
Word, where the church and the man of the church are treated of, such
frequent mention is made of trees, such as "olives," "vines," and
"cedars;" of "gardens," "groves" and "woods;" and of the "beasts of
the earth," "birds of the air," and "fish of the sea." They are there
mentioned because they correspond, and by correspondence make one, as
was said above; consequently, when such things are read in the Word by
man, these objects are not perceived by angels, but the church or the
men of the church in respect to their states are perceived instead.
325. Since all things of the universe have relation in an image to man,
the wisdom and intelligence of Adam are described by the "garden of Eden,"
wherein were all kinds of trees, also rivers, precious stones, and gold,
and animals to which he gave names; by all of which are meant such things
as were in Adam, and constitute that which is called man. Nearly the same
things are said of Ashur, by whom the church in respect to intelligence is
signified (Ezek. 31:3-9); and of Tyre, by which the church in respect to
knowledges of good and truth is signified (Ezek. 28:12, 13).
326. From all this it can be seen that all things in the universe, viewed
from uses, have relation in an image to man, and that this testifies that
God is a man. For such things as have been mentioned above take form about
the angelic man, not from the angels, but from the Lord through the angels.
For they take their form from the influx of the Lord's Divine Love and
Divine Wisdom into the angel, who is a recipient, and before whose eyes
all this is brought forth like the creation of a universe. From this they
know there that God is a Man, and that the created universe, viewed in its
uses, is an image of God.
327. ALL THINGS CREATED BY THE LORD ARE USE; THEY ARE USES IN THE ORDER,
DEGREE, AND RESPECT IN WHICH THEY HAVE RELATION TO MAN, AND THROUGH MAN
TO THE LORD, FROM WHOM [THEY ARE].
In respect to this it has been shown above: That from God the Creator
nothing can take form except uses (n. 308); that the uses of all created
things ascend by degrees from outmost things to man, and through man to
God the Creator, from whom they are (n. 65-68); that the end of creation
takes form in outmosts, which end is, that all things may return to God
the Creator, and that there may be conjunction (n. 167-172); that things
are uses so far as they have regard to the Creator (n. 307); that the
Divine must necessarily have being and form in other things created by
itself (n. 47-51); that all things of the universe are recipients
according to uses, and this according to degrees (n. 58); that the
universe, viewed from uses, is an image of God (n. 59); and many other
things. From all which this- truth is plain, that all things created by
the Lord are uses, and that they are uses in that order, degree, and
respect in which they have relation to man, and through man to the Lord
from whom [they are]. It remains now that some things should be said in
detail respecting uses.
328. By man, to whom uses have relation, is meant not alone an individual
but an assembly of men, also a society smaller or larger, as a
commonwealth, kingdom, or empire, or that largest society, the whole
world, for each of these is a man. Likewise in the heavens, the whole
angelic heaven is as one man before the Lord, and equally every society
of heaven; from this it is that every angel is a man. That this is so
may be seen in the work Heaven and Hell (n. 68-103). This makes clear
what is meant by man in what follows.
329. The end of the creation of the universe clearly shows what use is.
The end of the creation of the universe is the existence of an angelic
heaven; and as the angelic heaven is the end, man also or the human race
is the end, since heaven is from that. From which it follows that all
created things are mediate ends, and that these are uses in that order,
degree, and respect in which they have relation to man, and through man
to the Lord.
330. Inasmuch as the end of creation is an angelic heaven out of the
human race, and thus the human race itself, all other created things are
mediate ends, and these, as having relation to man, with a view to his
conjunction with the Lord, refer themselves to these three things in him,
his body, his rational, and his spiritual. For man cannot be conjoined to
the Lord unless he be spiritual, nor can he be spiritual unless he be
rational, nor can he be rational unless his body is in a sound state.
These three are like a house; the body like the foundation, the rational
like the superstructure, the spiritual like those things which are in the
house, and conjunction with the Lord like dwelling in it. From this can
be seen in what order, degree, and respect uses (which are the mediate
ends of creation) have relation to man, namely, (1) for sustaining his
body, (2) for perfecting his rational, (3) for receiving what is spiritual
from the Lord.
331. Uses for sustaining the body relate to its nourishment, its clothing,
its habitation, its recreation and enjoyment, its protection and the
preservation of its state. The uses created for the nourishment of the
body are all things of the vegetable kingdom suitable for food and drink,
as fruits, grapes, grain, pulse, and herbs; in the animal kingdom all
things which are eaten, as oxen, cows, calves, deer, sheep, kids, goats,
lambs, and the milk they yield; also fowls and fish of many kinds. The
uses created for the clothing of the body are many other products of these
two kingdoms; in like manner, the uses for habitation, also for recreation,
enjoyment, protection, and preservation of state. These are not mentioned
because they are well known, and their mere enumeration would fill pages.
There are many things, to be sure, which are not used by man; but what is
superfluous does not do away with the use, but ensures its continuance.
Misuse of uses is also possible, but misuse does not do away with use,
even as falsification of truth does not do away with truth except with
those who falsify it.
332. Uses for perfecting the rational are all things that give instruction
about the subjects above mentioned, and are called sciences and branches
of study, pertaining to natural, economical, civil and moral affairs,
which are learned either from parents and teachers, or from books, or
from interaction with others, or by reflection on these subjects by
oneself. These things perfect the rational so far as they are uses in a
higher degree, and they are permanent as far as they are applied to life.
Space forbids the enumeration of these uses, by reason both of their
multitude and of their varied relation to the common good.
333. Uses for receiving the spiritual from the Lord, are all things that
belong to religion and to worship therefrom; thus all things that teach
the acknowledgment and knowledge of God and the knowledge and
acknowledgment of good and truth and thus eternal life, which are
acquired in the same way as other learning, from parents, teachers,
discourses, and books, and especially by applying to life what is so
learned; and in the Christian world, by doctrines and discourses from
the Word, and through the Word from the Lord. These uses in their full
extent may be described under the same heads as the uses of the body, as
nourishment, clothing, habitation, recreation and enjoyment, and
preservation of state, if only they are applied to the soul; as nutrition
to goods of love, clothing to truths of wisdom, habitation to heaven,
recreation and enjoyment to felicity of life and heavenly joy, protection
to safety from infesting evils, and preservation of state to eternal life.
All these things are given by the Lord according to the acknowledgment
that all bodily things are also from the Lord, and that a man is only as
a servant and house-steward appointed over the goods of his Lord.
334. That such things have been given to man to use and enjoy, and that
they are free gifts, is clearly evident from the state of angels in the
heavens, who have, like men on earth, a body, a rational, and a spiritual.
They are nourished freely, for food is given them daily; they are clothed
freely, for garments are given them; their dwellings are free, for houses
are given them; nor have they any care about all these things; and so far
as they are rational-spiritual do they have enjoyment, protection, and
preservation of state. The difference is that angels see that these
things, - because created according to the state of their love and
wisdom, - are from the Lord (as was shown in the preceding chapter,
n. 322); but men do not see this, because their harvest returns yearly,
and is not in accord with the state of their love and wisdom, but in
accord with the care bestowed by them.
335. These things are called uses, because through man they have relation
to the Lord; nevertheless, they must not be said to be uses from man for
the Lord's sake, but from the Lord for man's sake, inasmuch as in the
Lord all uses are infinitely one, but in man there are no uses except
from the Lord; for man cannot do good from himself, but only from the
Lord, and good is what is called use. The essence of spiritual love is
doing good to others, not for the sake of self but for the sake of others;
infinitely more is this the essence of Divine Love. It is like the love
of parents for their children, in that parents do good to their children
from love, not for their own sake but for their children's sake. This is
especially manifest in a mothers love for her offspring. Because the Lord
is to be adored, worshiped and glorified, He is supposed to love adoration,
worship, and glory for His own sake; but He loves these for man's sake,
because by means of them man comes into a state in which the Divine can
flow in and be perceived; since by means of them man puts away that which
is his own, which hinders influx and reception, for what is man's own,
which is self-love, hardens the heart and shuts it up. This is removed by
man's acknowledging that from himself comes nothing but evil and from the
Lord nothing but good; from this acknowledgment there is a softening of
the heart and humiliation, out of which flow forth adoration and worship.
From all this it follows, that the use which the Lord performs for Himself
through man is that Man may be able to do good from love, and since this
is the Lord's love, its reception is the enjoyment of His love. Therefore,
let no one believe that the Lord is with those who merely worship Him, He
is with those who do His commandments, thus who perform uses; with such
He has His abode, but not with the former. (See what was said above on
this subject, n. 47-49.)
336. EVIL USES WERE NOT CREATED BY THE LORD, BUT ORIGINATED TOGETHER
WITH HELL.
All good things that take form in act are called uses; and all evil things
that take form in act are also called uses, but evil uses, while the
former are called good uses. Now, since all good things are from the Lord
and all evil things from hell, it follows that none but good uses were
created by the Lord, and that evil uses arose out of hell. By the uses
specially treated of in this chapter are meant all those things which are
to be seen upon the earth, as animals of every kind and plants of every
kind. Such things of both kingdoms as are useful to man are from the Lord,
but those which are harmful to man are from hell. By uses from the Lord
are likewise meant all things that perfect the rational of man, and cause
him to receive the spiritual from the Lord; but by evil uses are meant all
things that destroy the rational, and make man unable to become spiritual.
Those things that are harmful to man are called uses because they are of
use to the evil in doing evil, and also are serviceable in absorbing
malignities and thus also as remedies. "Use" is employed in both senses,
as love is when we speak of good love and evil love; moreover, everything
that love does it calls use.
337. That good uses are from the Lord, and evil uses from hell, will be
shown in the following order.
(1) What is meant by evil uses on the earth.
(2) All things that are evil uses are in hell, and all things that are
good uses are in heaven.
(3) There is unceasing influx from the spiritual world into the natural
world.
(4) Those things that are evil uses are effected by the operation of
influx from hell, wherever there are such things as correspond thereto.
(5) This is done by the lowest spiritual separated from what is above it.
(6) There are two forms into which the operation by influx takes place,
the vegetable and the animal.
(7) Both these forms receive the ability to propagate their kind and the
means of propagation.
338. (1) What is meant by evil uses on the earth. By evil uses on earth
are meant all noxious things in both the animal and vegetable kingdom,
also in the mineral kingdom. It is needless to enumerate all the noxious
things in these kingdoms, for to do so would merely heap up names, and
doing this without indicating the noxious effect that each kind produces
would not contribute to the object which this work has in view. For the
sake of information a few examples will suffice:-In the animal kingdom
there are poisonous serpents, scorpions, crocodiles, great snakes, horned
owls, screech owls, mice, locusts, frogs, spiders; also flies, drones,
moths, lice, mites; in a word, creatures that destroy grasses, leaves,
fruits, seed, food, and drink, and are harmful to beast and man. In the
vegetable kingdom there are all hurtful, virulent, and poisonous herbs,
with leguminous plants and shrubs of like character; and in the mineral
kingdom all poisonous earths. From these few examples it can be seen what
is meant by evil uses on earth; for evil uses are all things that are
opposite to good uses (of which, in the preceding paragraph, n. 336).
339. (2) All things that are evil uses are in hell, and all things that
are good uses are in heaven. Before it can be seen that all evil uses
that take form on earth are not from the Lord but from hell, something
must be premised concerning heaven and hell, without a knowledge of which
evil uses as well as good may be attributed to the Lord, and it may be
believed that they are together from creation; or they may be attributed
to nature, and their origin to the sun of nature. From these two errors
man cannot be delivered, unless he knows that nothing whatever takes form
in the natural world that does not derive its cause and therefore its
origin from the spiritual world, and that good is from the Lord, and evil
from the devil, that is, from hell. By the spiritual world is meant both
heaven and hell. In heaven are to be seen all those things that are good
uses (of which in a preceding article, n. 336). In hell are to be seen all
those that are evil uses (see just above, n. 338, where they are
enumerated). These are wild creatures of every kind, as serpents,
scorpions, great snakes, crocodiles, tigers, wolves, foxes, swine, owls
of different kinds, bats, rats, and mice, frogs, locusts, spiders, and
noxious insects of many kinds; also hemlocks and aconites, and all kinds
of poisons, both of herbs and of earths; in a word, everything hurtful
and deadly to man. Such things appear in the hells to the life precisely
like those on and in the earth. They are said to appear there; yet they
are not there as on earth, for they are mere correspondences of lusts
that swarm out of their evil loves, and present themselves in such forms
before others. Because there are such things in the hells, these abound
in foul smells, cadaverous, stercoraceous, urinous, and putrid, wherein
the diabolical spirits there take delight, as animals do in rank stenches.
From this it can be seen that like things in the natural world did not
derive their origin from the Lord, and were not created from the
beginning, neither did they spring from nature through her sun, but are
from hell. That they are not from nature through her sun is plain, for
the spiritual inflows into the natural, and not the reverse. And that
they are not from the Lord is plain, because hell is not from Him,
therefore nothing in hell corresponding to the evils of its inhabitants
is from Him.
340. (3) There is unceasing influx out of the spiritual world into the
natural world. He who does not know that there is a spiritual world, or
that it is distinct from the natural world, as what is prior is distinct
from what is subsequent, or as cause from the thing caused, can have no
knowledge of this influx. This is the reason why those who have written
on the origin of plants and animals could not do otherwise than ascribe
that origin to nature; or if to God, then in the sense that God had
implanted in nature from the beginning a power to produce such things,
- not knowing that no power has been implanted in nature, since nature,
in herself, is dead, and contributes no more to the production of these
things than a tool does, for instance, to the work of a mechanic, the
tool acting only as it is continually moved. It is the spiritual, deriving
its origin from the sun where the Lord is, and proceeding to the outmosts
of nature, that produces the forms of plants and animals, exhibiting the
marvels that exist in both, and filling the forms with matters from the
earth, that they may become fixed and enduring. But because it is now
known that there is a spiritual world, and that the spiritual is from
the spiritual sun, in which the Lord is and which is from the Lord, and
that the spiritual is what impels nature to act, as what is living impels
what is dead, also that like things exist in the spiritual world as in the
natural world, it can now be seen that plants and animals have had their
existence only from the Lord though that world, and through that world
they have perpetual existence. Thus there is unceasing influx from the
spiritual world into the natural. That this is so will be abundantly
corroborated in the next chapter. Noxious things are produced on earth
through influx from hell, by the same law of permission whereby evils
themselves from hell flow into men. This law will be set forth in the
Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Providence.
341. (4) Those things that are evil uses are effected by the operation of
influx from hell, wherever there are such things as correspond thereto.
The things that correspond to evil uses, that is, to hurtful plants and
noxious animals, are cadaverous, putrid, excrementitious, stercoraceous,
rancid, and urinous matters; consequently, in places where these are, such
herbs and such animalcules spring forth as are mentioned above; and in the
torrid zone, like things of larger size, as serpents, basilisks,
crocodiles, scorpions, rats, and so forth. Every one knows that swamps,
stagnant ponds, dung, fetid bogs, are full of such things; also that
noxious insects fill the atmosphere in clouds, and noxious vermin walk
the earth in armies, and consume its herbs to the very roots. I once
observed in my garden, that in the space of a half yard, nearly all the
dust was turned into minute insects, for when it was stirred with a stick,
they rose in clouds. That cadaverous and putrid matters are in accord with
these noxious and useless little things, and that the two are homogeneous,
is evident from mere observation; and it is still more clearly seen from
the cause, which is, that like stenches and fumes exist in the hells,
where such little things are likewise to be seen. Those hells are therefore
named accordingly; some are called cadaverous, some stercoraceous, some
urinous, and so on. But all these hells are covered over, that those vapors
may not escape from them. For when they are opened a very little, which
happens when novitiate devils enter, they excite vomiting and cause
headache, and such as are also poisonous induce fainting. The very dust
there is also of the same nature, wherefore it is there called damned
dust. From this it is evident that there are such noxious insects wherever
there are such stenches, because the two correspond.
342. It now becomes a matter of inquiry whether such things spring from
eggs conveyed to the spot by means of air, or rain, or water oozing
through the soil, or whether they spring from the damp and stenches
themselves. That these noxious animalcules and insects mentioned above
are hatched from eggs which have been carried to the spot, or which have
lain hidden everywhere in the ground since creation, is opposed to all
observation. For worms spring forth in minute seeds, in the kernels of
nuts, in wood, in stones, and even from leaves, and upon plants and in
plants there are lice and grubs which are accordant with them. Of flying
insects, too, there are such as appear in houses, fields, and woods, which
arise in like manner in summer, with no oviform matters sufficient to
account for them; also such as devour meadows and lawns, and in some hot
localities fill and infest the air; besides those that swim and fly unseen
in filthy waters, wines becoming sour, and pestilential air. These facts
of observation support those who say that the odors, effluvia, and
exhalations emitted from plants, earths, and ponds, are what give the
initiative to such things. That when they have come forth, they are
afterwards propagated either by eggs or offshoots, does not disprove their
immediate generation; since every living creature, along with its minute
viscera, receives organs of generation and means of propagation (see below,
n. 347). In agreement with these phenomena is the fact heretofore unknown
that there are like things also in the hells.
343. That the hells mentioned above have not only communication but
conjunction with such things in the earths may be concluded from this,
that the hells are not distant from men, but are about them, yea, are
within those who are evil; thus they are contiguous to the earth; for man,
in regard to his affections and lusts, and consequent thoughts, and in
regard to his actions springing from these, which are good or evil uses,
is in the midst either of angels of heaven or of spirits of hell; and as
such things as are on the earth are also in the heavens and hells, it
follows that influx therefrom directly produces such things when the
conditions are favorable. All things, in fact, that appear in the
spiritual world, whether in heaven or in hell, are correspondences of
affections or lusts, for they take form there in accordance with these;
consequently when affections or lusts, which in themselves are spiritual,
meet with homogeneous or corresponding things in the earths, there are
present both the spiritual that furnishes a soul, and the material that
furnishes a body. Moreover, within everything spiritual there is a conatus
to clothe itself with a body. The hells are about men, and therefore
contiguous to the earth, because the spiritual world is not in space, but
is where there is a corresponding affection.
344. I heard two presidents of the English Royal Society, Sir Hans Sloane
and Martin Folkes, conversing together in the spiritual world about the
existence of seeds and eggs, and about productions from them in the
earths. The former ascribed them to nature, and contended that nature
was endowed from creation with a power and force to produce such effects
by means of the sun's heat. The other maintained that this force is in
nature unceasingly from God the Creator. To settle the discussion, a
beautiful bird appeared to Sir Hans Sloane, and he was asked to examine
it to see whether it differed in the smallest particle from a similar
bird on earth. He held it in his hand, examined it, and declared that
there was no difference. He knew indeed that it was nothing but an
affection of some angel represented outside of the angel as a bird, and
that it would vanish or cease with its affection. And this came to pass.
By this experience Sir Hans Sloane was convinced that nature contributes
nothing whatever to the production of plants and animals, that they are
produced solely by what flows into the natural world out of the spiritual
world. If that bird, he said, were to be infilled, in its minutest parts,
with corresponding matters from the earth, and thus fixed, it would be a
lasting bird, like the birds on the earth; and that it is the same with
such things as are from hell. To this he added that had he known what he
now knew of the spiritual world, he would have ascribed to nature no more
than this, that it serves the spiritual, which is from God, in fixing the
things which flow in unceasingly into nature.
345. (5) This is effected by the lowest spiritual separated from what is
above it. It was shown in Part Third that the spiritual flows down from
its sun even to the outmosts of nature through three degrees, which are
called the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural; that these three
degrees are in man from creation, consequently from birth; that they are
opened according to man's life; that if the celestial degree which is the
highest and inmost is opened, man becomes celestial; if the spiritual
degree which is the middle is opened, he becomes spiritual; but if only
the natural degree which is the lowest and outermost is opened, he becomes
natural; that if man becomes natural only, he loves only corporeal and
worldly things; and that so far as he loves these, so far he does not love
celestial and spiritual things, and does not look to God, and so far he
becomes evil. From all this it is evident that the lowest spiritual, which
is called the spiritual-natural, can be separated from its higher degrees,
and is separated in such men as hell consists of. This lowest spiritual
can separate itself from its higher parts, and look to hell, in men only;
it cannot be so separated in beasts, or in soils. From which it follows
that these evil uses mentioned above are effected on the earth by this
lowest spiritual separated from what is above it, such as it is in those
who are in hell. That the noxious things on the earth have their origin
in man, thus from hell, may be shown by the state of the land of Canaan,
as described in the Word; in that when the children of Israel lived
according to the commandments, the earth yielded its increase, likewise
the flocks and herds; but when they lived contrary to the commandments the
ground was barren, and as it is said, accursed; instead of harvests it
yielded thorns and briars, the flocks and herds miscarried, and wild
beasts broke in. The same may be inferred from the locusts, frogs, and
lice in Egypt.
346. (6) There are two forms into which the operation by influx takes
place, the vegetable and the animal form. That there are only two
universal forms produced out of the earth is known from the two kingdoms
of nature, called the animal and the vegetable kingdoms, also that all
the subjects of either kingdom possess many things in common. Thus the
subjects of the animal kingdom have organs of sense and organs of motion
and members and viscera that are actuated by brains, hearts, and lungs.
So the subjects of the vegetable kingdom send down a root into the ground,
and bring forth stem, branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds. Both
the animal and the vegetable kingdoms, as regards the production of their
forms, derive their origin from spiritual influx and operation out of the
sun of heaven where the Lord is, and not from the influx and operation of
nature out of her sun; from this they derive nothing except their fixation,
as was said above. All animals, great and small, derive their origin from
the spiritual in the outmost degree, which is called the natural; man
alone from all three degrees, called the celestial, spiritual, and natural.
As each degree of height or discrete degree decreases from its perfection
to its imperfection, as light to shade, by continuity, so do animals;
there are therefore perfect, less perfect, and imperfect animals. The
perfect animals are elephants, camels, horses, mules, oxen, sheep, goats,
and others which are of the herd or the flock; the less perfect are birds;
and the imperfect are fish and shell-fish; these, as being the lowest of
that degree, are as it were in shade, while the former are in light. Yet
animals, since they live only from the lowest spiritual degree, which is
called the natural, can look nowhere else than towards the earth and to
food there, and to their own kind for the sake of propagation; the soul
of all these is natural affection and appetite. The subjects of the
vegetable kingdom comprise, in like manner, the perfect, less perfect,
and imperfect; the perfect are fruit trees, the less perfect are vines
and shrubs, and the imperfect are grasses. But plants derive from the
spiritual out of which they spring that they are uses, while animals
derive from the spiritual out of which they spring that they are
affections and appetites, as was shown above.
347. (7) Each of these forms receives with its existence the means of
propagation. In all products of the earth, which pertain, as was said
above, either to the vegetable or to the animal kingdom, there is a kind
of image of creation, and a kind of image of man, and also a kind of image
of the infinite and the eternal; this was shown above (n. 313-318); also
that the image of the infinite and the eternal is clearly manifest in the
capacity of all these for infinite and eternal propagation. They all,
therefore, receive means of propagation; the subjects of the animal
kingdom through seed, in the egg or in the womb or by spawning; and the
subjects of the vegetable kingdom through seeds in the ground. From which
it can be seen that although the more imperfect and the noxious animals
and plants originate through immediate influx out of hell, yet afterwards
they are propagated mediately by seeds, eggs, or grafts; consequently,
the one position does not annul the other.
348. That all uses, both good and evil, are from a spiritual origin,
thus from the sun where the Lord is, may be illustrated by this
experience. I have heard that goods and truths have been sent down
through the heavens by the Lord to the hells, and that these same,
received by degrees to the lowest deep, were there turned into evils and
falsities, which are the opposite of the goods and truths sent down. This
took place because recipient subjects turn all things that inflow into
such things as are in agreement with their own forms, just as the white
light of the sun is turned into ugly colors or into black in those objects
whose substances are interiorly of such a form as to suffocate and
extinguish the light, and as stagnant ponds, dung-hills, and dead bodies
turn the heat of the sun into stenches. From all this it can be seen that
even evil uses are from the spiritual sun, but that good uses are changed
in hell into evil uses. It is evident, therefore, that the Lord has not
created and does not create any except good uses, but that hell produces
evil uses.
349. THE VISIBLE THINGS IN THE CREATED UNIVERSE BEAR WITNESS THAT NATURE
HAS PRODUCED AND DOES PRODUCE NOTHING, BUT THAT THE DIVINE OUT OF ITSELF,
AND THROUGH THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, HAS PRODUCED AND DOES PRODUCE ALL THINGS.
Speaking from appearances, most men say that the sun by heat and light
produces whatever is to be seen in plains, fields, gardens, and forests;
also that the sun by its heat hatches worms from eggs, and makes prolific
the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the air; and that it even gives
life to man. Those who speak from appearances only may speak in this way
without ascribing these things to nature, because they are not thinking
about the matter; as there are those who speak of the sun as rising and
setting, and causing days and years, and being now at this or that
altitude; such persons speak from appearances, and in doing so, do not
ascribe such effects to the sun, because they are not thinking of the
sun's fixity or the earth's revolution. But those who confirm themselves
in the idea that the sun produces the things that appear upon the earth
by means of its heat and light, end by ascribing all things to nature,
even the creation of the universe, and become naturalists and, at last,
atheists. These may continue to say that God created nature and endowed
her with the power of producing such things, but this they say from fear
of losing their good name; and by God the Creator they still mean nature,
and some mean the innermost of nature, and then the Divine things taught
by the church they regard as of no account.
350. There are some who are excusable for ascribing certain visible things
to nature, for two reasons. First, because they have had no knowledge of
the sun of heaven, where the Lord is, or of influx therefrom, or of the
spiritual world and its state, or even of its presence with man, and
therefore had no other idea than that the spiritual is a purer natural;
consequently, that angels are in the ether or in the stars; and that the
devil is either man's evil or if an actual existence, that he is in the
air or the abyss; also that the souls of men, after death, are either in
the interior of the earth, or in an undetermined somewhere till the day
of judgment; and other like things deduced by fancy out of ignorance of
the spiritual world and its sun.
Secondly, they are excusable, because they are unable to see how the
Divine could produce everything that appears on the earth, where there
are not only good things but also evil things; and they are afraid to
confirm themselves in such an idea, lest they ascribe the evil things
also to God, and form a material conception of God, and make God and
nature one, and thus confound the two.
For these two reasons those are excusable who have believed that nature
produces the visible world by a power implanted in her by creation. But
those who have made themselves atheists by confirmations in favor of
nature are not excusable, because they might have confirmed themselves
in favor of the Divine. Ignorance indeed excuses, but does not remove,
falsity - which has been confirmed, for such falsity coheres with evil,
thus with hell. Consequently, those same persons who have confirmed
themselves in favor of nature to such an extent as to separate the Divine
from nature, regard nothing as sin, because all sin is against the Divine,
and this they have separated, and thus have rejected it; and those who in
spirit regard nothing as sin, after death when they become spirits, since
they are in bonds to hell, rush into wickednesses which are in accord
with the lusts to which they have given rein.
351. Those who believe in a Divine operation in all the details of nature,
are able by very many things they see in nature to confirm themselves in
favor of the Divine, as fully as others confirm themselves in favor of
nature, yea, more fully. For those who confirm themselves in favor of
the Divine give attention to the wonders which are displayed in the
production both of plants and animals. In the production of plants, how
out of a little seed cast into the ground there goes forth a root, and
by means of the root a stem, and branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits
in succession, even to new seeds; just as if the seed knew the order of
succession, or the process by which it is to renew itself. Can any
reasonable person think that the sun, which is mere fire, has this
knowledge, or that it is able to empower its heat and light to effect
these results, or is able to fashion these wonderful things in plants,
and to contemplate use? Any man of elevated reason who sees and weighs
these things, cannot think otherwise than that they come from Him who has
infinite reason, that is, from God. Those who acknowledge the Divine also
see and think this, but those who do not acknowledge the Divine do not see
or think this because they do not wish to; thus they sink their rational
into the sensual, which draws all its ideas from the lumen which is proper
to the bodily senses and which confirms their illusions, saying, Do you
not see the sun effecting these things by its heat and light? What is a
thing that you do not see? Is it anything?
Those who confirm themselves in favor of the Divine give attention to the
wonders which are displayed in the production of animals; to mention here
only, in reference to eggs, how the chick in its seed or beginning lies
hidden therein, with everything requisite till it is hatched, also with
everything pertaining to its subsequent development, until it becomes a
bird or winged thing of the same form as its parent. And if one observes
the living form, it is such as to fill any one with astonishment who
thinks deeply, seeing that in the minutest as in the largest living
creatures, even in the invisible, as in the visible, there are the organs
of sense, namely, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch; and organs of
motion which are muscles, for they fly and walk; also viscera surrounding
the heart and lungs, which are set in action by brains. That even the
commonest insects enjoy such organisms is shown in their anatomy as
described by some writers, and especially by Swammerdam, in his Biblia
Naturae. Those who ascribe everything to nature, see all these things,
but they merely perceive that they exist, and say that nature produces
them. They say this because they have turned their minds away from
thinking about the Divine; and those who have done this are unable, when
they see the wonderful things in nature, to think rationally, still less
spiritually; but they think sensually and materially; and then they think
in nature from nature, and not above nature, just as those do who are in
hell. They differ from beasts only in having the power to think
rationally, that is, in being able to understand, and therefore to think
otherwise, if they choose.
352. Those who have averted themselves from thinking about the Divine
when observing the wonderful things in nature, and who thereby become
sensual, do not reflect that the sight of the eye is so gross as to see
many little insects as an obscure speck, when yet each one of these is
organized to feel and to move, and is accordingly furnished with fibers
and vessels, also with a minute heart, pulmonary tubes, viscera, and
brains; also that these organs are woven out of the purest substances
in nature, their tissues corresponding to that somewhat of life by which
their minutest parts are separately moved. When the sight of the eye is
so gross that many such creatures, with innumerable particulars in each,
appear to it as an obscure speck, and yet those who are sensual think and
judge by that sight, it is clear how dulled their minds are, and therefore
what thick darkness they are in concerning spiritual things.
353. Any one who chooses may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from
things seen in nature, and whoever thinks about God in reference to life
does so confirm himself; as when he observes the birds of the air, how
each species knows its food and where to find it, recognizes its kind by
sound and sight, and which among other kinds are its friends and which
its enemies; how also they mate, have knowledge of the sexual relation,
skillfully build nests, lay eggs therein, sit upon these, know the period
of incubation, and this having elapsed, bring forth their young, love
them most tenderly, cherish them under their wings, bring them food and
feed them, until they can do for themselves, perform the same offices,
and bring forth a family to perpetuate their kind. Any one who is willing
to reflect on the Divine influx through the spiritual world into the
natural can see such influx in these things, and if he will, can say from
his heart, Such knowledges cannot flow into these creatures out of the sun
through its rays of light, for the sun, from which nature derives its
origin and essence, is mere fire, consequently its rays of light are
wholly dead; and thus he may conclude that such things are from the
influx of Divine Wisdom into the outmosts of nature.
354. Any one may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from things
visible in nature, when he sees larvae, from the delight of some impulse,
desiring and longing to change their terrestrial state to a certain
likeness of the heavenly state, and for this purpose creeping into
corners, and putting themselves as it were into a womb in order to be
born again, and there becoming chrysalises, aurelias, caterpillars,
nymphs, and at length butterflies; and having undergone this
metamorphosis, and each after its kind been decked with beautiful wings,
they ascend into the air as into their heaven, and there disport
themselves joyfully, form marriage unions, lay eggs, and provide for
themselves a posterity, nourished meanwhile with pleasant and sweet food
from flowers. Who that confirms himself in favor of the Divine from the
visible things in nature can help seeing a kind of image of man's earthly
state in these as larvae, and in them as butterflies an image of the
heavenly state? Those who confirm themselves in favor of nature see the
same things, but because in heart they have rejected the heavenly state
of man they call them merely natural instincts.
355. Any one may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from things seen
in nature by giving attention to what is known about bees: that they know
how to collect wax and suck honey from herbs and flowers, and to build
cells like little houses, and set them in the form of a city, with
streets through which to come in and go out; that they scent at long
distances the flowers and herbs from which they collect wax for their
houses and honey for food, and laden with these fly back in a direct line
to their hive; thus providing themselves with food and habitation for the
coming winter, as if they had foresight and knowledge of it. They also
set over them a mistress as queen, out of whom a posterity may be
propagated; and for her they build a sort of a palace over themselves
with guards around it; and when her time of bringing forth is at hand,
she goes attended by her guards from cell to cell, and lays her eggs,
which the crowd of followers smear over to protect them from the air,
from which a new progeny springs forth for them. When this progeny becomes
mature enough to do the same, it is driven from the hive. The expelled
swarm first collects, and then in a close body, to preserve its integrity,
flies away in quest of a home for itself. Moreover, in the autumn the
useless drones are led out and are deprived of their wings to prevent
their returning and consuming the food for which they have not labored;
not to mention other particulars. From all this it can be seen that bees,
because of their use to the human race, have from influx from the
spiritual world, a form of government similar to that among men on earth,
and even like that of angels in heaven. Can any man of unimpaired reason
fail to see that these doings of the bees are not from the natural world?
What has that sun, from which nature springs, in common with a government
that vies with and resembles the government of heaven? From these things
and others very similar to them in the brute creation, the confessor and
worshiper of nature confirms himself in favor of nature, while the
confessor and worshiper of God confirms himself from the same things in
favor of the Divine; for the spiritual man sees in them spiritual things
and the natural man natural things, thus each according to his character.
As for myself, such things have been proofs to me of an influx of the
spiritual into the natural, that is, of the spiritual world into the
natural world, thus of an influx from the Lord's Divine Wisdom. Consider,
moreover, whether you can think analytically concerning any form of
government, or any civil law, or moral virtue, or spiritual truth, unless
the Divine out of His wisdom flows in through the spiritual world ? For
myself, I could not and cannot. For having now observed that influx
perceptibly and sensibly for about nineteen years continually, I speak
as an eye-witness.
356. Can anything natural regard use as an end and dispose uses into
series and forms? No one can do this unless he be wise; and no one but
God, whose wisdom is infinite, can so give order and form to the universe.
Who else or what else is able to foresee and provide all things needful
for the food and clothing of man, - food from the fruits of earth and
from animals, and clothing from the same? How marvelous that so
insignificant a creature as the silk-worm should clothe in silk and
splendidly adorn both women and men, from queens and kings to
maidservants and menservants, and that insignificant insects like the
bees should supply wax for the candles by which temples and palaces are
made brilliant. These and many other things are manifest proofs that the
Lord from Himself by means of the spiritual world, brings about
everything that comes into existence in nature.
357. To this must be added that those who have confirmed themselves in
favor of nature, from the visible things of the world, until they have
become atheists, have been seen by me in the spiritual world; and in the
spiritual light their understanding appeared open below, but closed above,
because in thought they had looked downward toward the earth, and not
upward toward heaven. Above their sensual, which is the bottom of the
understanding, appeared something like a veil; which in some flashed with
hellish fire, in some was black like soot, and in some livid like a corpse.
Therefore let every one beware of confirmations in favor of nature; let
him confirm himself in favor of the Divine; there is no lack of material.