things as are of heat out of heaven, provided it loves its consort in that
degree.
(15) Otherwise love or the will draws down wisdom or the understanding
from its elevation, that it may act as one with itself.
(16) Love or the will is purified by wisdom in the understanding, if they
are elevated together.
(17) Love or the will is defiled in the understanding and by it, if they
are not elevated together.
(18) Love, when purified by wisdom in the understanding, becomes spiritual
and celestial.
(19) Love, when defiled in the understanding and by it, becomes natural
and sensual.
(20) The capacity to understand called rationality, and the capacity to
act called freedom, still remain.
(21) Spiritual and celestial love is love towards the neighbor and love
to the Lord; and natural and sensual love is love of the world and love
of self.
(22) It is the same with charity and faith and their conjunction as with
the will and understanding and their conjunction.
399. (1) Love or the will is man's very life. This follows from the
correspondence of the heart with the will (considered above, n. 378-381).
For as the heart acts in the body, so does the will act in the mind; and
as all things of the body depend for existence and motion upon the heart,
so do all things of the mind depend for existence and life upon the will.
It is said, upon the will, but this means upon the love, because the will
is the receptacle of love, and love is life itself (see above, n. 1-3),
and love, which is life itself, is from the Lord alone. By the heart and
its extension into the body through the arteries and veins it can be seen
that love or the will is the life of man, for the reason that things that
correspond to each other act in a like manner, except that one is natural
and the other spiritual. How the heart acts in the body is evident from
anatomy, which shows that wherever the heart acts by means of the vessels
put forth from it, everything is alive or subservient to life; but where
the heart by means of its vessels does not act, everything is lifeless.
Moreover, the heart is the first and last thing to act in the body. That
it is the first is evident from the fetus, and that it is the last is
evident from the dying, and that it may act without the cooperation of
the lungs is evident from cases of suffocation and swooning; from which
it can be seen that the life of the mind depends solely upon the will,
in the same way as the substitute life of the body depends on the heart
alone; and that the will lives when thought ceases, in the same way as
the heart lives when breathing ceases. This also is evident from the
fetus, from the dying, and from cases of suffocation and swooning. From
which it follows that love or the will is man's very life.
400. (2) Love or the will strives unceasingly towards the human form and
all things of that form. This is evident from the correspondence of heart
and will. For it is known that all things of the body are formed in the
womb, and that they are formed by means of fibers from the brains and
blood vessels from the heart, and that out of these two the tissues of
all organs and viscera are made; from which it is evident that all things
of man have their existence from the life of the will, which is love, from
their first principles, out of the brains, through the fibers; and all
things of his body out of the heart through the arteries and veins. From
this it is clearly evident that life (which is love and the will
therefrom), strives unceasingly towards the human form. And as the human
form is made up of all the things there are in man, it follows that love
or the will is in a continual conatus and effort to form all these. There
is such a conatus and effort towards the human form, because God is a Man,
and Divine Love and Divine Wisdom is His life, and from His life is
everything of life. Any one can see that unless Life which is very Man
acted into that which in itself is not life, the formation of anything
such as exists in man would be impossible, in whom are thousands of
thousands of things that make a one, and that unanimously aspire to an
image of the Life from which they spring, that man may become a receptacle
and abode of that Life. From all this it can be seen that love, and out
of the love the will, and out of the will the heart, strive unceasingly
towards the human form.
401. (3) Love or the will is unable to effect anything by its human form
without a marriage with wisdom or the understanding. This also is evident
from the correspondence of the heart with the will. The embryo man lives
by the heart, not by the lungs. For in the fetus the blood does not flow
from the heart into the lungs, giving it the ability to respire; but it
flows through the foramen ovale into the left ventricle of the heart;
consequently the fetus is unable to move any part of its body, but lies
enswathed, neither has it sensation, for its organs of sense are closed.
So is it with love or the will, from which the fetus lives indeed, though
obscurely, that is, without sensation or action. But as soon as the lungs
are opened, which is the case after birth, he begins to feel and act, and
likewise to will and think. From all this it can be seen, that love or the
will is unable to effect anything by means of its human form without a
marriage with wisdom or the understanding.
402. (4) Love or the will prepares a house or bridal chamber for its
future wife, which is wisdom or the understanding. In the created universe
and in each of its particulars there is a marriage of good and truth; and
this is so because good is of love and truth is of wisdom, and these two
are in the Lord, and out of Him all things are created. How this marriage
has existence in man can be seen mirrored in the conjunction of the heart
with the lungs; since the heart corresponds to love or good, and the lungs
to wisdom or truth (see above, n. 378-381, 382-385). From that conjunction
it can be seen how love or the will betroths to itself wisdom or the
understanding, and afterwards weds it, that is, enters into a kind of
marriage with it. Love betroths to itself wisdom by preparing for it a
house or bridal chamber, and marries it by conjoining it to itself by
affections, and afterwards lives wisely with it in that house. How this is
cannot be fully described except in spiritual language, because love and
wisdom, consequently will and understanding, are spiritual; and spiritual
things can, indeed, be expressed in natural language, but can be perceived
only obscurely, from a lack of knowledge of what love is, what wisdom is,
what affections for good are, and what affections for wisdom, that is,
affections for truth, are. Yet the nature of the betrothal and of the
marriage of love with wisdom, or of will with understanding, can be seen
by the parallel that is furnished by their correspondence with the heart
and lungs. What is true of these is true of love and wisdom, so entirely
that there is no difference whatever except that one is natural and the
other spiritual. Thus it is evident from the heart and lungs, that the
heart first forms the lungs, and afterwards joins itself to them; it forms
the lungs in the fetus, and joins itself to them after birth. This the
heart does in its abode which is called the breast, where the two are
encamped together, separated from the other parts of the body by a
partition called the diaphragm and by a covering called the pleura. So it
is with love and wisdom or with will and understanding.
403. (5) Love or the will prepares all things in its own human form, that
it may act conjointly with wisdom or the understanding. We say, will and
understanding, but it is to be carefully borne in mind that the will is
the entire man; for it is the will that, with the understanding, is in
first principles in the brains, and in derivatives in the body,
consequently in the whole and in every part (see above, n. 365-367). From
this it can be seen that the will is the entire man as regards his very
form, both the general form and the particular form of all parts; and that
the understanding is its partner, as the lungs are the partner of the
heart. Beware of cherishing an idea of the will as something separate from
the human form, for it is that same form. From this it can be seen not
only how the will prepares a bridal chamber for the understanding, but
also how it prepares all things in its house (which is the whole body)
that it may act conjointly with the understanding. This it prepares in
such a way that as each and every thing of the body is conjoined to the
will, so is it conjoined to the understanding; in other words, that as
each and everything of the body is submissive to the will, so is it
submissive to the understanding. How each and every thing of the body is
prepared for conjunction with the understanding as well as with the will,
can be seen in the body only as in a mirror or image, by the aid of
anatomical knowledge, which shows how all things in the body are so
connected, that when the lungs respire each and every thing in the entire
body is moved by the respiration of the lungs, and at the same time from
the beating of the heart. Anatomy shows that the heart is joined to the
lungs through the auricles, which are continued into the interiors of the
lungs; also that all the viscera of the entire body are joined through
ligaments to the chamber of the breast; and so joined that when the lungs
respire, each and all things, in general and in particular, partake of
the respiratory motion. Thus when the lungs are inflated, the ribs expand
the thorax, the pleura is dilated, and the diaphragm is stretched wide,
and with these all the lower parts of the body, which are connected with
them by ligaments therefrom, receive some action through the pulmonic
action; not to mention further facts, lest those who have no knowledge
of anatomy, on account of their ignorance of its terms should be confused
in regard to the subject. Consult any skillful and discerning anatomist
whether all things in the entire body, from the breast down be not so
bound together, that when the lungs expand by respiration, each and all
of them are moved to action synchronous with the pulmonic action. From
all this the nature of the conjunction prepared by the will between the
understanding and each and every thing of the human form is now evident.
Only explore the connections well and scan them with an anatomical eye;
then, following the connections, consider their cooperation with the
breathing lungs and with the heart; and finally, in thought, substitute
for the lungs the understanding, and for the heart the will, and you will
see.
404. (6) After the nuptials, the first conjunction is through affection
for knowing, from which springs affection for truth. By the nuptials is
meant man's state after birth, from a state of ignorance to a state of
intelligence, and from this to a state of wisdom. The first state which
is one of pure ignorance, is not meant here by nuptials, because there
is then no thought from the understanding, and only an obscure affection
from the love or will. This state is initiatory to the nuptials. In the
second state, which belongs to man in childhood, there is, as we know, an
affection for knowing, by means of which the infant child learns to speak
and to read, and afterwards gradually learns such things as belong to the
understanding. That it is love, belonging to the will, that effects this,
cannot be doubted; for unless it were effected by love or the will it
would not be done. That every man has, after birth, an affection for
knowing, and through that acquires the knowledge by which his
understanding is gradually formed, enlarged, and perfected, is
acknowledged by every one who thoughtfully takes counsel of experience.
It is also evident that from this comes affection for truth; for when man,
from affection for knowing, has become intelligent, he is led not so much
by affection for knowing as by affection for reasoning and forming
conclusions on subjects which he loves, whether economical or civil or
moral. When this affection is raised to spiritual things, it becomes
affection for spiritual truth. That its first initiatory state was
affection for knowing, may be seen from the fact that affection for truth
is an exalted affection for knowing; for to be affected by truths is the
same as to wish from affection to know them, and when found, to drink
them in from the joy of affection.
(7) The second conjunction is through affection for understanding, from
which springs perception of truth. This is evident to any one who is
willing by rational insight to examine the matter. From rational insight
it is clear that affection for truth and perception of truth are two
powers of the understanding, which in some persons harmonize as one, and
in others do not. They harmonize as one in those who wish to perceive
truths with the understanding, but do not in those who only wish to know
truths. It is also clear that every one is in perception of truth so far
as he is in an affection for understanding; for if you take away affection
for understanding truth, there will be no perception of truth; but give
the affection for understanding truth, and there will be perception of
truth according to the degree of affection for it. No man of sound reason
ever lacks perception of truth, so long as he has affection for
understanding truth. That every man has a capacity to understand truth,
which is called rationality, has been shown above.
(8) The third conjunction is through affection for seeing truth, from
which springs thought. That affection for knowing is one thing, affection
for understanding another, and affection for seeing truth another, or that
affection for truth is one thing, perception of truth another, and thought
another, is seen but obscurely by those who cannot perceive the operations
of the mind as distinct, but is seen clearly by those who can. This is
obscurely seen by those who do not perceive the operations of the mind as
distinct, because with those who are in affection for truth and in
perception of truth, these operations are simultaneous in the thought, and
when simultaneous they cannot be distinguished. Man is in manifest thought
when his spirit thinks in the body, which is especially the case when he
is in company with others; but when he is in affection for understanding,
and through that comes into perception of truth, he is then in the thought
of his spirit, which is meditation. This passes, indeed, into the thought
of the body, but into silent thought; for it is above bodily thought, and
looks upon what belongs to thought from the memory as below itself,
drawing therefrom either conclusions or confirmations. But real affection
for truth is perceived only as a pressure of will from something
pleasurable which is interiorly in meditation as its life, and is little
noticed. From all this it can now be seen that these three, affection for
truth, perception of truth, and thought, follow in order from love, and
that they have existence only in the understanding. For when love enters
into the understanding, which it does when their conjunction is
accomplished, it first brings forth affection for truth, then affection
for understanding that which it knows, and lastly, affection for seeing
in the bodily thought that which it understands; for thought is nothing
but internal sight. It is true that thought is the first to be manifest,
because it is of the natural mind; but thought from perception of truth
which is from affection for truth is the last to be manifest; this thought
is the thought of wisdom, but the other is thought from the memory through
the sight of the natural mind. All operations of love or the will not
within the understanding have relation not to affections for truth, but
to affections for good.
405. That these three from the will's love follow in order in the
understanding can, indeed, be comprehended by the rational man but yet
cannot be clearly seen and thus so proved as to command belief. But as
love that is of the will acts as one with the heart by correspondence,
and wisdom that is of the understanding acts as one with the lungs (as
has been shown above) therefore what has been said (in n. 404) about
affection for truth, perception of truth, and thought, can nowhere be
more clearly seen and proved than in the lungs and the mechanism thereof.
These, therefore, shall be briefly described. After birth, the heart
discharges the blood from its right ventricle into the lungs; and after
passing through these it is emptied into the left ventricle: thus the
heart opens the lungs. This it does through the pulmonary arteries and
veins. The lungs have bronchial tubes which ramify, and at length end in
air-cells, into which the lungs admit the air, and thus respire. Around
the bronchial tubes and their ramifications there are also arteries and
veins called the bronchial, arising from the vena azygos or vena cava,
and from the aorta. These arteries and veins are distinct from the
pulmonary arteries and veins. From this it is evident that the blood
flows into the lungs by two ways, and flows out from them by two ways.
This enables the lungs to respire non-synchronously with the heart. That
the alternate movements of the heart and the alternate movements of the
lungs do not act as one is well known. Now, inasmuch as there is a
correspondence of the heart and lungs with the will and understanding
(as shown above), and inasmuch as conjunction by correspondence is of
such a nature that as one acts so does the other, it can be seen by the
flow of the blood out of the heart into the lungs how the will flows into
the understanding, and produces the results mentioned just above (n. 404)
respecting affection for and perception of truth, and respecting thought.
By correspondence this and many other things relating to the subject,
which cannot be explained in a few words, have been disclosed to me.
Whereas love or the will corresponds to the heart, and wisdom or the
understanding to the lungs, it follows that the blood vessels of the
heart in the lungs correspond to affections for truth, and the
ramifications of the bronchia of the lungs to perceptions and thoughts
from those affections. Whoever will trace out all the tissues of the
lungs from these origins, and disclose the analogy with the love of the
will and the wisdom of the understanding, will be able to see in a kind
of image the things mentioned above (n. 404), and thereby attain to a
confirmed belief. But since a few only are familiar with the anatomical
details respecting the heart and lungs, and since confirming a thing by
what is unfamiliar induces obscurity, I omit further demonstration of
the analogy.
406. (9) Through these three conjunctions love or the will is in its
sensitive life and in its active life. Love without the understanding,
or affection which is of love without thought, which is of the
understanding, can neither feel nor act in the body; since love without
the understanding is as it were blind, and affection without thought is
as it were in thick darkness, for the understanding is the light by which
love sees. The wisdom of the understanding, moreover, is from the light
that proceeds from the Lord as a sun. Since, then, the will's love,
without the light of the understanding, sees nothing and is blind, it
follows that without the light of the understanding even the bodily
senses would be blind and blunted, not only sight and hearing, but the
other senses also, - the other senses, because all perception of truth
is a property of love in the understanding (as was shown above), and all
the bodily senses derive their perception from their mind's perception.
The same is true of every bodily act; for action from love without
understanding is like man's action in the dark, when he does not know what
he is doing; consequently in such action there would be nothing of
intelligence and wisdom. Such action cannot be called living action, for
action derives its esse from love and its quality from intelligence.
Moreover, the whole power of good is by means of truth; consequently good
acts in truth, and thus by means of truth; and good is of love, and truth
is of the understanding. From all this it can be seen that love or the
will through these three conjunctions (see above, n. 404) is in its
sensitive life and in its active life.
407. That this is so can be proved to the life by the conjunction of the
heart with the lungs, because the correspondence between the will and
the heart, and between the understanding and the lungs, is such that just
as the love acts with the understanding spiritually, so does the heart
act with the lungs naturally: from this, what has been said above can be
seen as in an image presented to the eye. That man has neither any
sensitive life nor any active life, so long as the heart and the lungs
do not act together, is evident from the state of the fetus or the infant
in the womb, and from its state after birth. So long as man is a fetus,
that is, in the womb, the lungs are closed, wherefore he has no feeling
nor any action; the organs of sense are closed up, the hands are bound,
likewise the feet; but after birth the lungs are opened, and as they are
opened man feels and acts; the lungs are opened by means of the blood
sent into them from the heart. That man has neither sensitive life nor
active life without the co-operation of the heart and the lungs, is
evident also in swoons, when the heart alone acts, and not the lungs,
for respiration then ceases; in this case there is no sensation and no
action, as is well known. It is the same with persons suffocated, either
by water or by anything obstructing the larynx and closing the respiratory
passage; it is well-known that the man then appears to be dead, he feels
nothing and does nothing; and yet he is alive in the heart; for he returns
to both his sensitive and his active life as soon as the obstructions to
the lungs are removed. The blood, it is true, circulates in the meantime
through the lungs, but through the pulmonary arteries and veins, not
through the bronchial arteries and veins, and these last are what give
man the power of breathing. It is the same with the influx of love into
the understanding.
408. (10) Love or the will introduces wisdom or the understanding into
all things of its house. By the house of love or the will is meant the
whole man as to all things of his mind; and as these correspond to all
things of the body (as shown above), by the house is meant also the whole
man as to all things of his body, called members, organs, and viscera.
That the lungs are introduced into all these things just as the
understanding is introduced into all things of the mind, can be seen from
what has been shown above, namely, that love or the will prepares a house
or bridal chamber for its future wife, which is wisdom or the understanding
(n. 402); and that love or the will prepares all things in its own human
form, that is, in its house, that it may act conjointly with wisdom or the
understanding (n. 403). From what is there said, it is evident that each
and all things in the whole body are so connected by ligaments issuing
from the ribs, vertebrae, sternum, and diaphragm, and from the peritonaeum
which depends on these, that when the lungs respire all are likewise drawn
and borne along in alternate movements. Anatomy shows that the alternate
waves of respiration even enter into the very viscera to their inmost
recesses; for the ligaments above mentioned cleave to the sheaths of the
viscera, and these sheaths, by their extensions, penetrate to their
innermost parts, as do the arteries and veins also by their ramifications.
From this it is evident that the respiration of the lungs is in entire
conjunction with the heart in each and every thing of the body; and in
order that the conjunction may be complete in every respect, even the
heart itself is in pulmonic motion, for it lies in the bosom of the lungs
and is connected with them by the auricles, and reclines upon the
diaphragm, whereby its arteries also participate in the pulmonic motion.
The stomach, too, is in similar conjunction with the lungs, by the
coherence of its oesophagus with the trachea. These anatomical facts are
adduced to show what kind of a conjunction there is of love or the will
with wisdom or the understanding, and how the two in consort are conjoined
with all things of the mind; for the spiritual and the bodily conjunction
are similar.
409. (11) Love or the will does nothing except in conjunction with wisdom
or the understanding. For as love has no sensitive nor any active life
apart from the understanding; and as love introduces the understanding
into all things of the mind (as was shown above, n. 407, 408), it follows
that love or the will does nothing except in conjunction with the
understanding. For what is it to act from love without the understanding?
Such action can only be called irrational; for the understanding teaches
what ought to be done and how it ought to be done. Apart from the
understanding love does not know this; consequently such is the marriage
between love and the understanding, that although they are two, they act
as one. There is a like marriage between good and truth, for good is of
love and truth is of the understanding. In every particular thing of the
universe as created by the Lord there is such a marriage, their use
having relation to good, and the form of their use to truth. From this
marriage it is that in each and every thing of the body there is a right
and a left, the right having relation to the good from which truth
proceeds, and the left to truth from good, thus to their conjunction.
From this it is that there are pairs in man; there are two brains, two
hemispheres of the brain, two ventricles of the heart, two lobes of the
lungs, two eyes, ears, nostrils, arms, hands, loins, feet, kidneys,
testicles, etc.; and where there are not pairs, there is a right and a
left side, all this for the reason that good looks to truth that it may
take form, and truth looks to good that it may have being. It is the same
in the angelic heavens and in their several societies. On this subject
more may be seen above (n. 401), where it is shown that love or the will
is unable to effect anything by its human form without a marriage with
wisdom or the understanding. Conjunction of evil and falsity, which is
opposite to the conjunction of good and truth, will be spoken of elsewhere.
410. (12) Love or the will conjoins itself to wisdom or the understanding,
and causes wisdom or the understanding to be reciprocally conjoined to it.
That love or the will conjoins itself to wisdom or the understanding is
plain from their correspondence with the heart and lungs. Anatomical
observation shows that the heart is in its life's motion when the lungs
are not yet in motion; this it shows by cases of swooning and of
suffocation, also by the fetus in the womb and the chick in the egg.
Anatomical observation shows also that the heart, while acting alone,
forms the lungs and so adjusts them that it may carry on respiration in
them; also that it so forms the other viscera and organs that it may
carry on various uses in them, the organs of the face that it may have
sensation, the organs of motion that it may act, and the remaining parts
of the body that it may exhibit uses corresponding to the affections of
love. From all this it can now for the first time be shown that as the
heart produces such things for the sake of the various functions which it
is afterwards to discharge in the body, so love, in its receptacle called
the will, produces like things for the sake of the various affections that
constitute its form, which is the human form (as was shown above). Now as
the first and nearest of love's affections are affection for knowing,
affection for understanding, and affection for seeing what it knows and
understands, it follows, that for these affections love forms the
understanding and actually enters into them when it begins to feel and
to act and to think. To this the understanding contributes nothing, as
is evident from the analogy of the heart and lungs (of which above). From
all this it can be seen, that love or the will conjoins itself to wisdom
or the understanding, and not wisdom or the understanding to love or the
will; also from this it is evident that knowledge, which love acquires to
itself by the affection for knowing, and perception of truth, which it
acquires by the affection for understanding, and thought which it acquires
by the affection for seeing what it knows and understands, are not of the
understanding but of love. Thoughts, perceptions, and knowledges therefrom,
flow in, it is true, out of the spiritual world, yet they are received not
by the understanding but by love, according to its affections in the
understanding. It appears as if the understanding received them, and not
love or the will, but this is an illusion. It appears also as if the
understanding conjoined itself to love or the will, but this too, is an
illusion; love or the will conjoins itself to the understanding, and
causes the understanding to be reciprocally conjoined to it. This
reciprocal conjunction is from love's marriage with wisdom, wherefrom
a conjunction seemingly reciprocal, from the life and consequent power
of love, is effected. It is the same with the marriage of good and truth;
for good is of love and truth is of the understanding. Good does everything
and it receives truth into its house and conjoins itself with it so far as
the truth is accordant. Good can also admit truths which are not accordant;
but this it does from an affection for knowing, for understanding, and for
thinking its own things, whilst it has not as yet determined itself to
uses, which are its ends and are called its goods. Of reciprocal
conjunction, that is, the conjunction of truth with good, there is none
whatever. That truth is reciprocally conjoined is from the life belonging
to good. From this it is that every man and every spirit and angel is
regarded by the Lord according to his love or good, and no one according
to his intellect, or his truth separate from love or good. For man's life
is his love (as was shown above), and his life is qualified according as
he has exalted his affections by means of truth, that is, according as he
has perfected his affections by wisdom. For the affections of love are
exalted and perfected by means of truths, thus by means of wisdom. Then
love acts conjointly with its wisdom, as though from it; but it acts from
itself through wisdom, as through its own form, and this derives nothing
whatever from the understanding, but everything from a kind of
determination of love called affection.
411. All things that favor it love calls its goods, and all things that
as means lead to goods it calls its truths; and because these are means
they are loved and come to be of its affection and thus become affections
in form; therefore truth is nothing else than a form of the affection that
is of love. The human form is nothing else than the form of all the
affections of love; beauty is its intelligence, which it procures for
itself through truths received either by sight or by hearing, external
and internal. These are what love disposes into the form of its affections;
and these forms exist in great variety; but all derive a likeness from
their general form, which is the human. To the love all such forms are
beautiful and lovely, but others are unbeautiful and unlovely. From this,
again, it is evident that love conjoins itself to the understanding, and
not the reverse, and that the reciprocal conjunction is also from love.
This is what is meant by love or the will causing wisdom or the
understanding to be reciprocally conjoined to it.
412. What has been said may be seen in a kind of image and thus
corroborated by the correspondence of the heart with love and of the
lungs with the understanding (of which above). For if the heart
corresponds to love, its determinations, which are arteries and veins,
correspond to affections, and in the lungs to affections for truth; and
as there are also other vessels in the lungs called air vessels, whereby
respiration is carried on, these vessels correspond to perceptions. It
must be distinctly understood that the arteries and veins in the lungs
are not affections, and that respirations are not perceptions and thoughts,
but that they are correspondences, that is, they act correspondently or
synchronously; likewise that the heart and the lungs are not the love and
understanding, but correspondences: and inasmuch as they are
correspondences the one can be seen in the other. Whoever from anatomy
has come to understand the whole structure of the lungs can see clearly,
when he compares it with the understanding, that the understanding does
not act at all by itself, does not perceive nor think by itself, but acts
wholly by affections which are of love. These, in the understanding, are
called affection for knowing, for understanding, and for seeing truth
(which have been treated of above). For all states of the lungs depend
on the blood from the heart and from the vena cava and aorta; and
respirations, which take place in the bronchial branches, proceed in
accordance with the state of those vessels; for when the flow of the blood
stops, respiration stops. Much more may be disclosed by comparing the
structure of the lungs with the understanding, to which the lungs
correspond; but as few are familiar with anatomical science, and to try
to demonstrate or prove anything by what is unknown renders it obscure,
it is not well to say more on this subject. By what I know of the structure
of the lungs I am fully convinced that love through its affections conjoins
itself to the understanding, and that the understanding does not conjoin
itself to any affection of love, but that it is reciprocally conjoined by
love, to the end that love may have sensitive life and active life. But
it must not be forgotten that man has a twofold respiration, one of the
spirit and another of the body; and that the respiration of the spirit
depends on the fibers from the brains, and the respiration of the body
on the blood-vessels from the heart, and from the vena cava and aorta. It
is evident, moreover, that thought produces respiration; it is evident,
also, that affection, which is of love, produces thought, for thought
without affection is precisely like respiration without a heart, a thing
impossible. From this it is clear that affection, which is of love,
conjoins itself to thought, which is of the understanding (as was said
above), in like manner as the heart does in the lungs.
413. (13) Wisdom or the understanding, from the potency given to it by
love, can be elevated and can receive such things as are of light out
of heaven, and perceive them. That man has the ability to perceive arcana
of wisdom when he hears them, has been shown above in many places. This
capacity of man is called rationality. It belongs to every man by creation.
It is the capacity to understand things interiorly, and to decide what is
just and right, and what is good and true; and by it man is distinguished
from beasts. This, then, is what is meant when it is said, that the
understanding can be elevated and receive things that are of light out of
heaven, and perceive them. That this is so can also be seen in a kind of
image in the lungs, for the reason that the lungs correspond to the
understanding. In the lungs it can be seen from their cellular substance,
which consists of bronchial tubes continued down to the minutest air-cells,
which are receptacles of air in respirations; these are what the thoughts
make one with by correspondence. This cell-like substance is such that it
can be expanded and contracted in a twofold mode, in one mode with the
heart, in the other almost separate from the heart. In the former, it is
expanded and contracted through the pulmonary arteries and veins, which
are from the heart alone; in the latter, through the bronchial arteries
and veins, which are from the vena cava and aorta, and these vessels are
outside of the heart. This takes place in the lungs for the reason that
the understanding is capable of being raised above its proper love, which
corresponds to the heart, and to receive light from heaven. Still, when
the understanding is raised above its proper love, it does not withdraw
from it, but derives from it what is called the affection for knowing and
understanding, with a view to somewhat of honor, glory, or gain in the
world; this clings to every love as a surface, and by it the love shines
on the surface; but with the wise, the love shines through. These things
respecting the lungs are brought forward to prove that the understanding
can be elevated and can receive and perceive things that are of the light
of heaven; for the correspondence is plenary. To see from correspondence
is to see the lungs from the understanding, and the understanding from
the lungs, and thus from both together to perceive proof.
414. (14) Love or the will can in like manner be elevated and can receive
such things as are of heat out of heaven provided it loves wisdom, its
consort, in that degree. That the understanding can be elevated into the
light of heaven, and from that light draw forth wisdom, has been shown in
the preceding chapter and in many places above; also that love or the will
can be elevated as well, provided it loves those things that are of the
light of heaven or that are of wisdom, has also been shown in many places.
Yet love or the will cannot be thus elevated through anything of honor,
glory, or gain as an end, but only through a love of use, thus not for
the sake of self, but for the sake of the neighbor; and because this love
is given only by the Lord out of heaven, and is given by the Lord when
man flees from evils as sins, therefore it is that love or the will can
be elevated by these means, and cannot without these means. But love or
the will is elevated into heaven's heat, while the understanding is
elevated into its light. When both are elevated, a marriage of the two
takes place there, which is called celestial marriage, because it is a
marriage of celestial love and wisdom; consequently it is said that love
also is elevated if it loves wisdom, its consort, in that degree. The
love of wisdom, that is, the genuine love of the human understanding is
love towards the neighbor from the Lord. It is the same with light and
heat in the world. Light exists without heat and with heat; light is
without heat in winter time, and with heat in summer time; and when heat
is with light all things flourish. The light with man that corresponds
to the light of winter is wisdom without its love; and the light with man
that corresponds to the light of summer is wisdom with its love.
415. This conjunction and disjunction of wisdom and love can be seen
effigied, as it were, in the conjunction of the lungs with the heart.
For the heart can be conjoined to the clustering vesicles of the bronchia
by blood sent out from itself, and also by blood sent out not from itself
but from the vena cava and the aorta. Thereby the respiration of the body
can be separated from the respiration of the spirit; but when blood from
the heart alone acts the respirations cannot be separated. Now since
thoughts act as one with respirations by correspondence it is plain, from
the twofold state of the lungs in respirations, that man is able to think
and from thoughts to speak and act in one way when in company with others,
and to think and from thought to speak and act in another way when not in
company, that is, when he has no fear of loss of reputation; for he can
then think and speak against God, the neighbor, the spiritual things of
the church, and against moral and civil laws; and he can also act contrary
to them, by stealing, by being revengeful, by blaspheming, by committing
adultery. But in company with others, where he is afraid of losing
reputation, he can talk, preach and act precisely like a spiritual,
moral and civil man. From all this it can be seen that love or the will
as well as the understanding can be elevated and can receive such things
as are of the heat or love of heaven, provided it loves wisdom in that
degree, and if it does not love wisdom, that it can as it were be
separated.
416. (15) Otherwise love or the will draws down wisdom, or the
understanding, from its elevation, that it may act as one with itself.
There is natural love and there is spiritual love. A man who is in natural
and in spiritual love both at once, is a rational man; but one who is in
natural love alone, although able to think rationally, precisely like a
spiritual man, is not a rational man; for although he elevates his
understanding even to heavenly light, thus to wisdom, yet the things of
wisdom, that is, of heavenly light, do not belong to his love. His love,
it is true, effects the elevation, but from desire for honor, glory and
gain. But when he perceives that he gains nothing of the kind from that
elevation (as is the case when he thinks with himself from his own natural
love), then he does not love the things of heavenly light or wisdom;
consequently he then draws down the understanding from its height, that
it may act as one with himself. For example: when the understanding by
its elevation is in wisdom, then the love sees what justice is, what
sincerity is, what chastity is, even what genuine love is. This the
natural love can see by its capacity to understand and contemplate things
in heavenly light; it can even talk and preach about these and explain
them as at once moral and spiritual virtues. But when the understanding
is not elevated, the love, if it is merely natural, does not see these
virtues, but instead of justice it sees injustice, instead of sincerity
deceit, instead of chastity lewdness, and so on. If it then thinks of the
things it spoke of when its understanding was in elevation, it can laugh
at them and speak of them merely as serviceable to it in captivating the
souls of men. From all this it can be seen how it is to be understood that
love, unless it loves wisdom, its consort, in that degree, draws wisdom
down from its elevation, that it may act as one with itself. That love is
capable of elevation if it loves wisdom in that degree, can be seen above
(n. 414).
417. Now as love corresponds to the heart, and the understanding to the
lungs, the foregoing statements may be corroborated by their
correspondence; as, for instance, how the understanding can be elevated
above its own love even into wisdom; and how, if that love is merely
natural, the understanding is drawn down by it from that elevation. Man
has a twofold respiration; one of the body, the other of the spirit. These
two respirations may be separated and they may be conjoined; with men
merely natural, especially with hypocrites, they are separated, but rarely
with men who are spiritual and sincere. Consequently a merely natural man
and hypocrite, whose understanding has been elevated, and in whose memory
therefore various things of wisdom remain, can talk wisely in company by
thought from the memory; but when not in company, he does not think from
the memory, but from his spirit, thus from his love. He also respires in
like manner, inasmuch as thought and respiration act correspondently. That
the structure of the lungs is such that they can respire both by blood
from the heart and by blood from outside of the heart has been shown above.
418. It is the common opinion that wisdom makes the man; therefore when any
one is heard to talk and teach wisely he is believed to be wise; yea, he
himself believes it at the time, because when he talks or teaches in
company he thinks from the memory, and if he is a merely natural man,
from the surface of his love, which is a desire for honor, glory, and
gain; but when the same man is alone he thinks from the more inward love
of his spirit, and then not wisely, but sometimes insanely. From all this
it can be seen that no one is to be judged of by wise speaking, but by his
life; that is, not by wise speaking separate from life, but by wise
speaking conjoined to life. By life is meant love. That love is the life
has been shown above.
419. (16) Love or the will is purified in the understanding, if they are
elevated together. From birth man loves nothing but self and the world,
for nothing else appears before his eyes, consequently nothing else
occupies his mind. This love is corporeal-natural, and may be called
material love. Moreover, this love has become impure by reason of the
separation of heavenly love from it in parents. This love could not be
separated from its impurity unless man had a power to raise his
understanding into the light of heaven, and to see how he ought to live
in order that his love, as well as his understanding, may be elevated
into wisdom. By means of the understanding, love, that is, the man, sees
what the evils are that defile and corrupt the love; he also sees that if
he flees from those evils as sins and turns away from them, he loves the
things that are opposite to those evils; all of which are heavenly. Then
also he perceives the means by which he is enabled to flee from and turn
away from those evils as sins. This the love, that is, the man, sees, by
the exercise of his power to elevate his understanding into the light of
heaven, which is the source of wisdom. Then so far as love gives heaven
the first place and the world the second, and at the same time gives the
Lord the first place and self the second, so far love is purged of its
uncleanness and is purified; in other words, is raised into the heat of
heaven, and conjoined with the light of heaven in which the understanding
is; and the marriage takes place that is called the marriage of good and
truth, that is, of love and wisdom. Any one can comprehend intellectually
and see rationally, that so far as he flees from and turns away from theft
and cheating, so far he loves sincerity, rectitude and justice; so far as
he flees and turns away from revenge and hatred, so far he loves the
neighbor; and so far as he flees and turns away from adulteries, so far
he loves chastity; and so on. And yet scarcely any one knows what there
is of heaven and the Lord in sincerity, rectitude, justice, love towards
the neighbor, chastity, and other affections of heavenly love, until he
has removed their opposites. When he has removed the opposites, then he
is in those affections, and therefrom recognizes and sees them. Previously
there is a kind of veil interposed, that does, indeed, transmit to love
the light of heaven; yet inasmuch as the love does not in that degree love
its consort, wisdom, it does not receive it, yea, may even contradict and
rebuke it when it returns from its elevation. Still man flatters himself
that the wisdom of his understanding may be made serviceable as a means
to honor, glory, or gain. Then man gives self and the world the first
place, and the Lord and heaven the second, and what has the second place
is loved only so far as it is serviceable, and if it is not serviceable
it is disowned and rejected; if not before death, then after it. From
all this the truth is now evident, that love or the will is purified in
the understanding if they are elevated together.
420. The same thing is imaged in the lungs, whose arteries and veins
correspond to the affections of love, and whose respirations correspond
to the perceptions and thoughts of the understanding, as has been said
above. That the heart's blood is purified of undigested matters in the
lungs, and nourishes itself with suitable food from the inhaled air, is
evident from much observation. (1) That the blood is purified of undigested
matter in the lungs, is evident not only from the influent blood, which
is venous, and therefore filled with the chyle collected from food and
drink, but also from the moisture of the outgoing breath and from its
odor as perceived by others, as well as from the diminished quantity of
the blood flowing back into the left ventricle of the heart. (2) That the
blood nourishes itself with suitable food from the inhaled air is evident
from the immense volumes of odors and exhalations continually flowing
forth from fields, gardens, and woods; from the immense supply of salts
of various kinds in the water that rises from the ground and from rivers
and ponds, and from the immense quantity of exhalations and effluvia from
human beings and animals with which the air is impregnated. That these
things flow into the lungs with the inhaled air is undeniable: it is
therefore undeniable also that from them the blood draws such things as
are useful to it; and such things are useful as correspond to the
affections of its love. For this reason there are, in the vesicles or
innermost recesses of the lungs, little veins in great abundance with
tiny mouths that absorb these suitable matters; consequently, the blood
that flows back into the left ventricle of the heart is changed into
arterial blood of brilliant hue. These facts prove that the blood purifies
itself of heterogeneous things and nourishes itself with homogeneous
things. That the blood in the lungs purifies and nourishes itself
correspondently to the affections of the mind is as yet unknown; but in
the spiritual world it is very well known, for angels in the heavens find
delight only in the odors that correspond to the love of their wisdom,
while the spirits in hell find delight only in the odors that correspond
to a love opposed to wisdom; these are foul odors, but the former are
fragrant. It follows that men in the world impregnate their blood with
similar things according to correspondence with the affections of their
love; for what the spirit of a man loves, his blood according to
correspondence craves and by respiration attracts. From this
correspondence it results that man as regards his love is purified if he
loves wisdom, and is defiled if he does not love it. Moreover, all
purification of man is effected by means of the truths of wisdom, and all
pollution of man is effected by means of falsities that are opposite to
the truths of wisdom.
421. (17) Love or the will is defiled in the understanding and by it, if
they are not elevated together. This is because love, if not elevated,
remains impure (as stated above, n. 419, 420); and while it remains impure
it loves what is impure, such as revenges, hatreds, deceits, blasphemes,
adulteries, for these are then its affections that are called lusts, and
it rejects what belongs to charity, justice, sincerity, truth, and
chastity. Love is said to be defiled in the understanding, and by it; in
the understanding, when love is affected by these impure things; by the
understanding, when love makes the things of wisdom to become its servants,
and still more when it perverts, falsifies, and adulterates them. Of the
corresponding state of the heart, or of its blood in the lungs, there is
no need to say more than has been said above (n. 420), except that instead
of the purification of the blood its defilement takes place; and instead
of the nutrition of the blood by fragrant odors its nutrition is effected
by stenches, precisely as it is respectively in heaven and in hell.
422. (18) Love, when purified by wisdom in the understanding, becomes
spiritual and celestial. Man is born natural, but in the measure in which
his understanding is raised into the light of heaven, and his love
conjointly is raised into the heat of heaven, he becomes spiritual and
celestial; he then becomes like a garden of Eden, which is at once in
vernal light and vernal heat. It is not the understanding that becomes
spiritual and celestial, but the love; and when the love has so become,
it makes its consort, the understanding, spiritual and celestial. Love
becomes spiritual and celestial by a life according to the truths of
wisdom which the understanding teaches and requires. Love imbibes these
truths by means of its understanding, and not from itself; for love cannot
elevate itself unless it knows truths, and these it can learn only by means
of an elevated and enlightened understanding; and then so far as it loves
truths in the practice of them so far it is elevated; for to understand is
one thing and to will is another; or to say is one thing and to do is
another. There are those who understand and talk about the truths of
wisdom, yet neither will nor practise them. When, therefore, love puts
in practice the truths of light which it understands and speaks, it is
elevated. This one can see from reason alone; for what kind of a man is
he who understands the truths of wisdom and talks about them while he
lives contrary to them, that is, while his will and conduct are opposed
to them? Love purified by wisdom becomes spiritual and celestial, for the
reason that man has three degrees of life, called natural, spiritual, and
celestial (of which in the Third Part of this work), and he is capable of
elevation from one degree into another. Yet he is not elevated by wisdom
alone, but by a life according to wisdom, for a man's life is his love.
Consequently, so far as his life is according to wisdom, so far he loves
wisdom; and his life is so far according to wisdom as he purifies himself
from uncleannesses, which are sins; and so far as he does this does he
love wisdom.
423. That love purified by the wisdom in the understanding becomes
spiritual and celestial cannot be seen so clearly by their correspondence
with the heart and lungs, because no one can see the quality of the blood
by which the lungs are kept in their state of respiration. The blood may
abound in impurities, and yet not be distinguishable from pure blood.
Moreover, the respiration of a merely natural man appears the same as the
respiration of a spiritual man. But the difference is clearly discerned
in heaven, for there every one respires according to the marriage of love
and wisdom; therefore as angels are recognized according to that marriage,
so are they recognized according to their respiration. For this reason it
is that when one who is not in that marriage enters heaven, he is seized
with anguish in the breast, and struggles for breath like a man in the
agonies of death; such persons, therefore throw themselves headlong from
the place, nor do they find rest until they are among those who are in a
respiration similar to their own; for then by correspondence they are in
similar affection, and therefore in similar thought. From all this it can
be seen that with the spiritual man it is the purer blood, called by some
the animal spirit, which is purified; and that it is purified so far as
the man is in the marriage of love and wisdom. It is this purer blood
which corresponds most nearly to that marriage; and because this blood
inflows into the blood of the body, it follows that the latter blood is
also purified by means of it. The reverse is true of those in whom love
is defiled in the understanding. But, as was said, no one can test this
by any experiment on the blood; but he can by observing the affections of
love, since these correspond to the blood.
424. (19) Love, when defiled in the understanding and by it, becomes
natural, sensual, and corporeal. Natural love separated from spiritual
love is the opposite of spiritual love; because natural love is love of
self and of the world, and spiritual love is love to the Lord and love to
the neighbor; and love of self and the world looks downward and outward,
and love to the Lord looks upward and inward. Consequently when natural
love is separated from spiritual love it cannot be elevated above what is
man's own, but remains immersed in it, and so far as it loves it, is glued
to it. Then if the understanding ascends, and sees by the light of heaven
such things as are of wisdom, this natural love draws down such wisdom,
and joins her to itself in what is its own; and there either rejects the
things of wisdom or falsifies them or encircles itself with them, that it
may talk about them for reputation's sake. As natural love can ascend by
degrees and become spiritual and celestial, in the same way it can descend
by degrees and become sensual and corporeal, and it does descend so far as
it loves dominion from no love of use, but solely from love of self. It is
this love which is called the devil. Those who are in this love are able
to speak and act in the same manner as those who are in spiritual love;
but they do this either from memory or from the understanding elevated by
itself into the light of heaven. Nevertheless, what they say and do is
comparatively like fruit that appears beautiful on the surface but is
wholly rotten within; or like almonds which from the shell appear sound
but are wholly worm-eaten within. These things in the spiritual world are
called fantasies, and by means of them harlots, there called sirens, make
themselves appear handsome, and adorn themselves with beautiful garments;
but when the fantasy is dissipated the sirens appear like ghosts, and are
like devils who make themselves angels of light. For when that corporeal
love draws its understanding down from its elevation, as it does when
man is alone and thinks from his own love, then he thinks against God in
favor of nature, against heaven in favor of the world, and against the
truths and goods of the church in favor of the falsities and evils of hell;
thus against wisdom. From this the character of those who are called
corporeal men can be seen: for they are not corporeal in understanding,
but corporeal in love; that is, they are not corporeal in understanding
when they converse in company, but are so when they hold converse with
themselves in spirit; and being such in spirit, therefore after death they
become, both in love and in understanding, spirits that are called
corporeal. Those who in the world had been in a supreme love of ruling
from the love of self, and had also surpassed others in elevation of
understanding, then appear in body like Egyptian mummies, and in mind
gross and silly. Who in the world at the present day is aware that this
love in itself is of such a nature? Yet a love of ruling from love of use
is possible, but only from love of use for the sake of the common good,
not for the sake of self. It is difficult, however, for man to distinguish
the one love from the other, although the difference between them is like
that between heaven and hell. The differences between these two loves of
ruling may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 551-565).
425. (20) The capacity to understand called rationality and the capacity
to act called freedom, still remain. These two capacities belonging to
man have been treated of above (n. 264-267). Man has these two capacities
that he may from being natural become spiritual, that is, may be
regenerated. For, as was said above, it is man's love that becomes
spiritual, and is regenerated; and it cannot become spiritual or be
regenerated unless it knows, by means of its understanding, what evil is
and what good is, and therefore what truth is and what falsity is. When
it knows this it can choose either one or the other; and if it chooses
good it can, by means of its understanding, be instructed about the means
by which to attain to good. All the means by which man is enabled to
attain good are provided. It is by rationality that man is able to know
and understand these means, and by freedom that he is able to will and
to do them. There is also a freedom to will to know, to understand, and
to think these means. Those who hold from church doctrine that things
spiritual or theological transcend the understanding, and are therefore
to be believed apart from the understanding know nothing of these
capacities called rationality and freedom. These cannot do otherwise
than deny that there is a capacity called rationality. Those, too, who
hold from church doctrine that no one is able to do good from himself,
and consequently that good is not to be done from any will to be saved,
cannot do otherwise than deny, from a principle of religion, the existence
of both these capacities which belong to man. Therefore, those who have
confirmed themselves in these things, after death, in agreement with their
faith, are deprived of both these capacities; and in place of heavenly
freedom, in which they might have been, are in infernal freedom, and in
place of angelic wisdom from rationality, in which they might have been,
are in infernal insanity; and what is wonderful, they claim that both
these capacities have place in doing what is evil and thinking what is
false, not knowing that the exercise of freedom in doing what is evil
is slavery, and that the exercise of the reason to think what is false
is irrational. But it is to be carefully noted that these capacities,
freedom and rationality, are neither of them man's, but are of the Lord
in man, and that they cannot be appropriated to man as his; nor indeed,
can they be given to man as his, but are continually of the Lord in man,
and yet are never taken away from man; and this because without them man
cannot be saved, for without them he cannot be regenerated (as has been
said above). For this reason man is instructed by the church that from
himself he can neither think what is true nor do what is good. But
inasmuch as man perceives no otherwise than that he thinks from himself
what is true and does from himself what is good, it is very evident that
he ought to believe that he thinks as if from himself what is true, and
does as if from himself what is good. For if he does not believe this,
either he does not think what is true nor do what is good, and therefore
has no religion, or he thinks what is true and does what is good from
himself, and thus ascribes to himself that which is Divine. That man
ought to think what is true and do good as if from himself, may be seen
in the Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, from beginning to end.
426. (21) Spiritual and celestial love is love toward the neighbor and
love to the Lord; and natural and sensual love is love of the world and
love of self. By love toward the neighbor is meant the love of uses, and
by love to the Lord is meant the love of doing uses (as has been shown
before). These loves are spiritual and celestial, because loving uses and
doing them from a love of them, is distinct from the love of what is man's
own; for whoever loves uses spiritually looks not to self, but to others
outside of self for whose good he is moved. Opposed to these loves are the
loves of self and of the world, for these look to uses not for the sake of
others but for the sake of self; and those who do this invert Divine
order, and put self in the Lord's place, and the world in the place of
heaven; as a consequence they look backward, away from the Lord and away
from heaven, and looking backward away from these is looking to hell.
(More about these loves may be seen above, n. 424.) Yet man does not feel
and perceive the love of performing uses for the sake of uses as he feels
and perceives the love of performing uses for the sake of self;
consequently when he is performing uses he does not know whether he is
doing them for the sake of uses or for the sake of self. But let him know
that he is performing uses for the sake of uses in the measure in which
he flees from evils; for so far as he flees from evils, he performs uses
not for himself, but from the Lord. For evil and good are opposites; so
far as one is not in evil he is in good. No one can be in evil and in good
at the same time, because no one can serve two masters at the same time.
All this has been said to show that although man does not sensibly
perceive whether the uses which he performs are for the sake of use or
for the sake of self, that is, whether the uses are spiritual or merely
natural, still he can know it by this, whether or not he considers evils
to be sins. If he regards them as sins, and for that reason abstains from
doing them, the uses which he does are spiritual. And when one who does
this flees from sins from a feeling of aversion, he then begins to have
a sensible perception of the love of uses for the sake of uses, and this
from spiritual enjoyment in them.
427. (22) It is the same with charity and faith and their conjunction as
with the will and understanding and their conjunction. There are two
loves, according to which the heavens are distinct, celestial love and
spiritual love. Celestial love is love to the Lord, and spiritual love
is love towards the neighbor. These loves are distinguished by this, that
celestial love is the love of good, and spiritual love the love of truth;
for those who are in celestial love perform uses from love of good, and
those in spiritual love from love of truth. The marriage of celestial love
is with wisdom, and the marriage of spiritual love with intelligence; for
it is of wisdom to do good from good, and it is of intelligence to do good
from truth, consequently celestial love does what is good, and spiritual
love does what is true. The difference between these two loves can be
defined only in this way, that those who are in celestial love have wisdom
inscribed on their life, and not on the memory, for which reason they do
not talk about Divine truths, but do them; while those who are in spiritual
love have wisdom inscribed on their memory, therefore they talk about
Divine truths, and do them from principles in the memory. Because those
who are in celestial love have wisdom inscribed on their life, they
perceive instantly whether whatever they hear is true or not; and when
asked whether it is true, they answer only, It is, or It is not. These are
they who are meant by the words of the Lord:
Let your speech be Yea, yea, Nay, nay (Matt. 5:37).
And because they are such, they are unwilling to hear anything about
faith, saying, What is faith? is it not wisdom? and what is charity? is
it not doing ? And when told that faith is believing what is not
understood, they turn away, saying, The man is crazy. These are they who
are in the third heaven, and who are the wisest of all. Such have they
become who in the world have applied the Divine truths which they have
heard immediately to the life by turning away from evils as infernal, and
worshiping the Lord alone. These, since they are in innocence, appear to
others as infants; and since they never talk about the truths of wisdom
and there is nothing of pride in their discourse, they also appear simple.
Nevertheless, when they hear any one speaking, they perceive from the tone
all things of his love, and from the speech all things of his intelligence.
These are they who are in the marriage of love and wisdom from the Lord;
and who represent the heart region of heaven, mentioned above.
428. Those, however, who are in spiritual love, which is love towards the
neighbor, do not have wisdom inscribed on their life, but intelligence;
for it is of wisdom to do good from affection for good, while it is of
intelligence to do good from affection for truth (as has been said above).
Neither do these know what faith is. When faith is mentioned they
understand truth, and when charity is mentioned they understand doing the
truth; and when told that they must believe, they call it empty talk, and
ask, Who does not believe what is true? This they say because they see
truth in the light of their own heaven; therefore, to believe what they do
not see they call either simplicity or foolishness. These are they who
constitute the lung region of heaven, also mentioned above.
429. But those who are in spiritual-natural love have neither wisdom nor
intelligence inscribed on their life, but only something of faith out of
the Word, so far as this has been conjoined with charity. Inasmuch as
these do not know what charity is, or whether faith be truth, they cannot
be among those in the heavens who are in wisdom and intelligence, but
among those who are in knowledge only. Yet such of them as have fled from
evil as sins are in the outmost heaven, and are in a light there like the
light of the moon by night; while those who have not confirmed themselves
in a faith in what is unknown, but have cherished a kind of affection for
truth are instructed by angels, and according to their reception of truths
and a life in agreement therewith, are raised into the societies of those
who are in spiritual love and therefore in intelligence. Those become
spiritual, the rest becoming spiritual-natural. But those who have lived
in faith separate from charity are removed, and sent away into deserts,
because they are not in any good, thus not in any marriage of good and
truth, in which all are who are in the heavens.
430. All that has been said of love and wisdom in this Part may be said
of charity and faith, if by charity spiritual love is understood, and by
faith the truth whereby there is intelligence. It is the same whether the
terms will and understanding, or love and intelligence be used, since the
will is the receptacle of love, and the understanding of intelligence.
431. To this I will add the following notable experience:-In heaven all
who perform uses from affection for use, because of the communion in which
they live are wiser and happier than others; and with them performing uses
is acting sincerely, uprightly, justly, and faithfully in the work proper
to the calling of each. This they call charity; and observances pertaining
to worship they call signs of charity, and other things they call
obligations and favors; saying that when one performs the duties of his
calling sincerely, uprightly, justly, and faithfully, the good of the
community is maintained and perpetuated, and that this is to "be in the
Lord," because all that flows in from the Lord is use, and it flows in
from the parts into the community, and flows out from the community to
the parts. The parts there are angels, and the community is a society of
them.