What man's beginning or primitive form is in the womb after conception no
one can know, because it cannot be seen; moreover, it is made up of
spiritual substance, which is not visible by natural light. Now because
there are some in the world who are eager to investigate even the primitive
form of man, which is seed from the father, from which conception is
effected, and because many of these have fallen into the error of thinking
that man is in his fullness from his first, which is the rudiment, and is
afterwards perfected by growth, it has been disclosed to me what that
rudiment or first is in its form. It has been disclosed to me by angels,
to whom it was revealed by the Lord; and because they had made it a part
of their wisdom, and it is the joy of their wisdom to communicate to others
what they know, permission having been granted, they presented before my
eyes in the light of heaven a type of man's initial form, which was as
follows: There appeared as it were a tiny image of a brain with a delicate
delineation of something like a face in front, with no appendage. This
primitive form in the upper convex part was a structure of contiguous
globules or spherules, and each spherule was a joining together of those
more minute, and each of these in like manner of those most minute. It was
thus of three degrees. In front, in the flat part, a kind of delineation
appeared for a face. The convex part was covered round about with a very
delicate skin or membrane which was transparent. The convex part, which
was a type of the brain in least forms, was also divided into two beds,
as it were, just as the brain in its larger form is divided into
hemispheres. It was told me that the right bed was the receptacle of love,
and the left the receptacle of wisdom; and that by wonderful interweavings
these were like consorts and partners. It was further shown in the light
of heaven, which fell brightly on it, that the structure of this little
brain within, as to position and movement, was in the order and form of
heaven, and that its outer structure was in direct opposition to that
order and form. After these things were seen and pointed out, the angels
said that the two interior degrees, which were in the order and form of
heaven, were the receptacles of love and wisdom from the Lord; and that
the exterior degree, which was in direct opposition to the order and form
of heaven, was the receptacle of hellish love and insanity; for the reason
that man, by hereditary corruption, is born into evils of every kind, and
these evils reside there in the outermosts; and that this corruption is
not removed unless the higher degrees are opened, which, as was said, are
the receptacles of love and wisdom from the Lord. And as love and wisdom
are very man, for love and wisdom in their essence are the Lord, and this
primitive form of man is a receptacle, it follows that in that primitive
form there is a continual effort towards the human form, which also it
gradually assumes.