Soul-Body Interaction, Believed to Occur either by a Physical Inflow, or by a Spiritual Inflow, or by a Preestablished Harmony.

§§1–2 / [Author’s Introduction]

1. §3 / There are two worlds: a spiritual world where spirits and angels live, and an earthly world where we live.

2. §4 / The spiritual world came into being and is kept in existence from its sun, and the earthly world, from its sun.

3. §5 / The sun of the spiritual world is pure love from Jehovah God,

who is at its center.

4. §6 / Warmth and light emanates from that sun; the essence of that emanating warmth is love, and the essence of the emanating light is wisdom.

5. §7 / Both spiritual warmth and spiritual light fl ow into us. The warmth fl ows into our will and gives rise there to a love for doing what is good, and the light flows into our understanding and gives rise there to the truth that leads to wisdom.

6. §8 / These two—spiritual warmth and spiritual light, or love and wisdom—fl ow together from God into the human soul, flow through our soul into our mind and its feelings and thoughts, and flow from there into our physical senses, speech, and actions.

7. §9 / The sun of our earthly world is nothing but fire, and is the means by which this earthly world came into being and is kept in existence.

8. §10 / This means that everything that emanates from the physical sun is in and of itself dead.

9. §11 / What is spiritual wears what is physical the way we wear clothes.

10. §12 / It is spiritual elements clothed in this way that enable us to live as rational and moral beings—that is, to live spiritually on this earthly level.

11. §13 / How receptive we are to this infl ow depends on the state of love and wisdom within us.

12. §14 / Our understanding can be lifted into the light (that is, the wisdom) that angels enjoy to the extent that our rational ability has been cultivated; and our will can be elevated into the warmth, or love, of heaven, depending on how we live our lives. However, the love in our will becomes elevated only to the extent that we will and do what the wisdom in our understanding teaches us.

13. §15 / It is totally diff erent for animals.

14. §16 / Unknown until now, there are three levels in the spiritual world and three in this earthly world, and these shape the way all infl ow happens.

15. §17 / Purposes are on the fi rst level, means on the second, and results on the third.

16. §18 / This shows us the nature of spiritual infl ow, from its origin to its results.

§§19–20 / [Concluding Accounts]

18. 16 This shows us the nature of spiritual inflow, from its origin to its results.

UNTIL now, spiritual inflow has been deduced to flow from the soul into the body, but not from God into the soul and from there into the body. This has come about because no one has known anything about the spiritual world and its sun, yet that sun is the source from which all that is spiritual pours forth as from its wellspring; so people have not known anything about the way spiritual realities flow into physical ones.

[2] Since I have been granted the ability to be in the spiritual world and in the physical world at the same time and therefore to see each world and each sun, I am obliged by my conscience to make these things known. What is the use of knowing something except that others should know it as well? The one without the other is like amassing wealth and hiding it away in a chest, simply counting it and admiring it from time to time with no intention of putting it to use. This is nothing but spiritual avarice.

[3] For a full understanding of the reality and nature of spiritual inflow, though, it is necessary to know what spiritual is in essence and what earthly is, and also what the human soul is. For the reception of this brief treatise not to be hobbled by ignorance on these points, it would be beneficial to consult some accounts of memorable experiences included in the book Marriage Love. On what spiritual is, see the account in §§326–329; on what the human soul is, see §315; and on the inflow of what is spiritual into what is earthly, see §380, and the fuller treatment in §§415–422.