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]

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

IT is common knowledge that in the Word, and therefore in typical sermons of the clergy, divine love is expressed as fire. For example, there are prayers that heavenly fire may fill our hearts and kindle a holy longing to worship God. This is because fire corresponds to love and therefore symbolizes it. This is why Jehovah God appeared to Moses as fire in a burning bush [Exodus 3:2] and to the Israelites as fire on Mount Sinai. It is the reason for the biblical command to keep a fire burning constantly on the altar [Leviticus 6:13] and to light the lamps on the lampstand in the tabernacle every evening [Exodus 30:8]. This was because that fire meant love.

[2] If we consider the effects love has on us, it is obvious that we gain warmth from this fire. We become kindled, heated, and inflamed as our love is intensified into zeal or into the blaze of anger. The warmth of our blood, our own vital warmth (and that of animals in general), comes solely from the love that constitutes our life. Hellfire is nothing but love that is opposite to heavenly love. This, then, is why angels see divine love as the sun in their world, a sun that as already noted [§4] is fiery like our own sun. It is why angels are warmed to the extent that they are receptive to love from Jehovah God through that sun.

[3] It follows from this that the essence of the light in heaven is wisdom. Love and wisdom are inseparable, like the underlying reality and its manifestation. Love in fact manifests itself through wisdom and in accord with wisdom, much as in our world the warmth of spring joins with light and causes plants to sprout and eventually to bear fruit. Then too, everyone knows that spiritual warmth is love and spiritual light is wisdom: when we are loving we are warm, and when we are wise our minds are enlightened.

[4] I have seen this spiritual light quite often. It is far clearer and more brilliant than earthly light; it is like clarity itself and brilliance itself. It looks like bright, sparkling snow, like the Lord’s clothing when he was transfigured (Mark 9:3; Luke 9:29). Because light is wisdom, the Lord calls himself the light that enlightens everyone (John 1:9) and says elsewhere that he is light itself (John 3:19, 8:12, 12:35, 36, 46), that is, that he is divine truth itself, the truth that is the Word, and therefore is wisdom itself.

[5] Some people believe that earthly, rational enlightenment comes from the light of our world, but it actually comes from the sunlight in the spiritual world. The sight of our mind flows into our eyesight, so spiritual rays of light do the same. It does not happen the other way around; if it did, that would be a physical inflow and not a spiritual inflow.