168. We also need to realize that the purpose is the sum and substance of the means and also the sum and substance of the result. This is why we call the purpose, the means, and the result the first, intermediate, and final ends. For the purpose to be the sum and substance of the means, though, there needs to be something from the purpose in which it exists; and for it to be the sum and substance of the result there must be something from the purpose through the means in which it exists. A purpose cannot exist in itself alone, but must exist in something that takes place because of it, something in which it can dwell with its total being, something which it can accomplish by its effort as long as it lasts. The reality in which it "lasts" is that final end that is called its result.

445. Our Revival from the Dead and Entry into Eternal Life

When someone's body can no longer perform its functions in the natural world in response to the thoughts and affections of its spirit (which it derives from the spiritual world), then we say that the individual has died. This happens when the lungs' breathing and the heart's systolic motion have ceased. The person, though, has not died at all. We are only separated from the physical nature that was useful to us in the world. The essential person is actually still alive. I say that the essential person is still alive because we are not people because of our bodies but because of our spirits. After all, it is the spirit within us that thinks, and thought and affection together make us the people we are.

We can see, then, that when we die we simply move from one world into another. This is why in the inner meaning of the Word, "death" means resurrection and a continuation of life. ¹

სქოლიოები: