71. It Is a Law of Divine Providence That We Should Act in Freedom and in Accord with Reason

It is generally recognized that we have a freedom to think and intend whatever we wish but not a freedom to say whatever we think or to do whatever we wish. The freedom under discussion here, then, is freedom on the spiritual level and not freedom on the earthly level, except to the extent that the two coincide. Thinking and intending are spiritual, while speaking and acting are earthly.

There is a clear distinction between these kinds of freedom in us, since we can think things that we do not express and intend things that we do not act out; so we can see that the spiritual and the earthly in us are differentiated. As a result, we cannot cross the line from one to the other except by making a decision, a decision that can be compared to a door that has first to be unlocked and opened.

This door stands open, though, in people who think and intend rationally, in accord with the civil laws of the state and the moral laws of society. People like this say what they think and do what they wish. In contrast, the door is closed, so to speak, for people who think and intend things that are contrary to those laws. If we pay close attention to our intentions and the deeds they prompt, we will notice that there is this kind of decision between them, sometimes several times in a single conversation or a single undertaking.

I mention this at the outset so that the reader may know that "acting from freedom and in accord with reason" means thinking and intending freely, and then freely saying and doing what is in accord with reason.

154. The Lord created the universe and everything in it by means of the sun in the spiritual world because that sun is the first emanation of His Divine love and wisdom, and everything originates from Divine love and wisdom, as we demonstrated above in nos. 52-82.

We find in everything created, in the grandest and in the most infinitesimal, three elements - end, cause and effect. There is nothing created that does not have in it these three elements.

In the grand scheme or in the universe these three occur in sequence as follows. In the sun which is the first emanation of Divine love and wisdom is found the end or purpose in all things. In the spiritual world are found the causes of all things. And in the natural world are found the effects of all things. But how these three exist in the firsts of creation and in the lasts of it will be told in subsequent discussions.

Now because there is nothing created that does not have in it these three elements, it follows that the Lord created the universe and everything in it by the sun which has in it the end or purpose in all things.