9596. 'From fine twined linen and violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet' means the spiritual and celestial realities from which those truths are derived. This is clear from the meaning of 'fine twined linen' as truth from a celestial origin, dealt with in 9469; from the meaning of 'violet' as the celestial love of truth, dealt with in 9466; from the meaning of 'purple' as the celestial love of good, dealt with in 9467; and from the meaning of 'twice-dyed scarlet' as spiritual good or the good of truth, dealt with in 9468. Such is the order in which the spiritual and celestial realities, or the truths and forms of good, present with a person or an angel who is in the middle or second heaven follow one another. For truth from a celestial origin, meant by 'fine twined linen' comes first; then the love of or affection for truth, meant by 'violet'; after that the resulting love of or affection for good, meant by 'purple'; and finally spiritual good, meant by 'twice-dyed scarlet'.

[2] Because this is the order in which the spiritual and celestial realities follow one another 'fine twined linen' is here mentioned first; but in the case of the veil that hung between the dwelling-place and the ark, or between the holy place and the holy of holies, dealt with in verse 31 of the present chapter, it is mentioned last. The reason why 'fine twined linen' is mentioned last in the case of the veil is that 'the veil' means the intermediary uniting the inmost heaven to the middle heaven, and therefore within this intermediary it must come last, in order that - to link the two heavens - it may then be first in the second of them.

[3] But properly 'fine twined linen' means the understanding part of the mind as it exists with the spiritual man or with an angel in the Lord's spiritual heaven. The reason why the understanding part is meant by 'fine twined linen' is that with the spiritual man a new will part is implanted by the Lord within the understanding part of his mind, see 863, 875, 895, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113; and since the understanding part in the spiritual man is meant by 'fine twined linen', so too is spiritual truth meant. This is because all truth belongs to the understanding part, and all good to the will part, 3623, 9300; for the understanding part is the receiver (subjectum) or container and the truth is what belongs to it, and these two make one. From these considerations also it may be seen that the actual understanding part of the mind with those who belong to the Lord's spiritual kingdom is in the strict sense 'the dwelling-place', 9296, 9297, and that the spreading out of the curtains serves to describe it.

[4] From all this what 'spreading and stretching out the heavens' means in the following places may be recognized, such as in Isaiah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, spreads out the earth, gives breath ¹ to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it. Isaiah 42:5.

In the same prophet,

I am Jehovah who makes all things, stretches out the heavens Alone, [and] spreads out the earth by Myself. Isaiah 44:24.

In the same prophet,

It was I that made the earth and created man on it. It was I - My hands - that stretched out the heavens. Isaiah 45:12.

In Jeremiah,

... He who makes the earth by His power, prepares the world by His wisdom, and stretches out the heavens by His intelligence. Jeremiah 51:15.

In Zechariah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, and founds the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. Zechariah 12:1.

[5] 'Stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' is plainly similar in meaning to stretching and spreading out a dwelling-place by the use of curtains. And by this is meant regenerating a person and thereby creating or forming a new understanding in which there is a new will, which is the spiritual person's actual heaven in which the Lord dwells with that person. The fact that the regeneration or the formation of a new understanding, and of a new will within it, and so of a new person, is what 'stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' means is evident from actual explanations provided in the places quoted above. For they speak of Him who gives breath to the people on the earth, and spirit to those who walk on it, and also of Him who forms the spirit of man within him. 'Heaven and earth' means the Church, internal and external, see 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535, and 'the earth' in general means the Lord's kingdom and the Church, 9334; and these meanings too are plainly apparent in those places. For if 'the earth' did not have that meaning what sense could be made of 'spreading out the earth' and 'founding the earth', or 'forming the spirit of man within him ² '?

[6] The fact that 'stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' here is similar in meaning to stretching and spreading out a dwelling-place by the use of curtains is clear from other places where the same idea is stated even more plainly, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40:22.

In the same prophet,

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwelling-places. Isaiah 54:2.

And in David,

Jehovah covers Himself with light, as if with a garment; He stretches out the heavens as a curtain. Psalms 104:2.

These places also show what 'the expanse' or that which is spread out means in the first chapter of Genesis,

God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expanse and the waters that were above the expanse, And God called the expanse Heaven. Genesis 1:6-8.

That first chapter describes the regeneration of a member of the celestial Church, 'the expanse' describing his new will and understanding. 'The waters under the expanse and those above the expanse' are the truths of the external man and those of the internal man. For the meaning of 'waters' as truths, see 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 8568, 9323.

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6057. Before anything can be said about the influx and operation of the soul into the body, a proper knowledge is required of the truth that the internal man has been created so as to conform to an image of heaven, and the external man to an image of the world, so much so that the internal man is the smallest form heaven can take, and the external man is the smallest the world can take and is thus the microcosm. The fact that the external man is an image of the world can be seen from his external or physical senses. The ear has been made to conform to the whole nature of the modification of air, and the lungs to the whole nature of air-pressure. So too with the surface-areas of the body, which are held in shape by the pressure of air all around them. The eye has been made to conform to the whole nature of the ether and light; the tongue to the perception of particles dissolved and suspended in fluids, and at the same time along with the lungs, trachea, larynx, glottis, jaws, and lips to conform to the power of using air in varying ways to produce articulated sounds or words, and musical sounds too. The nostrils have been made to conform to the perception of particles suspended in the atmosphere, and touch, a sense which is distributed over the whole of the body, to the perception of changes in the condition of the air, that is to say, whether it is cold or hot, as well as the perception of the nature of fluids and the weights of objects. (The internal organs, which the air surrounding the body cannot enter, are held together and kept in shape by a purer kind of air, called ether.) This is not to mention all the deeply hidden aspects of the natural world that have been inscribed on and apply themselves to the body, such as all the secrets of mechanics, physics, chemistry, and optics. All this goes to prove that the entire natural order was drawn on so that the external side of the human being might be created in conformity with it, which was why the ancients named the human being the microcosm.

[2] Now just as the external man has been created so as to conform to an image of everything in the world, so the internal man has been created so as to conform to an image of everything in heaven, that is, an image of the celestial and spiritual qualities that come from the Lord, from which heaven is formed and in which it consists. The celestial qualities there are all the aspects of love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and the spiritual qualities are all the aspects of faith. They are intrinsically so great and of such a nature that no tongue can possibly declare even a millionth of them. The truth that the internal man has been made so as to conform to an image of all those qualities is plain to see in the angels. When they appear before a person's internal sight, as they have appeared before mine, their presence alone stirs feelings to the depths of his being. For love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour pour out of them and into the onlooker; and what is radiated by that love and charity, namely rays of faith, shines out of them and stirs one's affections. This has served to show, as well as other proofs, that because the internal man has been created to be an angel, the internal man is the smallest form heaven can take.

[3] From all this it now becomes clear that within the human being the spiritual world has been joined to the natural world. As a result, in the case of the human being, the spiritual world flows into the natural world in so vital a way that a person can discern it if he merely stops to pay attention to it. This also shows what the interaction of the soul with the body is, that strictly speaking it is a communication of the spiritual realities of heaven with the natural things of the world, a communication which is effected by one flowing into the other, yet depends on the way the two have been joined together. This communication effected through an inflowing which depends on the way the two have been joined together is unknown at the present day, for the reason that every single thing is attributed to natural forces and there is no knowledge of what is spiritual, which at the present day is so remote that when people give it any thought it seems to be non-existent.