277. Influx. Concerning the influx of heaven into the world, and the influx of the soul into all things of the body; from experience, Arcana Coelestia 6053-6058, 6189-6215, 6307-6327, 6466-6495, 6598-6626. Nothing exists from itself, but from something prior to itself; thus all things from a First, Arcana Coelestia 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056. All things even as they have existed, so also they subsist, because subsistence is perpetual existence, Arcana Coelestia 2886, 2888, 3627, 3628, 3648, 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056. Influx takes place according to that order, Arcana Coelestia 7270. From this it is evident that all things perpetually subsist from a first Esse, because they have had their existence therefrom, Arcana Coelestia 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056. The all of life flows in from a First, because it is from it - thus from the Lord, Arcana Coelestia 3001, 3318, 3337, 3338, 3344, 3484, 3628, 3741-3743, 4318-4320, 4417, 4524, 4882, 5847, 5986, 6325, 6468-6470, 6479, 9276, 10196. All Existere is from Esse, and nothing can exist unless its own Esse is in it, Arcana Coelestia 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056.

All things which a man thinks and wills enter by influx; from experience, Arcana Coelestia 904, 2886-2888, 4151, 4319, 4320, 5846, 5848, 6189, 6191, 6194, 6197-6199, 6213, 7147, 10219. A man's ability of beholding things, of thinking, and of drawing analytical conclusions, is from influx, Arcana Coelestia 2888, 4319, 4320. If the influx from the spiritual world were taken away from a man he could not live for a moment; but the man is still in freedom; from experience, Arcana Coelestia 2887, 5849, 5854, 6321. The life which flows in from the Lord is varied according to a man's state, and according to reception, Arcana Coelestia 2069, 5986, 6472, 7343. The good which flows in from the Lord is with the wicked turned into evil, and truth into falsity; from experience, Arcana Coelestia 3643, 4632. So far as the good and truth, which constantly flow in from the Lord, are received, so far evil and falsity do not obstruct, Arcana Coelestia 2411, 3142, 3147, 5828.

All good flows in from the Lord, and all evil from hell, Arcana Coelestia 904, 4151. A man at the present day believes that all things are in himself and from himself, when nevertheless they enter by influx, and he knows from a doctrinal of the Church that all good is from heaven, and all evil from hell, Arcana Coelestia 4249, 6193, 6206. But if he would believe as the case really is, he would not appropriate evil to himself: for he would cast it away from himself into hell; neither would he account good to be his own, and thus would not claim any merit from it, Arcana Coelestia 6206, 6324, 6325. How happy the state of a man would then be, because from the interior he would then see from the Lord both good and evil, Arcana Coelestia 6325. Those who deny heaven, or know nothing about it, are ignorant of the fact that there is any influx from it, Arcana Coelestia 4322, 5649, 6193, 6479. What influx is; illustrated by comparisons, Arcana Coelestia 6128, 6190, 9407.

Influx is spiritual and not physical; consequently, there is an influx from the spiritual world into the natural, and not from the natural world into the spiritual, Arcana Coelestia 3219, 5119, 5259, 5427, 5428, 5477, 6322, 9109, 9110. Spiritual influx takes place through the internal into the external man, and not conversely, Arcana Coelestia 1702, 1707, 1940, 1954, 5119, 5259, 5779, 6322, 9380: because the internal man is in the spiritual world, and the external in the natural world, Arcana Coelestia 978, 1015, 3628, 4459, 4523, 4524, 6057, 6309, 9701-9709, 10156, 10472. The appearance is as though influx passed from external into internal things, but this is a fallacy, Arcana Coelestia 3721. Influx with a man takes place into his rational, and through them into his scientific things, and not conversely, Arcana Coelestia 1495, 1707, 1940. The nature of the order of influx, Arcana Coelestia 775, 880, 1096, 1495, 7270.

There is an immediate influx from the Lord, and also a mediate influx through the spiritual world, that is, through heaven, Arcana Coelestia 6063, 6307, 6472, 9682, 9683. The Lord's immediate influx takes place into the minutest singulars, Arcana Coelestia 6058, 6474-6478, 8717, 8728. Concerning the Lord's mediate influx through heaven, Arcana Coelestia 4067, 6982, 6985, 6996; it takes place through the spirits and angels who are adjoined to the man, Arcana Coelestia 697, 5846-5866. Through angels the Lord flows into the ends from which, and for the sake of which, a man thinks, wills, and acts, Arcana Coelestia 1317, 1645, 5846, 5854; and thus He flows into those things which belong to conscience with a man, Arcana Coelestia 6207, 6213. Through spirits however He flows into the thoughts, and from them into the things of the memory, Arcana Coelestia 4186, 5854, 5858, 6192, 6193, 6198, 6199, 6319. It is difficult for man to believe this, Arcana Coelestia 6214. The Lord flows into first, and at the same time into last, things, that is, He flows into inmost, and at the same time into outermost, things, and in what manner, Arcana Coelestia 5147, 5150, 6473, 7004, 7007, 7270. The Lord's influx with a man is into good, and through good into truth, and not conversely, Arcana Coelestia 5482, 5649, 6027, 8685, 8701, 10153. Good imparts the faculty of receiving influx from the Lord, but not truth apart from good, Arcana Coelestia 8321. Nothing is hurtful that enters into the thought, but that which enters into the will, because this is appropriated to the man, Arcana Coelestia 6308. The Divine in the highest parts is tacit and peaceful; but in proportion as it descends with a man towards the lower parts, it becomes unpeaceful and noisy, on account of the things therein being without order,Arcana Coelestia 8823. The quality of the Lord's influx with the prophets, Arcana Coelestia 6212.

There is a general influx; which is described, Arcana Coelestia 5850. It consists in a constant effort of acting according to order, Arcana Coelestia 6211. This influx takes place into the lives of animals, Arcana Coelestia 5850. And also into the subjects of the vegetable kingdom, Arcana Coelestia 3648. Thought also in accordance with general influx descends with man into speech, and will into gestures, Arcana Coelestia 5862, 5990, 6192, 6211.

904. That 'God spoke to Noah' means the Lord's presence with the member of the Church becomes clear from the internal sense of the Word. The Lord speaks to everybody, for whatever good and truth a person wills and thinks comes from the Lord. With everyone there are at least two evil spirits and two angels. The former activate his evils whereas the latter instill goods and truths. Every good or truth that angels instill is the Lord's; in this way the Lord is constantly speaking to man, though quite differently from one person to the next. To people who allow themselves to be carried away by evil spirits the Lord speaks as though He were not present, or so far away that He can hardly be said to be speaking. But to those who are being led by the Lord, the Lord speaks as one who is quite present. This becomes clear enough from the fact that nobody can possibly think of anything good and true except from the Lord.

[2] The Lord's presence is relative to the state of love towards the neighbour and of faith present in a person. It is in love towards the neighbour that the Lord is present, for He is present in all good, and not so much in so-called faith that is devoid of love. Faith devoid of love and charity is something severed or disjoined. Wherever conjunction exists there has to be a conjoining agency, which is exclusively love and charity. This may become clear to anyone from the fact that the Lord has compassion on everybody, loves everyone, and wishes to make everyone eternally happy. A person therefore who is devoid of the kind of love that leads him to have compassion on others, to love them, and to wish to make them happy, cannot be joined to the Lord because he is not at all like Him, and is in no sense the image of Him. Looking to the Lord by means of that which goes by the name of faith while hating the neighbour amounts not only to standing a long way off, but also to having between himself and the Lord a hell-like chasm into which the person would fall if he wished to go any nearer. For it is hatred towards the neighbour that constitutes that intervening hell-like chasm.

[3] The Lord is present with a person the moment he starts to love the neighbour. It is in love that the Lord is present, and to the extent that a person has love the Lord is present. And to the extent that the Lord is present He speaks to man. No one knows anything other than that he thinks from himself. Yet he possesses not one single idea of thought, not even the shred of an idea, from himself. Rather that which is evil and false he possesses through evil spirits from hell, and that which is good and true through angels from the Lord. Such is influx, the channel by which a person's life comes and by which consequently his soul interacts with the body. All these considerations make clear what 'God spoke to Noah' means. 'Saying to someone' means one thing, as in Genesis 1:29; 3:13-14, 17; 4:6, 9, 15; 6:13; 7:1, while 'speaking to someone' means another. Here speaking to Noah' means His being present, for the subject now is the regenerate person, who has had charity conferred on him.

6468. Before spirits recently arrived from the world are taught by angels they believe nothing other than this, that every trace of life exists essentially in a person himself and that there is nothing flowing into him. The reason for such belief is that people know nothing in particular about heaven, nor thus about influx from there. Spirits who are not good have no wish to be taught anything about these matters, for they want life to be intrinsically their own. I have often talked to them on this subject, and they have said that I have no life because they have heard me saying that my life did not originate with me and that I knew it from unceasing experience. But they had no wish to stop and think about this. Then I have been led to say that the life everyone has depends on the form his interiors take, the form he has acquired through willing and acting, thinking and speaking.

[2] After that I have talked to good spirits about the influx of life from the Lord. I have said that it flows into everyone, and that this is evident from heaven, in that heaven resembles a human being and is therefore called the Grand Man, which - together with the correspondence of everything in the human being with it - has been the subject at the ends of a number of chapters. I have said that none of this would be possible if life from the Lord did not flow into heaven in general and into each of its inhabitants in particular.

[3] That influx of life is also evident from the fact that the whole of heaven relates back to the Lord and that the Lord is the focal point there of everyone's gaze. Those in heaven look up, towards Him, whereas those in hell look downwards, away from Him; for the Lord is seen by those in heaven as the Sun, up above them there. I have said in addition that the receipt from the Lord of every trace of life is also evident from the ability of the human soul in the womb to form the body in so wondrous a fashion, to form its complex members and organs in such proper connection with one another, and its interiors in the image of heaven. The soul could not possibly do this unless all life came from the Lord and unless heaven was such as has been described.