10330. 'And I have filled him with the spirit of God' means influx and enlightenment received from Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord's Divine Good. This is clear from the meaning of 'filling with the spirit of God' as influx and enlightenment received from Divine Truth. In respect of what Jehovah does 'filling' is influx, while on man's side it is enlightenment; and 'the spirit of God' is Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord's Divine Good. The reason why 'filling', in respect of what Jehovah or the Lord does, is influx, while on man's side it is enlightenment, is that 'influx' is a term which serves to describe all the good and all the truth that come from heaven and originate in the Lord; and since that influx causes a person to be enlightened the term 'enlightenment' serves to describe what happens on man's side. Regarding 'the spirit of God', that it is this Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, see 9818.

[2] Since few know what the influx of Divine Truth and what the resulting enlightenment in a person are like, let something about these matters be stated here. The Church recognizes that all the good of love and truth of faith has its source not in a person himself but in heaven - in what is Divine there - as it resides with him. It is also recognized that those who receive that truth and good have enlightenment. Such influx and enlightenment however are brought about in the following manner. The nature of a person is such that he is able to use his inner powers of thought and will to look downwards or to look upwards. Looking downwards consists in looking away to the world and to self; and looking upwards consists in looking towards heaven and towards God. The person looking outwards is self-directed; this is called looking downwards because when a person is self-directed he looks towards hell. But a person looking in an inward direction is not self-directed but is directed by the Lord; this is called looking upwards because as to his inner powers of will and understanding he is then raised by the Lord towards heaven, and so towards the Lord. Those inner powers themselves are literally raised up, and at the same time are literally drawn away from the body and the world. When this happens the person's inner powers do literally pass into heaven, and into its warmth and light. As a result he receives influx and enlightenment. The light of heaven shines in his understanding, for the Divine Truth which radiates from the Lord as the sun constitutes that light; and the warmth of heaven heats his will, for the good of love which radiates at the same time from the Lord as the sun composes this warmth. Since the person is then among angels they impart an understanding of truth and an affection for good to him, that is, the Lord does so through them.

This imparting is what the terms 'influx and enlightenment' serve to describe.

[3] But it should be recognized that the extent to which influx and enlightenment are brought about depends on the person's ability to receive what is imparted; and this ability depends on his love of truth and good. People therefore who have a love of truth and good because they see truth and good as the end in view are raised up; but those who have a love of truth and good because they see self and the world, not truth and good, as the end in view are constantly looking and gravitating downwards. These as a consequence cannot be raised, and so cannot receive Divine influx from heaven and become enlightened. Their intelligence or understanding, which to them seems to be an understanding of truth, is the product of a light in which a fool sees things - a light shining before their mind's eye which radiates from notions which they have proved to themselves and gone on to convince themselves of. Whether true or false however, it still provides a brightness, which however turns into total darkness when light from heaven flows in. I have been shown vividly that this is so. From all this it may be seen what the origin is of the great number of heresies that arise in the world. That is to say, they arise because their founders and leaders have looked towards themselves, having their own glory as their end in view, and have regarded those things which belong to the Lord and to heaven as means to that end.

4976. 'And ministered to him' means that factual knowledge was assigned to its own good. This is clear from the meaning of 'ministering' as serving by supplying what another has need of, in this case as being assigned to since the subject is natural good to which factual knowledge is to be assigned. 'Ministering' is also used to describe known facts, for in the Word a minister and a servant mean factual knowledge or natural truth because this is subservient to good as its lord. Factual knowledge stands in relation to delight present in the natural man - or what amounts to the same, natural truth stands in relation to its good - in exactly the same way as water does to bread, or drink to food. Water or drink enables bread or food to be dissolved, and once dissolved to be conveyed into the blood, from which it passes into all parts around the body and nourishes them. Without the water or drink the bread or food is not broken down into extremely small particles and carried around the body to fulfill its purpose.

[2] The same applies to factual knowledge in relation to delight, or truth in relation to good. That being so, good longs for and desires truth, and does so because of the purpose such truth can fulfill by ministering to it and serving it. Food and drink also correspond to these. No one in the next life is nourished by any natural food or natural drink, only by spiritual food and spiritual drink, spiritual food being good, and spiritual drink truth. This is why, when bread or food is mentioned in the Word, angels understand spiritual bread or food, which is the good of love and charity; and when water or drink is mentioned they understand spiritual water or drink, which is the truth of faith. From this one may see what the truth of faith without the good of charity is, and also what kind of nourishment the former without the latter is able to supply to the internal man; that is to say, it is like the nourishment supplied by water or drink alone without bread or food. It is well known that a person fed on water or drink alone wastes away and dies.