7217. 'For shortness of breath' means because of the state in which they were close to despair. This is clear from the meaning of 'shortness of breath' as a state in which a person is close to despair; for those passing through that state experience shortness of breath. ¹ That state is meant by the burden which Pharaoh placed on the children of Israel - to gather their own straw to make bricks - as shown at the end of the previous chapter. The fact that 'shortness of breath' means a state in which a person is close to despair may be recognized from the consideration that those passing through this kind of state suffer inward distress and at the same time actual shortness of breath. In the external sense 'shortness of breath' is a tight feeling around the chest and an apparent inability to breathe properly. But in the internal sense it is distress caused by being deprived of the truth of faith and the good of charity, and is consequently a state close to despair. A feeling of tightness and the distress caused by being deprived of the truth of faith and the good of charity go with each other as natural effect in the body produced by spiritual cause in the mind, as may be seen from what has been shown in 97, 1119, 3886, 3887, 3889, 3892, 3893.

[2] Those without any faith or charity are unable to believe that the deprivation of spiritual truth and good gives rise to such distress and consequently such shortness of breath. They suppose that anyone who feels distress on account of that deprivation must be weak in the head and mentally ill; and the reason why they suppose this is that they see nothing real in faith and charity, or thus in the things that belong to their souls and those that belong to heaven; for them only wealth and prominence, thus things belonging to the body and the world possess any reality. They also think, 'What are faith and charity? Are they not mere words? And what indeed is conscience? Feeling distressed on account of these is feeling distressed on account of the kinds of things that insane imagination causes a person to suppose to be something when in fact they are nothing. But what wealth and prominence are, we can see with our eyes and feel with pleasure that they really exist, for they swell the body and fill it with joy.' This is how people who are wholly natural think and talk to one another. But those who are spiritual think in a different way; for them the life in their spirit is primary, thus the life in the things that belong to the spirit, which are faith and charity. Therefore when they think that they are being deprived of the truths and forms of good that compose faith and charity they suffer agony like those undergoing the throes of death, for they see spiritual death, that is, damnation, before them. As stated above, these people are seen by those who are wholly natural to be soft in the head and ill in mind or spirit. But they are sound in the head and healthy in mind, whereas those who are wholly natural see themselves as being sound and healthy, as indeed they are physically. But they are completely unhealthy in spirit, because spiritually they are dead. If they saw what their spirit was like they would acknowledge this; but they do not see it until after the death of their body.

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3887. In heaven or the Grand Man there are two kingdoms, one called celestial, the other spiritual. The celestial kingdom consists of angels who are called celestial and are those who have been governed by love to the Lord and so by all wisdom. For they more than all others abide in the Lord and so more than all others experience the state of peace and innocence. To others they look like young children, for the state of peace and innocence gives them this appearance. Everything there is living so to speak in their eyes, for that which comes directly from the Lord is living. Such is the celestial kingdom. The second kingdom is called spiritual. This consists of angels who are called spiritual and are those who have been governed by the good that flows from charity towards the neighbour. The delight of life is considered by them to lie in being able to do good to others without reward. To them being allowed to do good to others is itself a reward. And the more this is their will and desire the greater the intelligence and happiness they experience, for in the next life the Lord confers intelligence and happiness on everyone according to the use which he performs from the affection that belongs to his will. Such is the spiritual kingdom.

[2] Inhabitants of the Lord's celestial kingdom all belong to the province of the heart, and those of His spiritual kingdom all belong to the province of the lungs. The influx from the celestial kingdom into the spiritual kingdom is similar to the influx of the heart into the lungs, and also to the influx of all things belonging to the heart into those belonging to the lungs. For the heart reigns in the whole of the body and in every individual part of it by means of the blood vessels, as do the lungs in every individual part by means of the breathing. Consequently throughout the body there is so to speak an influx of the heart into the lungs, but this is dependent on the forms there and on the states. This is how all sensation arises and also all activity which belongs properly to the body. This point can also be proved from embryos and new-born infants. These cannot have any bodily sensation or any act of individual will until the lungs have been opened for them and an influx consequently takes place of heart into lungs. It is similar in the spiritual world, the difference being that bodily and natural things do not exist in that world but celestial and spiritual, which are the good of love and the good of faith. With them therefore motions of the heart are determined by the states of love, and respiratory motions by the states of faith. The influx of one into the other causes them to have sensations of things in a spiritual manner and to act in a spiritual manner. These ideas are bound to seem paradoxical to man because he has no other idea of the good of love or of the truth of faith than that they are some abstract qualities which have no power to effect anything. In fact the contrary is the case; that is to say, they are the source of all perception and sensation, of all energy and activity, including those in man.