382, 4. Discernment corresponds to the lungs. This follows from what has already been said [378-381] about volition's correspondence with the heart. There are, that is, two dominant things in the spiritual person or mind, namely volition and discernment, and there are two dominant things in the physical self or the body, namely heart and lungs. There is a correspondence of everything in the mind with everything in the body, as already noted [374-377]. It then follows that if volition corresponds to the heart, discernment corresponds to the lungs.

Everyone can observe internally that discernment corresponds to the lungs on the basis of thought and on the basis of speech. On the basis of thought: we cannot think at all without the concurrence and support of the breath of our lungs. So quiet thought is accompanied by quiet breathing, deep thought by deep breathing. We hold and release our breath, we suppress or intensify our breathing, in response to our thinking--in response, then, to the inflow of some feeling related to what we love, breathing slowly, rapidly, eagerly, gently, or intently. In fact, if we suppress our breathing completely, the only way we can think is in the spirit, by its breathing, which is not clearly noticeable.

On the basis of speech: not even the shortest word comes from the mouth without the support of our lungs. The sound that is articulated into words comes entirely from the lungs through the trachea and epiglottis. So depending on the inflation of this bellows and the opening of its passageways, speech is either amplified into shouting or, by their contraction, muted; and if the passage is completely blocked, speech and thought both cease.

49. Spirit means the life of a regenerate person, the life called spiritual life:

Jesus (said), “...unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)

I will give you a new heart and...a new spirit.... I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes.... (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

(On giving a new) heart and...a new spirit.... (Ezekiel 11:19)

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.... Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and let a willing spirit uphold me. (Psalms 51:10-12)

...make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel? (Ezekel 18:31)

You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the earth. (Psalms 104:30)

...the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. (John 4:23)

(Jehovah God) gives breath to the people..., and spirit to those who walk on [the earth]. (Isaiah 42:5)

(Jehovah) forms the spirit of man within him. (Zechariah 12:1)

With my soul I have awaited You in the night..., with my spirit within me I have awaited You in the morning. (Isaiah 26:9)

In that day Jehovah...will be for a spirit of judgment to him who sits in judgment.... (Isaiah 28:5-6)

My spirit has rejoiced over God my Savior. (Luke 1:47)

...they have given my spirit rest in the north country. (Zechariah 6:8)

Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me.... (Psalms 31:5)

Did He not make them one, and the rest who had spirit [i.e., breath ]? (Malachi 2:15)

After three and a half days the spirit of life [i.e., the breath of life ] from God entered (the two witnesses slain by the beast). (Revelation 11:11)

(I, Jehovah,) the former of mountains, and the creator of spirit [i.e., the wind ].... (Amos 4:13)

O God, the God of the spirits as regards all flesh.... (Numbers 16:22, cf. 27:16)

I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitant of Jerusalem a spirit (from on high).... (Zechariah 12:10)

...until He has poured out upon us a spirit from on high.... (Isaiah 32:15)

...I will pour out water on the thirsty, and streams on dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your posterity.... (Isaiah 44:3)

...I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh.... Also on My menservants and maidservants in those days I will pour out My Spirit. (Joel 2:28-29)

To pour out the spirit means to regenerate. The same is meant by giving a new heart and a new spirit.

[2] Spirit means the spiritual life in people who are in a state of humility:

I dwell in...a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57:15)

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart God does not spurn. (Psalms 51:17)

(He will) give them...the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a cloak of praise instead of a shrunken spirit. (Isaiah 61:3)

...a woman forsaken and afflicted in spirit.... (Isaiah 54:6)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)