302. I have talked with angels about the conjunction of heaven with the human race, and I said that, while the man of the Church declares that all good is from God, and that angels are with man, yet few believe that angels are conjoined to man, still less that they are in his thought and affection. To this the angels replied that they know that there is such a belief and even such a mode of speaking in the world, and especially, to their surprise, within the Church, where yet there is the Word to teach men about heaven and its conjunction with man. Nevertheless, there is such a conjunction that man is unable to think the least thing apart from the spirits adjoined to him, and on this his spiritual life depends. They said that the cause of ignorance of this matter is man's belief that he lives from himself, without a connection with the First Being (Esse) of life; and that he does not know that this connection exists by means of the heavens; and yet if that connection were broken man would instantly fall down dead. If man believed, as is really true, that all good is from the Lord and all evil from hell, he would not make the good in him a matter of merit nor would evil be imputed to him; for he would then look to the Lord in all the good he thinks and does, and all the evil that inflows would be cast down to hell whence it comes. But because man does not believe that there is any influx into him either from heaven or from hell, and so supposes that all the things that he thinks and wills are in himself, and therefore from himself, he appropriates the evil to himself, and the inflowing good he defiles with merit.

9. In the Word there is a spiritual sense which is called its internal sense.

No one can know what is the spiritual or internal sense of the Word unless he knows what correspondence is: 2895, 4322. Every single thing which is in the natural world, right down to the very least thing, corresponds to something spiritual, and so signifies it: 1886-1889, 2987-3003, 3213-3227. Spiritual things, to which the natural things correspond, appear in nature under another guise, with the result that they are not recognized: 1887, 2395, 8920. Hardly anyone knows where divine quality is in the Word, though it is there in its internal or spiritual sense, the existence of which is not known today: 2899, 4989.

What lies hidden in the Word is nothing other than what its internal or spiritual sense contains, in which the Lord, the glorification of His human form, His kingdom, and His Church are dealt with, and not natural things, which are of the world: 4923. In very many places the prophetical elements are not understood, and so are of no benefit, without the internal sensefrom examples in 2608, 8020, 8398 just as what is signified by the White Horse in the Book of Revelation, from 2760. What is meant by the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven given to Peter: Preface to Genesis 22 and 9410. What is meant by flesh, blood, bread, and wine in the Holy Supper: 8682. What is meant by the prophecies of Jacob concerning his sons: Genesis 49 and 6306, 6333-6465. What is meant by many other prophecies about Judah and Israel which do not match with [aspects of] that nation, and do not coincide with one another in their literal sense: 6333, 6361, 6415, 6438, 6444. In addition there are very many others: 2608. Further, what is said about correspondence may be seen in the work Heaven and Hell, 87-115, 303-310.

Concerning the internal or spiritual sense of the Word in general: 1767-1777, 1869-1879. There is an internal sense in every single part of the Word: 1143, 1984, 2135, 2333, 2395, 2495, 2619. These ideas do not appear in the literal sense but still they are in it: 4442.

303. Heaven's Union with Us through the Word

People who think from their deeper rationality can see that there is a connection of all things, through intermediate ones, with a First, and that anything that is not so connected will disintegrate. When they think about it, they know that nothing can exist on its own, but requires something prior to itself, which means that everything goes back to that First. They know that the connection with what is prior is like that of an effect with its efficient cause, since when the efficient cause is removed, the effect comes apart and collapses. Since this has been the thought of the learned, they have both seen and pronounced that existence is a constant becoming, so that all things are constantly coming into being - that is, existing - from that First from which they originated.

But there is no way to explain briefly the nature of that connection of everything with what is prior and therefore with the First that is the source of everything, because it is varied and diverse. We can say generally only that there is a connection of the natural world with the spiritual world that results in a correspondence between everything in the natural world and everything in the spiritual world. (On this correspondence, see 103-115, and on the connection and consequent correspondence of everything in us with everything in heaven, see 87-102)