8. VI. Those two, heat and light, or love and wisdom, flow conjointly from God into the soul of man; and through this into his mind, its affections and thoughts; and from these into the senses, speech, and actions of the body.

The spiritual influx hitherto treated of by inspired men is that from the soul into the body, but no one has treated of influx into the soul, and through this into the body; although it is known that all the good of love and all the truth of faith flow from God into man, and nothing of them from man; and those things which flow from God flow first into his soul, and through his soul into the rational mind, and through this into those things which constitute the body. If any one investigates spiritual influx in any other manner, he is like one who stops up the course of a fountain and still seeks there perennial streams; or like one who deduces the origin of a tree from the root and not from the seed; or like one who examines derivations apart from their source.

[2] For the soul is not life in itself, but is a recipient of life from God, who is life in Himself; and all influx is of life, thus from God. This is meant by the statement: “Jehovah God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of lives, and man was made a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). To breathe into the nostrils the breath of lives signifies to implant the perception of good and truth. The Lord also says of Himself, “As the Father hath life in Himself so hath He also given to the Son to have life in Himself” (John 5:26): life in Himself is God; and the life of the soul is life flowing in from God.

[3] Now inasmuch as all influx is of life, and life operates by means of its receptacles, and the inmost or first of the receptacles in man is his soul, therefore in order that influx may be rightly apprehended it is necessary to begin from God, and not from an intermediate station. Were we to begin from an intermediate station, our doctrine of influx would be like a chariot without wheels, or like a ship without sails. This being the case, therefore, in the preceding articles we have treated of the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which is Jehovah God (5); and of the influx thence of love and wisdom, thus of life (6, 7).

[4] That life flows from God into man through the soul, and through this into his mind, that is, into its affections and thoughts, and from these into the senses, speech, and actions of the body, is because these are the things pertaining to life in successive order. For the mind is subordinate to the soul, and the body is subordinate to the mind. The mind, also, has two lives, the one of the will and the other of the understanding. The life of its will is the good of love, the derivations of which are called affections; and the life of the understanding there is the truth of wisdom, the derivations of which are called thoughts: by means of the latter and the former the mind lives. The life of the body, on the other hand, are the senses, speech, and actions: that these are derived from the soul through the mind follows from the order in which they stand, and from this they manifest themselves to a wise man without examination.

[5] The human soul, being a superior spiritual substance, receives influx directly from God; but the human mind, being an inferior spiritual substance, receives influx from God indirectly through the spiritual world; and the body, being composed of the substances of nature which are called matter, receives influx from God indirectly through the natural world.

That the good of love and the truth of wisdom flow from God into the soul of a man conjointly, that is, united into one, but that they are divided by the man in their progress, and are conjoined only with those who suffer themselves to be led by God, will be seen in the following articles.

40. We also read in John:

As the Father has life in Himself, so did He grant the Son to have life in Himself, John 5:26.

This means that just as the Divine itself, which existed from eternity, has life in itself, so has the Human which it assumed in time. Life in itself is the very, sole life which enables angels and men to live. Human reason can grasp this by considering the light radiated by the sun of the natural world. This light is not capable of being created, but the forms which receive it are created; the eyes are designed to receive light, and it is the light radiated by the sun which enables them to see. It is the same with life, which, as said before, is light radiated by the sun of the spiritual world; this is not capable of being created, but by its continuous radiation as it were lights up and gives life to men's understanding. It follows that since light, life and wisdom are one, wisdom too cannot be created; and the same is true of faith, truth, love, charity and good. It is the forms which receive them which are created, namely, the minds of men and angels.

[2] Let everyone therefore beware of convincing himself that he owes his life to himself, or his intelligence, belief, love, perception of truth or his willing and doing good. In so far as he convinces himself of these ideas, so far does he cast down his mind earthwards from heaven, and from being spiritual becomes natural, influenced by the senses and the body. For he thus shuts off the higher regions of his mind, so that he becomes blinded to everything which relates to God, heaven and the church. Everything he may then think, reason and say is mere foolishness, because he is in darkness; yet at the same time he becomes confident that these are the products of wisdom. For when the higher regions of the mind, the abode of the true light of life, are shut off, the region of the mind below these, which is illuminated only by the faint glimmer of the world, is opened up. This glimmer, unsupported by the light of the higher regions, is a misleading illumination, in which falsities look like truths, and truths like falsities; reasoning from falsities looks like wisdom, and from truths like madness. Then a person believes himself to have the keenness of sight of an eagle, though he can see no more of wisdom than a bat in daytime.