344. In the spiritual world, I once heard two presidents of the British [Royal] Society, Sir Sloane and Sir Folkes, discussing the origin of seeds and eggs and their propagations on earth. The first attributed all this to nature, saying that from creation they were gifted with a power and energy for propagation by means of the sun's warmth. The second said that this force was continually coming from God the Creator into nature. To resolve the disagreement, Sir Sloane was shown a lovely bird and told to examine it closely to see whether it was at all different from similar birds on earth. He held it in his hand and examined it carefully and said that there was no difference. He knew that it was simply the feeling of a particular angel that was being portrayed outwardly as a bird and that it would vanish or go out of existence along with that feeling, which then happened.

This experience convinced Sir Sloane that nature contributed nothing whatever to the propagation of plants and animals. It is simply what flows into nature from the spiritual world. He said that if that particular bird had been filled in with appropriate earthly matter down to the last detail and so had become stable, it would have been a lasting bird just like our earthly birds, and that the same held true for things that came from hell.

He went on to say that if he had known what he now knew about the spiritual world, he would not have attributed anything to nature except the service it provides to spiritual reality from God, for giving stability to the forces that are constantly flowing into nature.