23. There is one human God who is the source of everything. All the elements of human reason unite in, and in a sense center on, the fact that a single God is the Creator of the universe. As a result, rational people, on the basis of their shared understanding, neither do nor can think in any other way. Tell people of sound reason that there are two creators of the universe and you will feel within yourself how they recoil from this notion, perhaps simply from the tone of their voice in your ear. This enables us to see that all the elements of human reason unite and center on the oneness of God.

There are two reasons for this. The first is that in its own right, our very ability to think rationally is not our own property. It is a property of God within us. Human rationality in general depends on this fact, and this general property causes our reason more or less spontaneously to see the oneness of God. The second is that through our rational ability either we are in heaven's light or we draw from it some general quality of its thought, and the all-pervading element of heaven's light is that God is one.

This is not the case if we have used our rational ability to skew our lower understanding. In this case we still possess the ability, but by the distortion of our lower abilities we have steered it off course, and our rationality is not sound.

66. There are three ascending degrees in the natural world, and three ascending degrees in the spiritual world.

All animals are recipients of life. Higher animals are recipients of life in all three degrees of the natural world; lower ones are recipients of life in two degrees of that world; and the lowest ones are recipients in one of its degrees. In contrast, only the human being is a recipient of life not only in the three degrees of the natural world, but also in the three degrees of the spiritual world.

It is because of this that a person can be elevated to a plane above nature, unlike any animal. He can think analytically and rationally about civil and moral matters that exist within nature, and he can think analytically and rationally as well about spiritual and celestial matters which exist above nature. Indeed, he can be elevated into a state of wisdom even so far as to see God.

However, we must postpone discussion of the six degrees through which the uses of all things that have been created ascend in succession even to God the Creator and take them up in their proper place.

From the brief consideration here it can be seen that all things that have been created ascend to a highest being, who alone is life, and that the uses of all things - and therefore the forms of the uses - are themselves recipients of life.