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.

5. III. The sun of the spiritual world is pure love from Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it.

Spiritual things cannot proceed from any other source than from love, nor love from any other source than from Jehovah God, who is love itself: hence the sun of the spiritual world, from which, as from their fountain, all spiritual things stream forth, is pure love proceeding from Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it. That sun itself is not God, but is from God: it is the nearest sphere around Him from Himself. By means of this sun the universe was created by Jehovah God; by which are meant all worlds considered as one whole, which are as many as the stars in the expanse of our heaven.

[2] Creation was effected by means of that sun, which is pure love, thus by Jehovah God, because love is the very Being [esse] of life, and wisdom is the Manifestation [existere] of life from thence, and all things were created from love by means of wisdom. This is understood by these words in John: “The Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made: and the world was made by Him” (John 1:1, 3, 10). The Word there is the Divine Truth, thus likewise the Divine Wisdom; therefore, also, the Word is there called (verse 9) the light which enlightens every man, in like manner as does the Divine Wisdom by means of the Divine Truth.

[3] Those who deduce the origin of worlds from any other source than from the Divine Love by means of the Divine Wisdom are deluded like those mentally afflicted, who see spectres as men, phantoms as luminous objects, and imaginary beings as real figures. For the created universe is a coherent work, from love by means of wisdom: this you will see, if you are able to view the connection of things in order, from first principles to ultimates.

[4] As God is one, so also the spiritual sun is one; for extension of space is not predicable of spiritual things, which are its derivations: and essence and existence, which are without space, are everywhere in spaces without space; thus the Divine Love is everywhere from the beginning of the universe to all its boundaries. That the Divine fills all things, and by such infilling preserves them in the state in which they were created, the rational faculty sees remotely: and it sees it more nearly, in proportion as it has a knowledge of the nature of love as it is in itself; of its conjunction with wisdom that ends may be perceived, of its influx into wisdom that causes may be exhibited, and of its operation by means of wisdom that effects may be produced.

268. After that the two angels were affected with a desire, as was I, to see some of those people who from a love of the world are caught up in a delusionary lust or fantasy that they possess all riches. And we perceived that this desire was inspired in us in order that we might learn something about them.

Their abodes lay beneath the ground under our feet, but above hell. Consequently we looked at each other and said, "Let's go." Seeing then an opening with a stairway in it, we descended by it; and we were told to approach them from the east, in order not to enter into the mist of their fantasy, which would cloud our understanding and with it our vision.

[2] Suddenly, then, we saw a house built of reeds, being thus full of cracks, standing in a cloud of mist, which continually poured out like smoke through the crevices in three of the walls. Going in, we saw a group of fifty people on one side and fifty on another, sitting on benches, with their backs to the east and south so that they faced toward the west and north. Each had a table in front of him, and on the table some bulging moneybags, surrounded by a quantity of gold coins.

We inquired, "Is that the wealth of all the inhabitants of the world?"

To which they replied, "Not of all the inhabitants of the world, but of all the inhabitants in our kingdom."

Their speech had a hissing sound; and they themselves had what appeared to be roundish faces, which glistened like snail shells. The pupils of their eyes also seemed to glitter in fields of green, an effect arising from the light of their fantasy.

Standing now in the midst of them, we said, "You believe, then, that you possess all the wealth in your kingdom."

"Yes," they said, "we do."

"Which of you does?" we asked then.

"Each of us," they said.

So we asked, "How can each of you possess it when there are so many of you?"

They replied, "We each know that all that is his is mine, nor is anyone permitted to think, still less say, 'What is mine is not yours.' However, we may think and say, 'What is yours is mine.'"

The coins on the tables looked as though they were made entirely of gold, even to us. But when we let in some light from the east, they turned out to be specks of gold which the people had magnified into coins by a united effort of their common fantasy. They said that everyone who entered had to bring with him some gold, which they would cut into bits, and the bits into specks; and by the combined force of their fantasy they would then enlarge these into grander-looking coins.

[3] At that we then said, "Were you not born human beings capable of reason? What is the reason for this delusionary foolishness of yours?"

"We know it is only imaginary nonsense," they said, "but because it pleases the inner longings of our minds, we come in here and entertain ourselves with thinking as though everything were ours. We do not stay here, however, more than a few hours. After that we leave, and every time we do our minds recover their sanity. Nevertheless, from time to time our delusionary pleasure overcomes us, causing us periodically to return, and periodically to leave. Thus we are sometimes wise and sometimes mad.

"Besides, we know that a hard fate awaits those who craftily steal the property of others."

"What fate is that?" we asked.

"They are swallowed up," they said, "and thrust naked into some prison in hell, where they are made to toil for food and clothing, and afterwards for a few pennies. They accumulate these pennies and set their heart's delight in them. But if they do any mischief to their companions, they have to give them part of their pennies as a fine."