1092. I saw [another] angel coming down out of heaven.- That this signifies the Divine proceeding from the Lord in heaven and in the world, is evident from the signification of an angel coming down out of heaven, as denoting the Lord in regard to the proceeding Divine; for by an angel, in the internal sense, is not meant an angel, but either the Lord, or something pertaining to the Lord (as may be seen above, n. 130, 302, 593, 910), in the present case the Lord, because it is said, that He had great power, and that the earth was lightened with His glory, which means the power and presence of Divine Truth now in heaven and in the world, it being now made manifest that Babylon is destroyed, and when this is destroyed, then the power and light of the Divine which proceeds from the Lord increase; the reasons for this will be explained hereafter.

Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- This is the doctrine concerning God which is accepted by the whole Christian world, because it has come down from a general council. But before the examination of it is entered upon, a fact not known concerning the state of man's faith and love in this world and afterwards in that other into which he comes after death, shall be revealed; for unless this were disclosed it might be supposed that every one, whatever his faith, can of the Divine mercy be admitted into heaven and saved. This is the source of the erroneous belief of the Roman Catholics (Gentis Babylonica) that man possesses heaven according to the good pleasure of the pope, and by the favour of his priests (vicariorum). The unknown fact is this, that all the thoughts of man extend into the spiritual world, in every direction, almost like rays of light from flame. Since the spiritual world consists of heaven and hell, and both heaven and hell are formed of countless societies, therefore man's thoughts must necessarily have extension into societies, spiritual thoughts - which are those relating to the Lord, to love and faith in Him, and to the truths and goods of heaven and the church - into heavenly societies; but thoughts merely natural, concerned with self, the world, and the love of these, and not at the same time with God, into infernal societies.

That all the thoughts of man have such an extension and direction (determinatio) has up to this time been unknown, because nothing is known of the nature of heaven and of hell, that is, that they are formed of societies, and that consequently there is an extension of man's thoughts into a world other than the natural world; into the latter also there is an extension of the sight of his eyes. But it is the spiritual world into which thought extends itself, and the natural world into which vision extends itself, since the thought of the mind is spiritual, and the vision of the eye natural.

It has been made so evident to me from an experience of many years that there is an extension of all the thoughts of man into the societies of the spiritual world, and that there can be no thought apart from such extension, that I can declare the fact with perfect confidence. In a word, man is in the spiritual world with his head, as he is in the natural world with his body.

By head we here mean his mind, consisting of understanding, thought, will, and love, while by body we mean his senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. And because man as to his head, that is, as to his mind, is in the spiritual world, therefore he is either in heaven or hell; and where the mind is, there is the entire man with head and body, when he becomes a spirit. And a man's quality is exactly in agreement with the nature of his conjunction with the societies of the spiritual world, he being an angel whose quality is like that of his conjunction with the societies of heaven, or a devil whose quality is like that of his conjunction with the societies of hell.

6322. To all outward appearance the external senses, such as sight and hearing, flow into thought and initiate mental images there. For the appearance is that external objects activate the senses, first the external senses, then the internal ones, and speech too. But no matter how convincing that appearance may be, it is nevertheless a misconception. For what is external, being gross and material, cannot flow in and activate what is internal, which is pure and spiritual; that would be contrary to the nature of things. It is the power of the inward senses, a power belonging to the spirit itself, that perceives things, and it does so by means of the power of the outward senses. It is also the power of the inward senses that disposes an outward sensory organ to receive impressions of objects at its bidding. So it is that outward sensory organs - such as that of sight, which is the eye - instantly adapt themselves to all the objects of the senses. Nothing of this could happen in sensory organs without the inflow they receive from within; for all the fibres and small appendages, which are very many around each sensory organ, are instantly attuned to the nature of the object. Indeed the organ itself is also immediately conditioned to conform.

[2] Discussion regarding this appearance has often taken place among spirits, and on every occasion angels have responded by saying that influx does not take place from external things into internal ones at all, only from internal ones into external. This, they have said, is in accordance with order, contrary to which no influx can take place. Two or three times I have seen spirits who have been separated from association with angels because they have been led by outward appearances to believe that such influx from external things into internal ones does exist, thus that influx is physical, not spiritual. The reason why they had been separated was that they might have come to the conclusion that the hells which concern themselves with external things could flow into the heavens which concern themselves with internal ones. They might also have concluded that life did not flow in from the Lord, when in fact He is the source of all inflowing life, because He exists at the inmost point and in relation to Him everything else is external.