9817. 'And you shall speak to all the wise at heart' means an influx from the Lord through the Word into all who are governed by the good of love. This is clear from the meaning of 'speaking' as influx, dealt with in 2951, 5481, 5743, 5797, 7270; and from the meaning of 'the wise at heart' as those who are governed by the good of love, dealt with below. The reason why influx from the Lord through the Word is meant is that for members of the Church the main channel by which the Lord flows in is the Word. This is so because the nature of the Word is such that all things without exception there correspond to the Divine spiritual and Divine celestial realities that exist in the heavens; and as a result of this a person shares affections and thoughts with angels, in so complete a manner that he and they are seemingly one. So it is that the world has been joined to heaven through the Word, but only among those who are governed by the good of faith and love. From all this it becomes clear that for members of the Church the Lord flows in through the Word; for the Lord is the all in the heavens, since what is Divine and emanates from the Lord, and is received by angels, composes heaven.

[2] The reason why 'the wise at heart' means those who are governed by the good of love is that the presence of wisdom in a person is attributable to the life of heaven in him, also that 'heart' means the good of love. In the Word 'spirit' and 'heart' are expressions that have regard to the life of heaven present with a person, 'spirit' being used to mean that life in the understanding part of the person's mind and 'heart' that life in the will part. To the understanding part belongs truth, but to the will part belongs good; the former has to do with faith, but the latter with love. For the understanding receives truths that constitute faith, and the will forms of good that are aspects of love. From this it is evident that by 'the wise at heart' those governed by the good of love received from the Lord are meant. The good of love is celestial good, through which spiritual good comes into being; and spiritual good is that which covers celestial good, like garments the body. And since Aaron's garments represented the Lord's spiritual kingdom lying adjacent to His celestial kingdom, and the former comes into being through the latter, the present verse goes on to say that 'the wise at heart', that is, those governed by the good of love received from the Lord, should make the garments for Aaron and his sons. As regards 'heart', that it means the good of love or celestial good, see 3635, 3880, 3883-3896, 9050; and that it therefore means the will, 2930, 3888, 7542, 8910, 9113, 9300, 9495.

6053. INFLUX AND THE INTERACTION OF THE SOUL WITH THE BODY

No one can have any knowledge at all or even be able to think about the influx of the soul into the body, or about the interaction of them, unless he knows what the soul is and also something about the nature of the soul. If nothing is known about what the soul is, nothing at all can be said about its inflow and interaction; for how can anyone think about two parts communicating with each other when there is complete lack of knowledge about the nature of one of them? The lack of knowledge, particularly in the learned world, about the whole nature of the soul may be seen from the fact that some people think it is something ethereal, others something flame-like or fiery, others something existing purely on the level of thought, others a general life-force, and others some natural force. Still greater lack of knowledge about what the soul may be is demonstrated by the varying places in the body to which people assign it. Some assign it to the heart, others to the brain - some to its fibres, others to the corpora striata, others to its ventricles, and others to its tiny glands. Others assign it to every part of the body, but these people's conception is of a vitality like that common to everything that has life in it. From this it is evident that people know nothing at all about the soul. This is the reason why the ideas they have peddled around regarding the soul are all guesswork. And since for this reason they cannot have any idea of what the soul is, very many cannot do other than suppose that it is no more than vitality that is dissipated when the body dies. This now explains why the learned have less belief than the simple in a life after death; and because they have no belief in it they cannot have any belief in anything belonging to that life, that is, in the celestial and spiritual realities constituting faith and love. This is also evident from the Lord's words in Matthew,

You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to young children. Matthew 11:15.

And again,

Those who see do not see, and those who hear do not hear, nor do they understand. Matthew 13:13.

For the simple do not think at all about the soul in the way that the learned do but believe that they will be alive after death. Concealed within their simple faith, though they are not conscious of it, is the belief that they will live there as people, seeing the angels, talking to them, and being filled with joy.