48. From these considerations it is now clear that the fifth state is one in which a person speaks from faith which is part of the understanding and in so doing confirms himself in truth and good; and that what he produces at that point are the animate things called 'the fish of the sea and the birds of the air. ¹ It is also clear that the sixth state exists when he utters truths and performs good deeds from faith which is part of the understanding and so from love which is part of the will. What he produces at that point is called a living creature and a beast. And because at that point he begins to act both from faith and from love simultaneously, he becomes a spiritual man, who is called an image; and this is dealt with next.

Footnotes:

3504.'So that my soul may bless you' means allying it to its own life, consequently life that corresponds to the rational. This is clear from the meaning of 'being blessed' as being endowed with celestial and spiritual good, dealt with in 981, 1731, 2846, 3017, 3406. For the good of early childhood and consequently the good of life, which is the same as the good of the natural, and which is represented by 'Esau', is not spiritual good, for the good of early childhood is devoid of knowledge and intelligence, and so of wisdom. The good of early childhood becomes spiritual good through the implantation of truth, and so through regeneration, see 1616, 1802, 2280, 2290, 2291, 2299, 2304, 2305, 2307, 3494 (end). This is how the correspondence between rational things and natural is effected, and so how the allying of the natural man to the life of the rational is effected. This allying to its own life is what is meant by 'my soul may bless you'.