34. The Divine Infinite is present in human beings as in images of itself, as is evident from the Word, where we read:

At length God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; so God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, Genesis 1:26-27 From this it follows that a human being is an organ capable of receiving God, and that its capability as an organ depends upon its capacity to receive. The human mind, which determines that a human being is human and how far he is so, is organised into three zones in accordance with the three degrees. In the first degree is the celestial zone, in which are the angels of the highest heaven; in the second degree is the spiritual zone in which are the angels of the middle heaven; and in the third degree is the natural zone in which are the angels of the lowest heaven.

[2] The human mind, organised as it is according to those three degrees, is a means of receiving Divine influence, but the Divine influence does not penetrate further than the extent to which a person clears the way or opens the door. If he does so up to the highest or celestial degree, then a person truly becomes an image of God, and after his death an angel of the highest heaven. But if he clears the way or opens the door only to the middle or spiritual degree, then although he becomes an image of God it is not to such a pitch of perfection, and after his death he becomes an angel of the middle heaven. But if he clears the way or opens the door only to the lowest or natural degree, then if he acknowledges God and worships Him with true piety, he becomes an image of God in the lowest degree, and after his death becomes an angel of the lowest heaven.

[3] If, however, he does not acknowledge God and worship Him with true piety, he puts off the image of God and becomes like an animal, apart from possessing the faculty of understanding and therefore of speech. If he then shuts off the highest natural degree, which corresponds to the highest celestial, he becomes so far as love is concerned like an animal. If he shuts off the middle natural degree, which corresponds to the middle spiritual, he becomes so far as love is concerned like a fox, and as far as the sight of the understanding is concerned like a nocturnal bird. But if he also shuts off the spiritual part of the lowest natural degree, he becomes so far as love is concerned like a savage beast, and as far as his understanding of truth is concerned like a fish.

[4] Divine Life, which by radiation from the sun of the heaven of angels makes human beings act, can be compared with the light from the sun of this world and its radiation affecting a diaphanous object. The way life is received in the highest degree is like light striking a diamond; in the second degree like light striking a crystal, and in the lowest degree like light striking glass or a transparent membrane. But if the spiritual part of this degree is totally shut off, which happens when the existence of God is denied and Satan is worshipped, the way life from God is received is like light falling upon dark objects on earth, such as rotten wood or a lump of mud or dung, and so on. For then a person becomes a spiritual corpse.

6690. 'That He made them houses' means that it - true factual knowledge in the natural - was arranged into a heavenly pattern. This is clear from the meaning of 'house' as the natural mind, dealt with in 4973, 5023, thus the things that compose the natural mind. But because what is said here refers to the midwives, those things are true factual knowledge in the natural, 6687. 'Making them houses' therefore means arranging that knowledge into order, and it is arranged into order when arranged into a heavenly pattern. It is not at all easy to see that these things are meant by 'making them houses' unless one knows the situation with true factual knowledge that belongs to the natural mind. Something must therefore be said briefly about this. Known facts in the natural are arranged into continuous series, one series tying in with another, so that they all hang together according to the varying relationships and close associations they have with one another. They are not unlike families and their generations; for one is born from another, and in that manner they are brought into existence. This explains why things of the mind, which are forms of good and truth, were spoken of by the ancients as 'houses', the form of good that ruled there being called the father, the truth linked to it the mother, and the derivations from them the sons, daughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and so on. But the way in which true factual knowledge in the natural is arranged varies from person to person, since the pattern it assumes is imposed on it by the ruling love. That love is at the centre and arranges each fact into position around it. It positions nearest to itself the facts most compatible with it, and the rest are arranged according to their degrees of compatibility. And in this way factual knowledge is given a pattern. If heavenly love rules, then the Lord arranges them all into a heavenly pattern, a pattern like that assumed by heaven itself, thus the pattern assumed by the good of love itself. Such is the pattern into which truths are arranged; and once arranged into it they act in unison with good. At this point when the one is stimulated by the Lord, so is the other; that is to say, when items of belief are stimulated, so are charitable desires, and vice versa. This kind of arrangement is what is meant by the statement that God made the midwives houses.