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.

4956. Essentially charity towards the neighbour is an affection for goodness and truth and a recognition of oneself as being nothing but evil and falsity. Indeed the neighbour is one and the same as goodness and truth, and to have an affection for these is to have charity, while the opposite of the neighbour is evil and falsity, which a person who has charity turns away from. Anyone therefore who has charity towards the neighbour is moved by an affection for goodness and truth because they come from the Lord, and such a one turns away from evil and falsity because these come from himself. When he does this, humility is present in him as a consequence of his recognition of what he is in himself; and when such humility is present his state is one in which goodness and truth are received from the Lord. These essential ingredients of charity are the message in the internal sense of the following words used by the Lord,

I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, naked and you clothed Me around, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.

Except from the internal sense no one can know that these words hold the essential ingredients of charity within them. The ancients who possessed teachings regarding charity knew these things, but at the present day matters such as these seem so far-fetched that everyone will be astonished by the assertion that those words hold the essential ingredients of charity within them. What is more, the angels present with a person do not perceive those words in any other way, for by 'the hungry' they perceive those led by affection to desire good, by 'the thirsty' those led by affection to desire truth, by 'a stranger' those wishing to receive instruction, by 'the naked' those acknowledging that no goodness or truth at all is present within them, by 'the sick' those acknowledging that within themselves there is nothing but evil, and by 'the bound' or 'those in prison those acknowledging that within themselves there is nothing but falsity. All these if taken as a whole mean the aspects of charity described immediately above.