Air" in the Bible represents thought, but in a very general way – our capacity to perceive ideas and the way we tend to think, rather than our specific ideas about specific things. We see the world around us through the air, and seeing corresponds to understanding. We hear through the air, and hearing corresponds to being taught and obeying. Birds fly in the air, and they represent specific thoughts and ideas. And breathing itself – taking in air and passing oxygen to the blood – represents our understanding of true spiritual ideas.

In Genesis 1:26, when used with fowls or birds of the air refers to the air we breathe, but sky, or heavens where are stars, and together these terms refer to both the spiritual and natural man, and to their food, or goods and truths. (Arcana Coelestia 57, 58)

In Genesis 3:8, the only Old Testament reference to air is in the phrase "cool of the day" (at the time of the evening breeze) which signifies the period when the church still had some spiritual perception. (Arcana Coelestia 221)

In Revelation 9:2; 16:17, air signifies the divine truth, darkened by infernal falsities. (Apocalypse Explained 541, Apocalypse Revealed 423)

In Revelation 16:17, everyone in the spiritual world breathes air according to his faith. (Apocalypse Revealed 708, Apocalypse Explained 1012, Apocalypse Revealed 708)

126. Light and Warmth in Heaven

People who think solely on the basis of nature cannot grasp the fact that there is light in the heavens; yet in the heavens there is so much light that it is vastly greater than noonday light on earth. I have seen it often, even during our evenings and nights. At first I was amazed when I heard angels saying that our world's light was nothing but shadow in comparison to heaven's light, but now that I have seen it, I myself can bear witness. Its brightness and brilliance are beyond description. What I have seen in heaven I have seen in that light, and therefore more clearly and distinctly than what I have seen in this world.