52. As long as someone is a spiritual man, the dominion over him runs from external man to internal man, as is said here, 'They will have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air', and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth'. When however he becomes celestial and does what is good out of love, then the dominion over him runs from internal man to external man. This is how the Lord describes Himself, and so simultaneously the celestial man, who is a likeness of Him, in David,

You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, flocks and all cattle, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, ¹ and the fish of the sea, and that crossing the paths of the seas. Psalms 8:6-8.

Here therefore the beasts are mentioned first, the birds next, and the fish of the sea after that, for the reason that the celestial man starts with love which resides in the will. With the spiritual man it is different. With him fish and birds, which have to do with the understanding, the domain of faith, come first, while beasts come afterwards.

Footnotes:

5584. 'He said, The man issued a solemn warning to us' means the turning away from them of the spiritual from the internal. This is clear from the meaning of 'issuing a solemn warning' as the turning away of [the spiritual from the natural], for Joseph had warned them that they would not see his face unless their brother was with them (this warning is the threat of a turning away, for 'not seeing his face' means that no compassion will show itself, dealt with in the next paragraph); and from the representation of 'Joseph' as the Divine Spiritual, or what amounts to the same, truth from the Divine, dealt with in 3969, which at this point is the spiritual or truth flowing in from the internal since the expression 'the man' is used.