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:

6417. 'The son of a fertile one is Joseph' means the spiritual Church, in the highest sense the Lord's Divine spiritual. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph' in the highest sense as the Lord's Divine spiritual, in the internal sense as the spiritual kingdom and the good of faith, and in the external sense as fruitfulness and multiplication, dealt with in 3969, 3971; and since 'Joseph' is the fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth, he is called 'the son of a fertile one'. 'Joseph' is used here to refer to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, while above 'Judah' is used to refer to His celestial kingdom; for there are two kingdoms constituting heaven, the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial kingdom constitutes the inmost or third heaven, the spiritual kingdom the middle or second heaven; and the Lord is seen by the spiritual kingdom as the moon, but by the celestial kingdom as the sun, 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 4060. When one says that 'Joseph' in the highest sense represents the Lord's Divine Spiritual, the following is involved: The Lord is nothing else than Divine Good. What goes forth from His Divine Good and flows into heaven is in His celestial kingdom called the Divine celestial, but in His spiritual kingdom the Divine spiritual, so that one uses the expression Divine spiritual or Divine celestial with reference to receptivity.