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.

5208. 'And Pharaoh awoke' means a state of enlightenment. This is clear from the meaning of 'awakening' as receiving enlightenment, dealt with in 3715; and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the natural, dealt with previously, from which it is evident that 'Pharaoh awoke' means a state of enlightenment within the natural. The word enlightenment is used here to mean a general enlightenment coming from the celestial of the spiritual, and so from what is within. In that which is lower the enlightenment that comes or flows from what is within is a general one, but it becomes gradually less general, and at length becomes particular as truths from good are implanted there. For every truth from good is a shining light and a source of enlightenment. This now explains the statement made just above in 5206, that truths in the natural were banished. These truths are banished so that the natural may then be enlightened generally from what is within, after which truths in their own proper order are restored there within that general light, causing the enlightenment of the natural to be made a particular one.

[2] A state of agreement between a person's spiritual and his natural, or between his internal and his external, is effected in this manner. For truths are acquired first, but then they are so to speak banished. They are not in fact banished but are hidden, at which point what is lower has a general light shed upon it from what is higher, or what is without receives that light from what is within; and in that light the truths are restored to their own proper order. As a consequence of this all the truths there become images of the general whole to which they belong, and they then exist in a state of agreement. In every single thing that comes into being not only in the spiritual world but also in the natural world, what is general comes first; then less general aspects are gradually inserted, and at length particular details. Unless this kind of insertion or filling in takes place, nothing holds together at all; for whatever is not part of a general whole and does not depend for its existence on that general whole ceases to be anything, see 917, 3057, 4269, 4325 (end), 4329 (middle), 4345, 4383.