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:

5552. CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE GRAND MAN - continued

IN THIS SECTION THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE SKIN, HAIR, AND BONES WITH IT

Correspondence is by nature such that the parts in the human being which possess the greatest amount of life correspond to those communities in heaven which possess the greatest amount of life and consequently the greatest amount of happiness there, such as those communities to which a person's external and internal sensory powers correspond, and which have a link with his understanding and his will. But parts in the human being which possess less life correspond to the kinds of communities where less life is present, such as the layers of the skin which cover the whole body, also the cartilages and the bones which hold together and support everything within the body, as well as the hairs that grow out of the skin. The identity and nature of those communities to which all these parts of the body correspond must also be stated.