The Bible

 

Genesis 1:8

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8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Divine Love and Wisdom #287

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287. We can also tell that love and wisdom are human by looking at heaven's angels, who are people in full beauty to the extent that they are caught up in love, and therefore in wisdom, from the Lord. The same conclusion follows from what it says in the Word about Adam's being created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26), because he was created in the form of love and wisdom.

All earthly individuals are born in the human form as to their physical bodies. This is because our spirit, which is also called our soul, is a person; and it is a person because it is receptive of love and wisdom from the Lord. To the extent that our spirit or soul actually accepts love and wisdom, we become human after the death of these material bodies that we are carrying around. To the extent that we do not accept love and wisdom we become grotesque creatures, retaining some trace of humanity because of our ability to accept them.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #5328

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5328. 'Or his foot' means all power in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'foot' as the natural, dealt with in 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4931-4952. Here power within the natural is meant because 'lifting up the foot', like 'lifting up the hand', means power, though 'lifting up the hand' means power in the spiritual, whereas 'lifting up the foot' means power in the natural; for the parts within the body that are above the feet correspond to spiritual things. This is especially evident from the Grand Man or the three heavens.

[2] Whenever the whole of heaven is displayed visually as one human being, the inmost or third heaven presents itself as the head, the middle or second heaven presents itself as the body, and the lowest or first as the feet. The reason the inmost or third heaven presents itself as the head is that it is celestial; the reason the middle or second heaven presents itself as the body is that it is spiritual; and the reason the lowest or first presents itself as the feet is that it is natural. By 'the neck' therefore, since this is an intermediate part, is meant the inflow and communication of celestial things with spiritual ones; and by 'the knees', since these are likewise intermediate, is meant the inflow and communication of spiritual things with natural ones. From this it is evident that 'lifting up the hand' means power within the spiritual, while 'lifting up the foot' means power within the natural, and therefore that the power meant by 'the hand' has regard to the spiritual, namely to truth grounded in good, 3091, 3567, 4932. By the spiritual is meant that within the natural which belongs to the light of heaven, and by the natural that within the natural which belongs to the light of the world; for everything belonging to the light of heaven is called spiritual, and everything belonging to the light of the world is called natural.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.