2. [70.] II. THE LORD HAS CREATED WITH EVERY ONE A RECEPTACLE FOR LOVE, NAMELY HIS WILL, AFTERWARDS EFFECTING THE FORMATION OF IT WITH HIM, AND ADJOINING TO IT A RECEPTACLE FOR WISDOM, NAMELY HIS UNDERSTANDING

As the two things, Love and Wisdom, are in the Lord and proceed forth from Him, and as man has been created to be a likeness and image of Him - a likeness through love, and an image through wisdom - therefore two receptacles have been created with man, one for love, the other for wisdom. The receptacle for love is what is called "the Will," and the receptacle for wisdom is what is called "the Understanding". A man knows that these two are in him, but he does not know that they are conjoined in the same way as they are conjoined in the Lord, with this difference that in the Lord they are Life, whereas in man they are receptacles of life. What the forms of those receptacles are like cannot be unfolded, those forms being spiritual and spiritual things transcending the things of this world. They are forms within forms up to a third degree, ¹ an innumerable quantity of them, distinct from one another, yet in harmony with one another, each one being a receptacle for love and wisdom. The originator forms are in the brains and are the starting-points and heads there of the nerve-fibres, along which their efforts and forces flow down to all the organs in the body, both the more excellent and the less excellent, giving rise to sensation in the sensory organs, to motion in the motor organs, and, in the other organs, to the functions of nutrition, chyle-formation, blood formation, separation, purification and reproduction, thus giving rise in each one to its own use.

These things having been premised, it is now to be seen that

(1) these forms, the receptacles for love and wisdom, first come into existence with man when conceived and being developed in the womb,

(2) from these forms are drawn out and produced in a connected series every part of the body from the head to the soles of the feet,

(3) the production of these is effected in accordance with the laws of Correspondence, and consequently every part of the body, internal and external, is a correspondent.

[2] [71.] (1) That these forms, the receptacles for love and wisdom, first come into existence with man when conceived and being developed in the womb, can be established from practical knowledge and confirmed by reason.

From practical knowledge: From the first stages of the embryo's development in the womb after conception, and also from the first stages of the chick's development in the egg after sitting commences. The first forms themselves are not visible to the eye, but only the parts they first produce, constituting the head. It is well known that the head at first is relatively larger and that from it is put forth the web for every part of the body. It can be seen from this that those forms are the starting points.

By reason: Because all creating is from the Lord as a Sun, He being Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and it is by the operation of these that the creating of man is effected. The forming of the embryo, and so of a human infant, in the womb is like a creating. It is termed "generation," because it is effected by a bringing across (traductio). Hence it follows that with man specially the first forms are receptacles of love and wisdom, and that the creating of everything else constituting a human being is effected by means of them. Besides, no effect comes forth from itself but from a prior cause, called the effecting cause, and neither does this come forth from itself but from the cause called "end," within which there is, both in effort and in idea, everything that follows-in effort in the Divine Love, in idea in the Divine Wisdom, these being the End of ends. This truth will be more fully established from things that follow.

[2] [3] [72.] (2) That from these forms are drawn out and produced in a connected series every part of the body from the head to the soles of the feet, can also be established from practical knowledge and confirmed by reason.

From practical knowledge: Because from those primitive forms nerve-fibres are drawn out to the sensory organs of the face, the eyes, ears, nose and tongue: also to the motor organs, namely, the muscles, throughout the body: likewise to all parts of the visceral system fulfilling various functions in the body. All these organs are nothing else than structures woven out of the fibres and nerves issuing forth from the two brains and from the spinal marrow. The very blood-vessels, out of which also the structures are formed, are likewise woven out of fibres from the same source. Any one skilled in anatomy can see that there are, round about the cerebrum as well as inside it, and in the cerebellum and in the spinal marrow, small spheres like little particles, termed cortical and cineritious substances and glands; and that every one of the nerve-fibres in the brains, and all the nerves composed of them throughout the body, issue and go forth from those small spheres or substances; these latter are the initial forms from which every part of the body from head to foot is drawn out and produced.

By reason: Because there could be no nerve-fibres without originating sources; and because the organic structures of the body, composed of the fibres variously woven together, are effects, unable to live, feel and move of themselves, but doing so from the sources originating them, through the continuum they together form. This may be illustrated by examples. The eye does not see of itself, but does so from the Understanding, through this continuum: it is the Understanding that sees, by means of the eye: it is the Understanding, too, that moves the eye, directs it to different objects and sharpens the sight. Neither does the ear hear of itself, but does so from the Understanding, through this continuum: it is the Understanding that hears, by means of the ear: it directs it, too, makes it attentive and adjusts it to different sounds. The tongue, again, does not speak of itself, but does so from the Understanding's thought. It is the thought that speaks, by means of the tongue, changing the sounds and heightening their inflexions at will. The same with the muscles: they do not move of themselves: it is the Will together with the Understanding that moves them and sets them in action as it wishes. It is clear from these examples that nothing in the body feels or moves of itself, but does so from the sources originating it, where the Will and Understanding reside, which consequently in man are the receptacles for love and wisdom; it is clear, too, that these are the first forms, the sensory and motor organs being forms derived from them; for influx follows the same course that formation has taken, there being no influx from the organs into the first forms, but from the first forms into the organs. This latter influx is spiritual influx, whereas the other is natural, or, as it is also termed, physical influx.

[3] [4] [73.] (3) The production of these is effected in accordance with the laws of Correspondence, and consequently every part of the body, internal and external, is a correspondent. Hitherto no one in the world has known what "Correspondence" is, because no one has known what the "spiritual" is, and Correspondence exists between what is natural and what is spiritual. Whenever anything derived from what is spiritual as its origin and cause, is made visible and perceptible before the senses, then there is Correspondence between them. Such correspondence exists between the spiritual and natural things in man: the spiritual things are all things of his love and wisdom, consequently all things of his Will and Understanding, and the natural things are all things of his body. These latter, because they have come into existence from the former and continue to draw their existence from them, that is, to subsist therefrom, are correspondents, and in consequence, the two act as one, just as end, cause and effect do. Thus, the face acts as one with the affections of the lower mind (animus), ² the speech acts as one with the thought, and the actions of every member act as one with the Will; similarly with the rest of the body. The universal law in regard to correspondences is that the spiritual thing conditions itself for the use that is its end in view, and then, by means of heat and light, actuates the use and regulates it, and clothes it with intermediary things provided for that purpose, so that finally a form is created serving the end in view. In that form, what is spiritual occupies the position of "end," the use the position of "cause," and what is natural the position of "effect"; in the spiritual world, however, what is substantial is in place of what is natural. All things in man are forms of this description.

[5] More about Correspondence can be seen in the work HEAVEN AND HELL, Nos. 87-102, 103-115: and about various correspondences in ARCANA CAELESTIA, namely, the correspondence of the face and its expressions with the affections of the mind, Nos. 1568, 2988-2989, 3631, 4796-4797, 4800, 5165, 5168, 5695, 9306: the correspondence of the body in posture and action with intellectual and voluntary things, Nos. 2988, 3632, 4215: the correspondence of the

Senses in general, Nos. 4318-4330;

Eyes and sight, Nos. 4403-4420;

Nose and smell, Nos. 4624-4634;

Ears and hearing, Nos. 4652-4660;

Tongue and taste, Nos. 4791-4805;

Hands, arms, shoulders and feet, Nos. 4931-4953;

Loins and organs of generation, Nos. 5050-5062;

Viscera inside the body, in particular the stomach, the thymus gland, and the receptacle and ducts of the chyle, Nos. 5171-5189;

Spleen, No. 9698;

Peritonaeum, kidneys and bladder, Nos. 5377-5396;

Skin and bones, Nos. 5552-5573;

Xiphoid (or ensiform) cartilage, No. 9236;

Memory of abstract things, No. 6808;

Memory of material things, No. 7253:

The correspondence of heaven with man, Nos. 911, 1900, 1928, 2996, 2998, 3634, 3636-3643, 3741-3745, 3884, 4041, 4279, 4523-4524, 4625, 6013, 6057, 9279, 9632: the knowledge of correspondences with the ancients was the chief of knowledges, specially with the orientals, though it has at the present day become completely lost, Nos. 3021, 3419, 3472-3485, 4280, 4749, 4844, 4964, 4966, 5702, 6004, 6692, 7097, 7729, 7779, 9391, 10252, 10407: without a knowledge of correspondences the Word is not understood, Nos. 2890-2893, 2987-3003, 3213-3227, 3472-3485, 8615, 10687: all things seen in the heavens are correspondents, Nos. 1521, 1532, 1619-1625, 1807-1808, 1971, 1974, 1977, 1980-1981, 2299, 2601, 3213-3226, 3348, 3350, 3475, 3485, 3745, 9481, 9575-9577: all things in the natural world and its three kingdoms correspond to all things in the spiritual world, Nos. 1632, 1881, 2758, 2890-2893, 2987-3003, 3213-3227, 3483, 3624-3649, 4044, 4053, 4116, 4366, 4939, 5116, 5377, 5428, 5477, 8211, 9280.

In addition to the above, the ARCANA CAELESTIA treats of the correspondence of the natural sense of the Word, which is its literal sense, with spiritual things which are the things of love and wisdom in the heavens from the Lord, these things constituting its internal sense: this correspondence, moreover, you may see confirmed in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, Nos. 5-26, and further on in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE Nos. 27-69. To form an idea of the correspondence of the Will and Understanding, what has been said above may be consulted, HEAVEN AND HELL 366-367. ³

Footnotes:

3636. It is an entirely general and all-embracing law that the Lord is the Sun of heaven and that this is the source of all the light in the next life; that nothing at all from the light of the world is visible to angels and spirits, that is, to beings in the next life; and also that the light of the world which comes from the sun is to angels nothing else than thick darkness. From the Sun of heaven, or the Lord, comes not only light but also warmth; but these are spiritual light and spiritual warmth. The light that strikes their eyes is seen as light but it holds intelligence and wisdom within it since it is the outward manifestation of these. And the warmth is experienced by their senses as warmth but has love within it since it is the outward manifestation of that love. This being so, love is called spiritual warmth and is also the producer of the warmth which man's life possesses, while intelligence is called spiritual light and is also the producer of the light which his life possesses. From this all-inclusive correspondence all other correspondences are derived, for every single thing has regard to good which belongs to love and to truth which belongs to intelligence.

1861. 'And behold, a smoking furnace' means grossest falsity, and 'a flaming torch' the heat of evil desires. This is clear from the meaning of 'a smoking furnace' as gross falsity, and from the meaning of 'a flaming torch' as the heat of evil desires. The expression 'a smoking furnace' is used because anyone, especially a member of the Church, who has some knowledge of the truth, and yet does not acknowledge it but at heart denies it, and leads a life pursuing things that are contrary to the truth, is seen as nothing other than a smoking furnace, he himself as 'the furnace', and the falsity arising from his hatred as 'the smoke'. Evil desires out of which falsities arise are seen as nothing other than torches of fire from such a furnace, as is also clear from the representatives in the next life which have been described from experience in 814, 1528. It is desires belonging to hatred, revenge, cruelty, and adultery - especially when mingled with deceit - that are seen as such and become such things.

[2] That in the Word such are meant by a furnace, smoke, and fire, becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Everyone is a hypocrite and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. For wickedness burns like a fire, it consumes brier and thorn, and kindles the entangled boughs of the wood, and they surge up in an uprising of smoke. Through the wrath of Jehovah Zebaoth the earth has been darkened, and the people has become as fuel for the fire; a man will not spare his brother. Isaiah 9:17-19.

Here 'fire' stands for hatred, 'the rising up of smoke from it' for falsities of that kind. Hatred is described by the statement that 'a man will not spare his brother'. Such people, when looked at by angels, appear exactly like the things described here.

[3] In Joel,

I will give portents in the heavens and on earth, blood and fire, and columns of smote. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes. Joel 2:30-31.

Here 'fire' stands for hatred, 'columns of smoke 'for falsities, 'sun' for charity, and 'moon' for faith.

[4] In Isaiah,

The land will become burning pitch. Night and day it will not be quenched; its smoke will go up eternally. Isaiah 34:9-10.

'Burning pitch' stands for dreadful evil desires, 'smoke' for falsities.

[5] In Malachi,

Behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant and every evil-doer will be stubble; and the day that is coming will burn them up; it will leave them neither root nor branch. Malachi 4:1.

'A burning furnace' stands for the same things as before. 'A root' stands for charity, 'a branch' for truth, which will not be left.

[6] In Hosea,

Ephraim has become guilty through Baal. It will be like chaff that is driven by the whirlwind from the threshing-floor, and like smoke from a chimney. Hosea 13:1, 3.

'Ephraim' stands for one with understanding who has become such.

[7] In Isaiah,

The strong will be as tow, and his work as a spark, and both of them will burn together, with none to quench them. Isaiah 1:31.

This stands for the fact that people governed by self-love - or what amounts to the same, by hatred against the neighbour - will be burnt up by their own evil desires. In John,

Babylon has become the dwelling-place of demons. Those cried out who saw the smoke of her burning. The smoke goes up for ever and ever. Revelation 18:2, 18; 19:3.

[8] In the same book,

He opened the pit of the abyss, from which there went up smoke out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace. And the sun was darkened, and the air, with the smoke of the pit. Revelation 9:2.

In the same book,

Out of the mouths of the horses there went forth fire, and smoke, and brimstone. By these a third part of mankind was killed - by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone which went forth out of their mouths. Revelation 9:17-18.

In the same book,

He who worships the beast will drink ¹ from the wine of God's anger, poured unmixed as it is in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone. Revelation 14:9-10.

In the same book,

The fourth angel poured out his bowl into the sun, and it was allowed to scorch men with fire; therefore men were burned by the fierce heat, and they blasphemed the name of God. Revelation 16:8-9.

And it is in like manner said that

They were thrown into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. Revelation 19:20; 20:14-15; 21:8.

[9] In all of these places 'fire' stands for the evil desires, 'smoke' for the falsities, which will reign in the last times. These thing as they actually exist in the next life were seen by John following the opening of his interior sight. Similar things are also seen by spirits, and by souls after death. These references show what hell-fire is, that it is nothing other than hatred, revenge, and cruelty, or what amounts to the same, self-love, which passes into such a visible form. As long as a person is in his bodily life, no matter how different his outward appearance might seem to be, he cannot be seen by the angels, when they look at him closely, in any other way than this; that is, his hatred is not seen by them except as 'flaming torches' nor the falsities coming from it except as 'smoking furnaces'.

[10] Of this fire the Lord speaks in Matthew as follows,

Every tree not bearing good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. Matthew 3:10; Luke 3:9.

'Good fruit' is used to mean charity, and anyone who deprives himself of this 'cuts himself down and casts himself into such a fire'. In the same gospel,

The Son of Man will send His angels, who will gather out of His kingdom all offences, and those who work iniquity, and will send them into the furnace of fire. Matthew 13:41-42, 50.

Here the meaning is similar. In the same gospel,

The king will say ² to those on his left hand, Depart from me, O cursed ones, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Matthew 25:41.

Here the meaning is similar.

[11] Where it is said that they were to be sent into eternal fire, the Gehenna of fire, and that their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched in Matthew 18:8-9; Mark 9:43-49, the meaning is similar. In Luke,

Send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. Luke 16:24.

Here the meaning is similar.

[12] People who have no knowledge of the arcana of the Lord's kingdom imagine that the Lord sends the wicked down into hell, that is, into the kind of fire which, as has been stated, is the manifestation of hatred. But the truth of the matter is altogether different, for it is the person himself, or the devil-spirit himself, who casts himself down. Yet because it appears as though the Lord casts down, it has been spoken of in the Word in that way - according to the appearance, indeed according to the illusions of the senses. This was especially necessary with the Jews, who were totally unwilling to accept anything if it did not coincide with their own sensory perceptions, no matter what illusions these might entail. This is why the sense of the letter, especially the prophetical sections, is full of such ideas, as in Jeremiah,

[13] Thus said Jehovah, Execute judgement in the morning, and deliver him who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor, lest My wrath go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it because of the wickedness of their works. Jeremiah 21:12.

'Executing judgement' is declaring the truth. 'Delivering him who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor' is doing a good work of charity. 'Fire' stands for the hellish punishment of those who do not do these things, that is, who pass their time clinging to falsity that is the product of hatred. In the sense of the letter such fire and anger are attributed to Jehovah, but in the internal sense it is quite the reverse.

[14] Similarly in Joel,

The day of Jehovah, fire devours before him, and behind him a flame burns. Joel 2:1, 3.

In David,

Smoke went up out of His nose, and fire out of His mouth devoured; glowing coals flamed forth from Him; and there was thick darkness under His feet. Psalms 18:8-9.

In Moses,

A fire has flared up in My anger, and will burn right down to the lowest hell, and will devour the land and its increase, and will set on fire the foundations of the mountains. Deuteronomy 32:22.

Here 'a fire' stands for the hatred, 'smoke' for the falsities, that reside with a person, which are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord for the reasons that have been stated. To the hells also it seems that Jehovah or the Lord does the things described, but quite the reverse is the case. It is they who do them because they dwell in the fires of hatred. From this it is evident how easily a person can sink into delusions if the internal sense of the Word is not known.

[15] It was similar with the smoke and fire which the people saw coming from Mount Sinai when the Law was given; for Jehovah or the Lord is seen by everyone according to his character and disposition. By celestial angels He is seen as the sun, by spiritual angels as the moon, by all who are good as light of varying delightfulness and loveliness; but by the evil as smoke and as devouring fire. And because the Jews had no charity at all when the Law was given, but self-love and love of the world reigned among them, and so nothing but evils and falsities, He was therefore seen by them as smoke and fire, while in the same instant He was seen by angels as the sun and heavenly light.

[16] The fact that He was seen thus by the Jews, because their character was such, is clear in Moses,

The glory of Jehovah dwelt over Mount Sinai. And the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain, before the eyes of the children of Israel. Exodus 24:16-17.

In the same book,

Mount Sinai was smoking, the whole of it, because Jehovah came down upon it in fire and its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. Exodus 19:18.

And elsewhere in the same author,

You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire even to the heart of heaven, with darkness and cloud and thick darkness. And Jehovah spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. Deuteronomy 4:11-12; 5:22.

Also in the same,

When you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to Me and you said, Why should we die? For this great fire will devour us; if we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more we shall die. Deuteronomy 5:23-25.

[17] The same would be the case if anyone else who spends his time hating and performing filthy deeds that are the product of hatred were to see the Lord. He would inevitably see Him from his own hatred and the filthy deeds that are the product of it. These things being the recipients of the rays of good and truth from Him, they would convert those rays into that type of fire, smoke, and thick darkness. The same places that have been quoted also show what' a smoking furnace' is, and what 'a burning torch' is, namely the grossest falsity and the filthiest evil which took possession of the Church in its last times.

Footnotes: