8. VI. Those two, heat and light, or love and wisdom, flow conjointly from God into the soul of man; and through this into his mind, its affections and thoughts; and from these into the senses, speech, and actions of the body.

The spiritual influx hitherto treated of by inspired men is that from the soul into the body, but no one has treated of influx into the soul, and through this into the body; although it is known that all the good of love and all the truth of faith flow from God into man, and nothing of them from man; and those things which flow from God flow first into his soul, and through his soul into the rational mind, and through this into those things which constitute the body. If any one investigates spiritual influx in any other manner, he is like one who stops up the course of a fountain and still seeks there perennial streams; or like one who deduces the origin of a tree from the root and not from the seed; or like one who examines derivations apart from their source.

[2] For the soul is not life in itself, but is a recipient of life from God, who is life in Himself; and all influx is of life, thus from God. This is meant by the statement: “Jehovah God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of lives, and man was made a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). To breathe into the nostrils the breath of lives signifies to implant the perception of good and truth. The Lord also says of Himself, “As the Father hath life in Himself so hath He also given to the Son to have life in Himself” (John 5:26): life in Himself is God; and the life of the soul is life flowing in from God.

[3] Now inasmuch as all influx is of life, and life operates by means of its receptacles, and the inmost or first of the receptacles in man is his soul, therefore in order that influx may be rightly apprehended it is necessary to begin from God, and not from an intermediate station. Were we to begin from an intermediate station, our doctrine of influx would be like a chariot without wheels, or like a ship without sails. This being the case, therefore, in the preceding articles we have treated of the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which is Jehovah God (5); and of the influx thence of love and wisdom, thus of life (6, 7).

[4] That life flows from God into man through the soul, and through this into his mind, that is, into its affections and thoughts, and from these into the senses, speech, and actions of the body, is because these are the things pertaining to life in successive order. For the mind is subordinate to the soul, and the body is subordinate to the mind. The mind, also, has two lives, the one of the will and the other of the understanding. The life of its will is the good of love, the derivations of which are called affections; and the life of the understanding there is the truth of wisdom, the derivations of which are called thoughts: by means of the latter and the former the mind lives. The life of the body, on the other hand, are the senses, speech, and actions: that these are derived from the soul through the mind follows from the order in which they stand, and from this they manifest themselves to a wise man without examination.

[5] The human soul, being a superior spiritual substance, receives influx directly from God; but the human mind, being an inferior spiritual substance, receives influx from God indirectly through the spiritual world; and the body, being composed of the substances of nature which are called matter, receives influx from God indirectly through the natural world.

That the good of love and the truth of wisdom flow from God into the soul of a man conjointly, that is, united into one, but that they are divided by the man in their progress, and are conjoined only with those who suffer themselves to be led by God, will be seen in the following articles.

4. -II-. The spiritual world first existed and continually subsists from its own sun; and the natural world from its own sun.

That there is one sun of the spiritual world and another of the natural world is because those worlds are altogether distinct from each other, and a world derives its origin from a sun. For a world in which all things are spiritual cannot originate from a sun, all the products of which are natural, since thus there would be physical influx, which, however, is contrary to order. That the world came into existence from the sun, and not the sun from the world, is evident from the consequence of the fact that the world, as to all things belonging to it, in general and in particular, subsists by means of the sun; and subsistence proves existence, hence it is said that subsistence is perpetual existence: thus it is evident that if the sun were removed its world would fall into chaos, and this chaos into nothing.

[2] That in the spiritual world there is a sun different from that in the natural world I am able to testify, for I have seen it: in appearance it is fiery, like our sun, of nearly the same magnitude, and at a distance from the angels as our sun is from men. It does not rise or set, however, but stands immovable in a middle altitude between the zenith and the horizon, whence the angels enjoy perpetual light and perpetual spring.

[3] A man given to reasoning, who knows nothing concerning the sun of the spiritual world, easily becomes insane in his idea of the creation of the universe. When he deeply considers it, he perceives no otherwise than that it is from nature; and because the origin of nature is the sun, that it is from its sun as a creator. Moreover, no one can have a perception of spiritual influx, unless he also knows its origin: for all influx proceeds from a sun; spiritual influx from its sun, and natural influx from its sun. The internal sight of a man, which is the sight of his mind, receives influx from the spiritual sun; but the external sight, which is that of the body, receives influx from the natural sun, and in operation they unite, just as the soul does with the body.

[4] Hence it is evident into what blindness, darkness, and stupidity those may fall who know nothing of the spiritual world and its sun; into blindness, because the mind, depending solely upon the sight of the eye, becomes in its reasonings like a bat, which flies by night in a wandering course, and sometimes into linen clothes which may be hanging up; into darkness, because the sight of the mind, when the sight of the eye is flowing into it from within, is deprived of all spiritual light [lumen], and becomes like that of an owl; into stupidity, because the man still thinks, but from natural things about spiritual, and not the other way round; consequently, idiotically, foolishly, and insanely.