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.

6. -IV-. From that sun proceed heat and light; the heat proceeding from it is in its essence love, and the light from it is in its essence wisdom.

It is well known that in the Word, and thence in the common language of preachers, the Divine Love is expressed by fire; as when prayer is offered that heavenly fire may fill the heart, and kindle holy desires to worship God: the reason is that fire corresponds to love, and thence signifies it. Hence it is that Jehovah God appeared before Moses as a fire in the bush, and in like manner before the children of Israel on Mount Sinai; and that it was commanded for fire to be kept perpetually upon the altar, and for the lights of the lampstand in the tabernacle to be lighted every evening: these commands were given because fire signified love.

[2] That such fire has heat proceeding from it appears plainly from the effects of love: thus a man is set on fire, grows warm, and becomes inflamed, as his love is exalted into zeal, or into the glow of anger. The heat of the blood, or the vital heat of men and of animals in general, proceeds solely from love, which constitutes their life. Neither is infernal fire anything else than love opposed to heavenly love. Thence it is, as was stated above, that the Divine Love appears to the angels in their world as the sun, fiery, like our sun; and that the angels enjoy heat according to their reception of love from Jehovah God by means of that sun.

[3] It follows from this that the light there is in its essence wisdom; for love and wisdom, like Being [esse] and Manifestation [existere], are indivisible, since love is manifested by means of wisdom and according to it. This is as it is in our world: at the time of spring heat unites itself with light, and causes germination, and at length fruit. Moreover, everyone knows that spiritual heat is love and spiritual light is wisdom; for a man grows warm as he loves, and his understanding is in light as he becomes wise.

[4] I have often seen that spiritual light. It immensely exceeds natural light in brightness and splendour, for it is as brightness and splendour in their very essence: it appears like resplendent and dazzling snow, such as the garments of the Lord appeared when He was transfigured (Mark 9:3; Luke 9:29). As light is wisdom, therefore the Lord calls Himself the light which enlightens every man (John 1:9); and says in other places that He is light itself (John 3:19; 8:12; 12:35-36, 46); that is, that He is the Divine Truth itself, which is the Word, thus Wisdom itself.

[5] It is believed that natural light [lumen], which also is rational, proceeds from the light of our world: but it proceeds from the light of the sun of the spiritual world; for the sight of the mind flows into the sight of the eye, thus also the light of the spiritual world into the light of the natural world, but not the other way round: were it otherwise, there would be physical and not spiritual influx.

5. III. The sun of the spiritual world is pure love from Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it.

Spiritual things cannot proceed from any other source than from love, nor love from any other source than from Jehovah God, who is love itself: hence the sun of the spiritual world, from which, as from their fountain, all spiritual things stream forth, is pure love proceeding from Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it. That sun itself is not God, but is from God: it is the nearest sphere around Him from Himself. By means of this sun the universe was created by Jehovah God; by which are meant all worlds considered as one whole, which are as many as the stars in the expanse of our heaven.

[2] Creation was effected by means of that sun, which is pure love, thus by Jehovah God, because love is the very Being [esse] of life, and wisdom is the Manifestation [existere] of life from thence, and all things were created from love by means of wisdom. This is understood by these words in John: “The Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made: and the world was made by Him” (John 1:1, 3, 10). The Word there is the Divine Truth, thus likewise the Divine Wisdom; therefore, also, the Word is there called (verse 9) the light which enlightens every man, in like manner as does the Divine Wisdom by means of the Divine Truth.

[3] Those who deduce the origin of worlds from any other source than from the Divine Love by means of the Divine Wisdom are deluded like those mentally afflicted, who see spectres as men, phantoms as luminous objects, and imaginary beings as real figures. For the created universe is a coherent work, from love by means of wisdom: this you will see, if you are able to view the connection of things in order, from first principles to ultimates.

[4] As God is one, so also the spiritual sun is one; for extension of space is not predicable of spiritual things, which are its derivations: and essence and existence, which are without space, are everywhere in spaces without space; thus the Divine Love is everywhere from the beginning of the universe to all its boundaries. That the Divine fills all things, and by such infilling preserves them in the state in which they were created, the rational faculty sees remotely: and it sees it more nearly, in proportion as it has a knowledge of the nature of love as it is in itself; of its conjunction with wisdom that ends may be perceived, of its influx into wisdom that causes may be exhibited, and of its operation by means of wisdom that effects may be produced.