277. Influx. Concerning the influx of heaven into the world, and the influx of the soul into all things of the body; from experience, Arcana Coelestia 6053-6058, 6189-6215, 6307-6327, 6466-6495, 6598-6626. Nothing exists from itself, but from something prior to itself; thus all things from a First, Arcana Coelestia 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056. All things even as they have existed, so also they subsist, because subsistence is perpetual existence, Arcana Coelestia 2886, 2888, 3627, 3628, 3648, 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056. Influx takes place according to that order, Arcana Coelestia 7270. From this it is evident that all things perpetually subsist from a first Esse, because they have had their existence therefrom, Arcana Coelestia 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056. The all of life flows in from a First, because it is from it - thus from the Lord, Arcana Coelestia 3001, 3318, 3337, 3338, 3344, 3484, 3628, 3741-3743, 4318-4320, 4417, 4524, 4882, 5847, 5986, 6325, 6468-6470, 6479, 9276, 10196. All Existere is from Esse, and nothing can exist unless its own Esse is in it, Arcana Coelestia 4523, 4524, 6040, 6056.

All things which a man thinks and wills enter by influx; from experience, Arcana Coelestia 904, 2886-2888, 4151, 4319, 4320, 5846, 5848, 6189, 6191, 6194, 6197-6199, 6213, 7147, 10219. A man's ability of beholding things, of thinking, and of drawing analytical conclusions, is from influx, Arcana Coelestia 2888, 4319, 4320. If the influx from the spiritual world were taken away from a man he could not live for a moment; but the man is still in freedom; from experience, Arcana Coelestia 2887, 5849, 5854, 6321. The life which flows in from the Lord is varied according to a man's state, and according to reception, Arcana Coelestia 2069, 5986, 6472, 7343. The good which flows in from the Lord is with the wicked turned into evil, and truth into falsity; from experience, Arcana Coelestia 3643, 4632. So far as the good and truth, which constantly flow in from the Lord, are received, so far evil and falsity do not obstruct, Arcana Coelestia 2411, 3142, 3147, 5828.

All good flows in from the Lord, and all evil from hell, Arcana Coelestia 904, 4151. A man at the present day believes that all things are in himself and from himself, when nevertheless they enter by influx, and he knows from a doctrinal of the Church that all good is from heaven, and all evil from hell, Arcana Coelestia 4249, 6193, 6206. But if he would believe as the case really is, he would not appropriate evil to himself: for he would cast it away from himself into hell; neither would he account good to be his own, and thus would not claim any merit from it, Arcana Coelestia 6206, 6324, 6325. How happy the state of a man would then be, because from the interior he would then see from the Lord both good and evil, Arcana Coelestia 6325. Those who deny heaven, or know nothing about it, are ignorant of the fact that there is any influx from it, Arcana Coelestia 4322, 5649, 6193, 6479. What influx is; illustrated by comparisons, Arcana Coelestia 6128, 6190, 9407.

Influx is spiritual and not physical; consequently, there is an influx from the spiritual world into the natural, and not from the natural world into the spiritual, Arcana Coelestia 3219, 5119, 5259, 5427, 5428, 5477, 6322, 9109, 9110. Spiritual influx takes place through the internal into the external man, and not conversely, Arcana Coelestia 1702, 1707, 1940, 1954, 5119, 5259, 5779, 6322, 9380: because the internal man is in the spiritual world, and the external in the natural world, Arcana Coelestia 978, 1015, 3628, 4459, 4523, 4524, 6057, 6309, 9701-9709, 10156, 10472. The appearance is as though influx passed from external into internal things, but this is a fallacy, Arcana Coelestia 3721. Influx with a man takes place into his rational, and through them into his scientific things, and not conversely, Arcana Coelestia 1495, 1707, 1940. The nature of the order of influx, Arcana Coelestia 775, 880, 1096, 1495, 7270.

There is an immediate influx from the Lord, and also a mediate influx through the spiritual world, that is, through heaven, Arcana Coelestia 6063, 6307, 6472, 9682, 9683. The Lord's immediate influx takes place into the minutest singulars, Arcana Coelestia 6058, 6474-6478, 8717, 8728. Concerning the Lord's mediate influx through heaven, Arcana Coelestia 4067, 6982, 6985, 6996; it takes place through the spirits and angels who are adjoined to the man, Arcana Coelestia 697, 5846-5866. Through angels the Lord flows into the ends from which, and for the sake of which, a man thinks, wills, and acts, Arcana Coelestia 1317, 1645, 5846, 5854; and thus He flows into those things which belong to conscience with a man, Arcana Coelestia 6207, 6213. Through spirits however He flows into the thoughts, and from them into the things of the memory, Arcana Coelestia 4186, 5854, 5858, 6192, 6193, 6198, 6199, 6319. It is difficult for man to believe this, Arcana Coelestia 6214. The Lord flows into first, and at the same time into last, things, that is, He flows into inmost, and at the same time into outermost, things, and in what manner, Arcana Coelestia 5147, 5150, 6473, 7004, 7007, 7270. The Lord's influx with a man is into good, and through good into truth, and not conversely, Arcana Coelestia 5482, 5649, 6027, 8685, 8701, 10153. Good imparts the faculty of receiving influx from the Lord, but not truth apart from good, Arcana Coelestia 8321. Nothing is hurtful that enters into the thought, but that which enters into the will, because this is appropriated to the man, Arcana Coelestia 6308. The Divine in the highest parts is tacit and peaceful; but in proportion as it descends with a man towards the lower parts, it becomes unpeaceful and noisy, on account of the things therein being without order,Arcana Coelestia 8823. The quality of the Lord's influx with the prophets, Arcana Coelestia 6212.

There is a general influx; which is described, Arcana Coelestia 5850. It consists in a constant effort of acting according to order, Arcana Coelestia 6211. This influx takes place into the lives of animals, Arcana Coelestia 5850. And also into the subjects of the vegetable kingdom, Arcana Coelestia 3648. Thought also in accordance with general influx descends with man into speech, and will into gestures, Arcana Coelestia 5862, 5990, 6192, 6211.

4249. 'And Jacob was exceedingly afraid, and was distressed' means the state when it is being changed. This is clear from the fact that fear and distress are the first stage in temptations, and that they are precursors to the turning round or the change taking place within a state. The arcana which lie deeper still within these details - that is to say, Esau's coming to meet Jacob with four hundred men, and Jacob's consequent fear and distress - cannot be explained easily and intelligibly since they are rather more internal ones. Let just this one be brought forward here. When good takes up the first position and subordinates truths to itself, as happens when a person undergoes spiritual temptations, the good which flows in from the interior is accompanied by very many truths which have been stored away in the person's interior man. Those truths cannot come into focus and be seen by him until good is playing the leading role, for when this happens the natural starts to receive light from good, and it is apparent to him which things in the natural agree and which ones do not. And this is what gives rise to the fear and distress that are the precursors to spiritual temptation. For spiritual temptation acts upon the conscience, which is an attribute of the interior man, and therefore when entering such temptation a person does not know the origin of his fear and distress. But the angels present with him know it full well. Indeed temptation has its origin in angels' maintenance of the person in goods and truths, while evil spirits maintain him in evils and falsities.

[2] The things that occur among the spirits and angels present with a person are perceived by him purely as things going on within himself. For while he lives in the body and does not believe that everything within him flows in from somewhere other than himself, he imagines that the causes of the things that go on within him do not lie outside himself but that all causes lie within him and are his own - which is not in fact the case. For whatever a person thinks and what he wills, that is, all his thought and all his affection, originate either in hell or in heaven. When he thinks and wills anything evil and as a consequence takes delight in falsities, let him realize that his thoughts and affections originate in hell; but when he thinks and wills anything good and as a consequence takes delight in truths, let him realize that these originate in heaven, that is, in the Lord by way of heaven. But the person's thoughts and affections more often than not take on a different outward appearance. A conflict between evil spirits and angels, for example, arising from the things in one who is to be regenerated, takes on the different outward appearance of fear and distress, and of temptation.

[3] These matters are bound to seem paradoxes to man, for almost every member of the Church at the present day believes that all the truth he thinks, and the good he wills and does, originate in himself, even though he says something other than that when speaking from doctrine taught by faith. Indeed his nature is such that if anyone told him that spirits from hell exist who flow into his thought and will when he thinks and wills anything evil, and angels from heaven when he thinks and wills anything good, he would be dumbfounded at anyone putting forward such an idea, for he would say that he can feel the life within himself and that he thinks from himself and wills from himself. His belief is based on that feeling and not on what doctrine teaches. Yet that doctrine is true and such feeling deceptive. This I have been allowed to know from almost uninterrupted experience lasting several years now, and to know it in such a way as to leave me in no doubt whatsoever.