50. Of the sensual man, who is the lowest degree natural (spoken of in the doctrine above, n. 45).

The sensual is the ultimate of the life of man, adhering to and inhering in his corporeal (n. 5077, 5767, 9212, 9216, 9331, 9730). He who judges and concludes concerning everything from the bodily senses, and who believes nothing but what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands, saying that these are something, and rejecting all things else, is a sensual man (n. 5094, 7693). Such a man thinks in outmosts, and not interiorly in himself (n. 5089, 5094, 6564, 7693). His interiors are shut, so that he sees nothing of truth therein (n. 6564, 6844-6845). In a word, he is in gross natural light, and thus perceives nothing which is from the light of heaven (n. 6201, 6310, 6564, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624, 6844-6845). Consequently he is interiorly against the things which are of heaven and the church (n. 6201, 6316, 6844-6845, 6948-6949). The learned, who have confirmed themselves against the truths of the church, are sensual (n. 6316).

Sensual men reason sharply and shrewdly, because their thought is so near their speech as to be almost in it, and because they place all intelligence in discourse from the memory alone (n. 195-196, 5700, 10236). But they reason from the fallacies of the senses, with which the common people are captivated (n. 5084, 6948-6949, 7693).

Sensual men are more crafty and malicious than others (n. 7693, 10236). The avaricious, adulterers, the voluptuous, and the deceitful especially are sensual (n. 6310). Their interiors are foul and filthy (n. 6201). By means thereof they communicate with the hells (n. 6311). They who are in the hells are sensual in proportion to their depth (n. 4623, 6311). The sphere of infernal spirits conjoins itself with man's sensual from behind (n. 6312). They who reasoned from the sensual, and thereby against the truths of faith, were called by the ancients serpents of the tree of knowledge (n. 195-197, 6398, 6949, 10313).

The sensual of man, and the sensual man himself, is further described (n. 10236). And the extension of the sensual with man (n. 9731).

Sensual things ought to be in the last place, not in the first, and with a wise and intelligent man they are in the last place and subject to the interiors; but with an unwise man they are in the first place, and have dominion; these are they who are properly called sensual (n. 5077, 5125, 5128, 7645). If sensual things are in the last place, and are subject to the interiors, a way is opened through them to the understanding, and truths are refined by a kind of extraction (n. 5580).

The sensual things of man stand nearest to the world, and admit things that flow from the world, and as it were sift them (n. 9726). The external or natural man communicates with the world by means of those sensuals, and with heaven by means of rationals (n. 4009). Thus sensual things administer those things which are serviceable to the interiors of man (n. 5077, 5081). There are sensual things ministering to the intellectual part, and likewise to the will part (n. 5077).

Unless the thought is elevated from sensual things, man possesses but little wisdom (n. 5089). A wise man thinks above the sensual (n. 5089, 5094). Man, when his thought is elevated above sensual things, comes into a clearer light [lumen], and at length into heavenly light [lux] (n. 6183, 6313, 6315, 9407, 9730, 9922). Elevation above sensual things, and withdrawal from them, was known to the ancients (n. 6313). Man with his spirit may see the things which are in the spiritual world, if he can be withdrawn from the sensual things of the body, and elevated by the Lord into the light of heaven (n. 4622). The reason is, because the body does not feel, but the spirit in the body; and so far as the spirit perceives in the body, so far is the perception gross and obscure, consequently in darkness; but so far as not in the body, so far is the perception clear and in the light (n. 4622, 6614, 6622).

The ultimate of the understanding is the sensual scientific, and the ultimate of the will the sensual delight, concerning which see (n. 9996). What is the difference between the sensual things that are common with beasts, and those that are not common with them (n. 10236). There are sensual men who are not evil, inasmuch as their interiors are not so much closed; concerning whose state in another life (see n. 6311).

8521. 'And it was like coriander seed, white' means the truth within it, that it was pure. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as the truth of faith, dealt with in 255, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3310, 3373. 'Coriander seed' is mentioned because it is white; for 'white' has reference to truth, and in addition truth is represented as being white, 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319. The good of truth, meant by 'the manna', is being described now, both the essential nature of the truth in that entity and the essential nature of the good in it. The essential nature of the truth is described by the statement that it was 'like coriander seed, white' and the essential nature of the good by the statement that 'the taste of it was like that of a cake with honey'. The good of truth, which is good as it exists with those who belong to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, is entirely different from good as it exists with those who belong to the Lord's celestial kingdom.

[2] The good of truth existing with those who belong to the spiritual kingdom has been implanted in the understanding part of the mind; for in that part the Lord fashions the new will, which exists in a person when he has the will to act in accord with the truth he has absorbed from the teachings of his Church. And when he wills and does that truth it becomes good residing with him, which is called spiritual good, and also the good of truth. He indeed believes that this is positively the truth, because he has faith in what he has been taught. But he has no perception to see for himself whether it is the truth apart from that which he seems to himself to have as a consequence of having proved it for himself, partly from the sense of the letter of the Word and partly from the misconception that lend support to a preconceived notion. He fails however to consider that nothing, not even actual falsity, is incapable of receiving proof that makes it look like the truth, 4741, 5033, 6865, 7012, 7680, 7950. So it is that all people without exception, including Socinians and also the Jews themselves, believe that their doctrines are the truth.

All this shows the essential nature of the truth that is converted into good with very many members of the Church. None among them can see whether a teaching of their Church is true except those who have an affection for truth for the sake of useful services in life. Those who have this end in view are enlightened by the Lord constantly, not only while they live in the world but also afterwards. They alone are the ones who are able to receive truth, for the Lord leads them by means of good, and through that good He enables them to see truth and so believe it. All this demonstrates the origin and nature of good as it exists with those belonging to the Lord's spiritual kingdom. But good as it exists with those belonging to the Lord's celestial kingdom has been implanted not in the understanding part of the mind, but in the will part. Those with whom this good resides know from inward perception received from the Lord whether something is true. Regarding good as it exists with the one and as it exists with the other, and the difference between them, see 2046, 2088, 2227, 2669, 2715, 2718, 3235, 3240, 3241, 3246, 4138, 4493, 5113, 6500, 6865, 7233, 7977, 7992.