52. As long as someone is a spiritual man, the dominion over him runs from external man to internal man, as is said here, 'They will have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air', and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth'. When however he becomes celestial and does what is good out of love, then the dominion over him runs from internal man to external man. This is how the Lord describes Himself, and so simultaneously the celestial man, who is a likeness of Him, in David,

You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, flocks and all cattle, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, ¹ and the fish of the sea, and that crossing the paths of the seas. Psalms 8:6-8.

Here therefore the beasts are mentioned first, the birds next, and the fish of the sea after that, for the reason that the celestial man starts with love which resides in the will. With the spiritual man it is different. With him fish and birds, which have to do with the understanding, the domain of faith, come first, while beasts come afterwards.

Voetnoten:

6277. 'The God feeding me' means that same Divine bestowing life on the good of spiritual truth from the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'feeding' as bestowing life on ('feeding' or 'pasturing' is instructing, see 6044, and 'pasture' is that which sustains a person's spiritual life, 6078. But 'feeding' and 'pasture' dealt with in those paragraphs have reference to a flock, whereas 'feeding' here is used in reference to Jacob, to his being sustained with food and the necessities of life, by which much the same is meant in the internal sense since what sustains and revitalizes bodily life means in the internal sense that which sustains spiritual life and revitalizes it); and from the representation of Israel, [to whom 'me' refers here,] as spiritual good from the natural, dealt with in 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. And as this good represented by 'Israel' is the good of truth, the expression 'the good of spiritual truth' is used here. In the genuine sense 'Israel' is the spiritual Church; and the good associated with that Church is the good of truth. For truth is used to teach its members what good is; and when they act in accordance with the truth they have been taught, that truth is called good. Such good is what is called the good of truth and is represented by 'Israel' .