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.

38. (ii) GOD IS GOOD ITSELF AND TRUTH ITSELF, BECAUSE GOOD REFERS TO LOVE AND TRUTH TO WISDOM.

Everyone knows that everything has reference to good and truth, an indication that everything owed its origin to love and wisdom. For everything which comes from love is called good, for so it is felt, and the pleasure by which love shows itself is each person's good. Everything which comes from wisdom is called truth, for wisdom is composed of nothing but truths and bathes its objects in beautiful light; this beauty when so perceived is the truth arising from good. Love therefore is a compound of all kinds of goodness, and wisdom a compound of all kinds of truth. But both of these are from God, who is Love itself and thus Good itself, and Wisdom itself and thus Truth itself. This is why the church has two essentials, called charity and faith, which make up its whole structure and are present in every part of it. The reason is that all the kinds of good belonging to the church are part of and are called charity, and all its truths are part of and are called faith. The delights of love, which are also the delights of charity, are responsible for the delights being called goods; and the beauties of wisdom, which are also the beauties of faith, are responsible for truths being called truths. It is the delights and beauties which give them life; unless they have life from this source, the different kinds of good and truth are so to speak lifeless and barren.

[2] But the delights of love are of two kinds, and so are the beauties which look as if they belonged to wisdom. There are the delights of the love of good and those of the love of evil, and so too there are the beauties of faith in truth and those of faith in falsity. Both those kinds of delight of love are called good by the people who possess them, because this is how they are felt; and both those kinds of faith are also called good, since this is how they are perceived. But because they are in the understanding they are actually truths. All the same they are opposites, and the good of one love is good, that of the other is evil; and the truth of one faith is truth, that of the other is falsity. The love whose delight is in essence good resembles the heat of the sun, which gives life and fruitfulness as it works upon a fertile soil, useful trees and crops. Where its power is felt, a paradise is created, a garden of Jehovah, a sort of land of Canaan. The beauty of its truth resembles the sun's light in springtime, or light striking a crystal vessel full of lovely flowers, and giving out fragrance when it is opened. But the delight of the love of evil is like the heat of the sun parching and withering as it works on barren soil, and harmful trees, such as thorns and briars. Where its power is felt, an Arabian desert is created, full of poisonous snakes and fiery serpents; and the beauty of falsity is like the sun's light in winter, or light striking a leather bottle, full of worms swimming in vinegar, and foul-smelling creeping things.

[3] It ought to be known that every good is formed by truths, and clothes itself by their means, so as to be distinct from any other good. Moreover, the goods of one family group themselves in bundles, and give these a covering, to make them distinct from others. It is evident from all the parts of the human body that its structures are so organised. The reason the same thing happens in the human mind is that everything in the mind perpetually corresponds to the details of the body. Consequently the human mind is organised inwardly out of spiritual substances, externally out of natural substances and finally out of matter. The mind, whose delights of love are good, is inwardly built up of the kind of spiritual substances which are to be found in heaven. But the mind whose delights are evil is built up inwardly of the kind of spiritual substances which are to be found in hell. The evils of one are gathered into bundles by falsities, the kinds of good of the other by means of truths. Since kinds of good and evil are made up into such bundles, the Lord says that the tares are to be collected into bundles for burning, and so are the things which give offence (Matthew 13:30, 40-41; John 15:6).