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.

1001. 'Blood' means charity, as becomes clear from many considerations, and so means the new will part which a regenerate spiritual person receives from the Lord. This new will part is identical with charity, for it is from charity that the new will takes form. Indeed charity, or love, is the essential element or the life of the will, for nobody can possibly say he wills something unless he takes delight in it or loves it. When people say they have something in mind this does not imply that they will it, unless will is implicit in thought. This new will which is one of charity is 'the blood' here. It is not the person's own but the Lord's residing with him. And because it is the Lord's it must never be mixed together with things that belong to the person's own will which, as stated, is so foul. This was the reason why in the representative Church people were commanded not to eat flesh with its soul, that is, not to eat the blood. That is to say, they were not to mix the one with the other. Because 'blood' meant charity it meant that which was holy, and because 'flesh' meant what belonged to the merely human will, it meant that which was unholy. And because these, being opposites, were quite separate, people were forbidden to eat blood. For in those times 'the eating of flesh together with the blood' was representative in heaven of profanation, or the mixing together of holy and unholy - which representation in heaven could do nothing else than strike the angels with horror. For at that period of time all things that took place among members of the Church were converted among angels - according to the meaning such things had in the internal sense - into corresponding spiritual representations.

[2] Since the nature of everything depends on that of the person to whom it refers, the same holds true with regard to the meaning of blood. When it refers to a regenerate spiritual person 'blood' means charity or love towards the neighbour. When it refers to a regenerate celestial person it means love to the Lord. But when it refers to the Lord it means the whole of His Human Essence, and so Love itself, which is His mercy towards the human race. Consequently since 'blood' in general means love and what belongs to love, it means heavenly things that are the Lord's alone, and so in reference to man it means the heavenly things a person receives from the Lord. The heavenly things that a regenerate spiritual person receives from the Lord are celestial-spiritual. These in the Lord's Divine mercy will be dealt with elsewhere.

[3] That 'blood' means heavenly things, and in the highest sense meant the Lord's Human Essence, and so Love itself, which is His mercy towards the human race, becomes clear from the sacredness that the Jewish representative Church was required to attach to blood. For this reason blood was called 'the blood of the covenant'. It was sprinkled over the people, and also, together with the anointing oil, over Aaron and his sons. And [the blood] of every burnt offering and sacrifice was sprinkled over and around the altar. For these details, see Exodus 12:7, 13, 22-23; 24:6, 8; Leviticus 1:5, 11, 15; 4:6-7, 17-18, 25, 30, 34; 5:9; 16:12-15; 18, 19; Numbers 18:17; Deuteronomy 12:27.

[4] Because blood was held to be so holy, and what belonged to the merely human will was so unholy, they were strictly forbidden to eat blood because this represented the profanation of what is holy, as in Moses,

It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, in all your dwelling-places, that you shall not eat any fat or any blood. Leviticus 3:17.

'Fat' stands for celestial life, and 'blood' in this instance for celestial-spiritual life. The celestial-spiritual is that which is spiritual having a celestial origin, as with the Most Ancient Church. With them love to the Lord was the celestial because this had been implanted in their will, while that which was celestial-spiritual with them was faith flowing from it, dealt with in 30-38, 337, 793, 398. But with a spiritual person the celestial does not exist, only the celestial-spiritual, because charity is implanted in the understanding part of his mind.

In the same author,

As for anyone from the house of Israel or from the sojourner sojourning among them who eats any blood, I will set My face ¹ against the soul eating blood and will cut him off from among his people, for the soul of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the altar, to make atonement for your souls, for the blood itself will make atonement by reason of the soul. The soul of all flesh is the blood of it; everyone eating it shall be cut off. Leviticus 17:10-11, 14.

Here it is plainly stated that the soul of the flesh is in the blood and that the soul of [all] flesh is the blood, or that which is celestial, that is, that which is holy and is the Lord's.

[5] In the same author,

Be sure that you do not eat blood, for the blood is the soul and you shall not eat the soul with the flesh. Deuteronomy 12:23-25.

From these words similarly it is clear that the blood is called the soul, that is, celestial life, or that which is celestial, and was represented by the burnt offerings and sacrifices of that Church. In a similar way, it was the requirement not to mingle that which was celestial - the Lord's Proprium, which alone is celestial and holy - with man's proprium, which is unholy, that was represented also by their being forbidden to make a sacrifice of, that is, to offer, the blood of the sacrifice with anything leavened, Exodus 23:18; 34:25. That which was 'leavened' meant that which was corrupt and filthy.

[6] The reason Why 'blood' is called the soul and means the holiness of charity, and why the holiness of love was represented in the Jewish Church by 'blood', is that the life of the body lies in the blood. And because the life of the body lies in the blood it is its ultimate soul, so that the blood therefore may be called the bodily soul, or the place where a person's bodily life resides. And because in representative Churches internal things were represented by external, the soul or celestial life was therefore represented by 'the blood'.

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