9. VII. The sun of the natural world is pure fire; and the world of nature first existed and continually subsists by means of this sun

That nature and its world - by which we mean the atmospheres and the earths which are called planets, among which is the terraqueous globe on which we dwell, together with all the productions, in general and in particular, which annually adorn its surface subsist solely from the sun, which constitutes their centre, and which, by the rays of its light and the modifications of its heat, is everywhere present, everyone knows for certain, from his own experience, from the testimony of the senses, and from the writings which treat of the way in which the world has been peopled. As, therefore, perpetual subsistence is from this source, reason may also conclude with certainty that existence is likewise from the same; for perpetually to subsist is perpetually to exist as a thing first existed. Hence it follows that the natural world was created by Jehovah God by means of this sun as a secondary cause.

[2] That there are spiritual things and natural things, entirely distinct from each other, and that the origin and support of spiritual things are from a sun which is pure love, in the midst of which is Jehovah God, the Creator and Upholder of the universe, has been demonstrated before; but that the origin and support of natural things are a sun which is pure fire, and that the latter is derived from the former, and both from God, follows of itself, as what is posterior follows from what is prior, and what is prior from The First.

[3] That the sun of nature and its worlds is pure fire, all its effects demonstrate: as the concentration of its rays into a focus by the art of optics, from which proceeds violently burning fire and also flame; the nature of its heat, which is similar to heat from elementary fire; the graduation of that heat according to its angle of incidence, whence proceed the varieties of climate, and also the four seasons of the year; besides many other facts, from which the rational faculty, by means of the senses of the body, may confirm the truth that the sun of the natural world is mere fire, and also that it is fire in its utmost purity.

[4] Those who know nothing concerning the origin of spiritual things from their own sun, but are only acquainted with the origin of natural things from theirs, can scarcely avoid confounding spiritual and natural things together, and concluding, through the fallacies of the senses and of the rational faculty derived from them, that spiritual things are nothing but pure natural things, and that from the activity of these latter, excited by heat and light, arise wisdom and love. These persons, since they see nothing else with their eyes, and smell nothing else with their nostrils, and breathe nothing else through their lungs but nature, ascribe to it all things rational also; and thus they imbibe what is natural as a sponge sucks up water. Such persons may be compared to charioteers who yoke the team of horses behind the carriage, and not before it.

[5] The case is otherwise with those who distinguish between things spiritual and natural, and deduce the latter from the former. These also perceive the influx of the soul into the body; they perceive that it is spiritual, and that natural things, which are those of the body, serve the soul for vehicles and mediums, by which to produce its effects in the natural world. If you conclude otherwise you may be likened to a crayfish, which assists its progress in walking with its tail, and draws its eyes backward at every step; and your rational sight may be compared to the sight of the eyes of Argus in the back of his head, when those in his forehead were asleep. Such persons also believe themselves to be Arguses in reasoning; for they say, 'Who does not see that the origin of the universe is from nature? And what then is God but the inmost extension of nature?' and make similar irrational observations, of which they boast more than wise men do of their rational sentiments.

1999. That 'Abram fell on his face' ¹ means adoration is clear without explanation. Falling on one's face' was the reverent way in which the Most Ancient Church, and as a consequence the ancients, expressed adoration. The reason they expressed it in this way was that 'the face' meant the inward parts, and 'falling on one's face' ¹ represented a state of humiliation of those inward parts; and from this it became in the Jewish representative Church an act of reverence. True adoration or humility of heart entails prostration before the Lord face-downwards on the ground as the natural action resulting from it. Indeed humiliation of heart entails the acknowledgement of oneself as being nothing but uncleanness, and at the same time the acknowledgement of the Lord's infinite mercy towards such. When these acknowledgements are fixed in the mind, the mind itself casts itself down towards hell and prostrates the body. Nor does it raise itself until raised up by the Lord, as happens in all true humiliation, accompanied by a perception that such raising up is of the Lord's mercy. Such was the humiliation of members of the Most Ancient Church. It is different however with adoration which does not flow from humiliation of heart, see 1153.

[2] It is well known from the Word, in the Gospels, that the Lord adored and prayed to Jehovah, His Father, and that He did so as though to Someone other than Himself, even though Jehovah was within Him. But the state that the Lord experienced at such times was the state of His humiliation, the nature of which has been discussed in Volume One, namely this, that at such times as these He was in the infirm human derived from the mother. But to the extent He cast this off and took on the Divine His state was different, which state is called the state of His glorification. In the first state He adored Jehovah as Someone other than Himself, even though He was within Him, for, as has been stated, His Internal was Jehovah. In the latter state however, that is to say, the state of glorification, He spoke to Jehovah as to Himself, since He was Jehovah Himself.

[3] The truth of all this however cannot be grasped unless one knows what the internal is and how the internal operates into the external, and furthermore how the internal and external are distinct and separate and yet joined together. The matter may be illustrated however by means of something similar, namely by means of the internal with man and of its influx and operation into the external with him. For the fact that man has an internal, an interior or rational, and an external, see what has appeared already in 1889, 1940. Man's internal is that which makes him human and distinguishes him from animals. It is by means of this internal that man lives on after death and for ever, and by means of it the Lord can raise him up among angels. It is the prior or primary form from which anyone becomes and is a human being, and it is by means of this internal that the Lord is united to man. The heaven itself that is nearest to the Lord consists of these human internals, but being above even the inmost angelic heaven these internals therefore belong to the Lord Himself. In this way the entire human race is directly present beneath the eyes of the Lord. Distance, a visible feature of this sublunary world, does not exist in heaven, still less above heaven - see what has been mentioned from experience in 1275, 1277.

[4] These inward aspects of men possess no life in themselves but are recipient forms of the Lord's life. To the extent then that anyone is under the influence of evil, both that of his own doing and that which is hereditary, he has been so to speak separated from this internal which is the Lord's and resides with the Lord, and so has been separated from the Lord. For although that human internal is joined to the person and cannot be separated from him, yet to the extent he moves away from the Lord he does in a way separate himself from it, see 1594. But such separation is not a complete severance from that human internal - for if it were, man would no longer be able to live after death; but it is a lack of harmony and agreement with it on the part of his capacities which are beneath it, that is, of his rational and external man. Insofar as disharmony and disagreement are present there is no conjunction, but insofar as they are absent man is joined to the Lord by means of the internal, which is achieved in the measure that he is moved by love and charity, for love and charity effect conjunction. Such is the situation with man.

[5] But the Lord's Internal was Jehovah Himself, since He was conceived from Jehovah, who cannot be divided or become the relative of another, like a son who has been conceived from a human father. For unlike the human, the Divine is not capable of being divided but is and remains one and the same. To this Internal the Lord united the Human Essence. Moreover because the Lord's Internal was Jehovah it was not, like man's internal, a recipient form of life, but life itself. Through that union His Human Essence as well became life itself. Hence the Lord's frequent declaration that He is Life, as in John,

As the Father has Life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have Life in Himself. John 5:26.

And elsewhere besides this in the same gospel, 1:4; 5:21; 6:33, 35, 48; 11:25. 'The Son' is used to mean the Lord's Human Essence. To the extent therefore that the Lord was in the human which He received by heredity from the mother, He appeared to be distinct and separate from Jehovah, and worshipped Jehovah as Someone other than Himself. But to the extent He cast off this human, the Lord was not distinct and separate from Jehovah but one with Him. The first state, as has been mentioned, was the state of the Lord's humiliation, but the second the state of His glorification.

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