675. As regards the statement 'birds according to their kinds, beasts according to their kinds, and [every] creeping thing according to its kind' it should be recognized that with everybody countless genera and still more countless species exist of intellectual concepts and of desires of the will which are all quite distinct and separate from one another, though the individual is not conscious of it. In man's regeneration however the Lord draws out every single thing in its proper order, separating them all from one another and arranging them so that they may be turned in the direction of truths and goods and may be joined to them. And this takes place varyingly according to people's states, which are countless as well. Yet to all eternity all those things in man's will and understanding can never be totally perfected, for each genus, each species, and each state consists of elements which are limitless both individually and even more so when combined with others. Man does not even know about this, still less can he know in what way he is regenerated. This is what the Lord tells Nicodemus about man's regeneration, The spirit blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with everyone who has been begotten of the spirit. John 3:8.

Flesh has several meanings just in its most obvious form. It can mean all living creatures as when the Lord talks about the flood "destroying all flesh"(Genesis 7:21), or it can mean all of mankind (Genesis 6:3), or it can mean something soft and yielding such as the heart of flesh to replace the stony heart (Ezekiel 11:19) But spiritually it means the loves that dwell in the will of a person, and seem to belong to that person, to be that person. This person may be one who has not started to regenerate (or never will), or one who is in the middle of the process, or one who is near the end. In the highest sense flesh means the loves that are in the Lord's will, which are divine. This meaning is clear in the Lord's words in the gospel of John (John 6:53-56).