176. That there are atmospheres in the spiritual world just as in the natural world can be established from this, that angels and spirits breathe, and also speak and hear just as men do in the natural world. And respiration is effected by means of the lowest atmosphere which is called air, just as speech and hearing are effected; it can also be seen from this, that angels and spirits see as do men in the natural world, and sight is only possible by means of an atmosphere purer than air. It can also be established from this, that angels and spirits think and have affection like men in the natural world, and thought and affection are only possible by means of still purer atmospheres; and finally from this that all things of the bodies of angels and spirits, external as well as internal, are held in connection, external things by the aerial atmosphere, and internal things by the ethereal atmospheres. It is obvious that, without the surrounding pressure and action of those atmospheres, the interior and exterior forms of the body would dissolve. Since angels are spiritual, and each and all things of their bodies are held together in connection, form and order by means of atmospheres, it fellows that those atmospheres are spiritual. Indeed they are spiritual because they arise from the spiritual Sun which is the first proceeding of the Lord's Divine Love and Wisdom.