239. Since the three degrees of love and wisdom and hence of use must be in man, it follows that there must be in him three degrees of will, and of understanding, and hence of conclusion and so of determination towards use. For the will is the receptacle of love, the understanding the receptacle of wisdom, and conclusion is use from these. From this it is evident that, in every man, there is a natural, a spiritual and a celestial will and understanding in potency from birth, and in act when they are opened. In a word, the mind of man which consists of will and understanding, is, from creation and therefore from birth, of three degrees so that man has a natural mind, a spiritual mind, and a celestial mind, and can thereby be raised into, and possess angelic wisdom while he lives in the world. But yet he comes into that wisdom only after death, if he becomes an angel, and then he speaks things ineffable and incomprehensible to the natural man. I knew a man of mediocre learning in the world whom I saw after death and with whom I spoke in heaven, and I clearly perceived that he spoke like an angel, and that the things he said would be imperceptible to the natural man. The reason was that in the world he had applied to life the precepts of the Word, and had worshipped the Lord, and hence he was raised up by the Lord into the third degree of love and wisdom. It matters that this elevation of the mind should be known, for upon it depends an understanding of what follows.