Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 3745

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3745. How great this variety is, and of what nature, may be seen from the variety in the human body. It is known that one organ or member is not like another; for instance, that the organ of sight is not like the organ of hearing, and that the same is true of the organ of smelling, the organ of taste, and also the organ of touch, which last is diffused throughout the whole body. So also with the members-the arms, hands, loins, feet, and soles of the feet; and also with the viscera that lie hidden within, as those of the head, namely, the cerebrum, cerebellum, medulla oblongata, and medulla spinalis, with all the minute organs, viscera, vessels, and fibers of which they are composed; also those belonging to the body below the head, as the heart, lungs, stomach, liver, pancreas, spleen, intestines, mesentery, and kidneys; and also those which are appropriated to generation in both sexes. It is known that all of these both in general and in particular are dissimilar in form and in function; so dissimilar that they are entirely different. In like manner there are forms within forms, which also are of such variety that no one form, nor even one particle, is altogether like another, that is to say, so like that it may be substituted in place of it, without some alteration however slight. All these things in both general and particular correspond to the heavens, but in such a manner that the things with man that are corporeal and material are there celestial and spiritual; and they correspond in such a way that it is from this that they come forth and subsist.


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