THE LORD BY HIS DIVINE LOVE AND HIS DIVINE WISDOM ANIMATES ALL THINGS IN HEAVEN AND ALL THINGS IN THE WORLD, EVEN TO THEIR ULTIMATES, SO THAT SOME LIVE AND SOME HAVE BEING AND EXISTENCE.

The eye sees the universe, and the mind thinks about it, first that it was created and afterwards by whom it was created. The mind that thinks from the eye thinks that it was created by nature; but the mind that does not think from the eye thinks that it is from God; while the mind that takes the middle path thinks that it is from an Entity of which it has no idea, for it perceives that something cannot exist from nothing. But such a mind falls into nature because it has an idea of space respecting the infinite, and an idea of time respecting the eternal. Such are interior natural men; while those who think simply of nature as the creator are exterior natural men; and those who from religion think simply of God as the Creator of the universe are exterior spiritual men; and those who from religion think wisely of God as the Creator of the universe are interior spiritual men; but these latter two classes think from the Lord. Now, that it may be perceived and thus known that all things were created by God, who is the Lord from eternity, the Divine love itself and the Divine wisdom itself, thus life itself, it will be well to proceed by distinct steps; and this shall be done in the following order:

1. The Lord is the Sun in the angelic heaven.

2. That Sun is the origin of all things.

3. From that Sun the Lord is everywhere present.

4. All things that have been created were created for obedient service to life itself, which is the Lord.

5. Souls of life, and living souls, and plant souls, are animated by the life that is from the Lord, by means of uses and according to uses.

1. The Lord is the Sun in the angelic heaven.

This has been hitherto unknown, because it has not been known that there is a spiritual world distinct from the natural world and above that world, and that the two have nothing in common except as what is prior is related to what is posterior, or cause is to effect. Therefore it has not been known what the spiritual is, or that in that world there are angels and spirits, both of whom are men in every respect like men in the world, with this difference only, that they are spiritual and men are natural. Also that all things there are from a spiritual origin only, while all things in this world are from both a spiritual and a natural origin. And as these things have not been known it has also been unknown that the light and heat that angels and spirits have is different from the light and heat that men have; also that light and heat in the spiritual world derive their essence from the sun there, as our light and heat derive their essence from our sun; therefore the essence of light and heat from their sun is spiritual, while the essence of light and heat from our sun is natural, to which, however, a spiritual from their sun has been joined, which enlightens man's understanding when the natural enlightens his eye. From all this it is clear that the sun of the spiritual world in its essence is that from which everything spiritual has its rise, and that the sun of the natural world in its essence is that from which everything natural has its rise. What is spiritual can derive its essence from no other source than the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, for to love and to be wise is spiritual; and what is natural can derive its essence from no other source than pure fire and pure light. From this it now follows that the sun of the spiritual world in its being (esse) is God, who is the from eternity, and that the heat from that sun is love, and the light from that sun is wisdom. Nothing has heretofore been revealed respecting that sun, although that sun is meant in many passages in the Word where the sun is mentioned, for the reason that it could not be revealed until the Last Judgment had been wrought, and the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, was being established by the Lord. There are other reasons why it was not revealed before, but they cannot be presented here. When once it has been made known that angels and spirits are men, who live together like men in the world, and that they are entirely above nature, while men are within nature, it can reasonably be concluded that they have another sun, and that that sun is the source from which everything of love and everything of wisdom, and thus everything of truly human life, has its origin. That that sun has been seen by me, and also the Lord in it, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 116-140); and in the work on The Planets and Earths in the Universe (n. 40-42).

[2] 2. That the Sun is the origin of all things.

No one can think that the universe is from eternity and that it is from nothing; therefore no one can deny that it has been created, and created by somebody, and that the Creator is being (esse) itself, infinite and eternal in itself, love itself, wisdom itself, and life itself; and that there is a common center from which He views, rules, and provides all things as present, with which center there must be conjunction, and according to the conjunction there will be the life of love and wisdom and blessedness and happiness; also that that center appears before the angels as a fiery and flaming sun, and that that appearance is from the Divine love and the Divine wisdom that proceed from Him from which everything spiritual exists, and through the spiritual by means of the sun of the world, everything natural. The human mind from its understanding, which can be raised up, if it wishes, into truths of light, can see that the universe has been created by God, who is such and who is One. Since, therefore, there are two suns, a sun of the spiritual world and a sun of the natural world, and the sun of the spiritual world looks from its firsts to ultimates, and the sun of the natural world looks from the middle to ultimates, it is clear that the sun of the spiritual world (in which is God, and which is from God, who is life itself) is the source of all things that have been made and created; while the sun of this world (in which is fire, and which is from fire, which is not life), is that by means of which those things only that are below the middle, and that are in themselves dead, have been created. Consequently to acknowledge nature, which in itself is dead, is to adore the fire which is in the sun of the world; and those who do this are dead. But to acknowledge life as the Creator is to adore God, who is in the sun of heaven; and those who do this are living. Those are called dead men who are in hell, but those are called living men who are in heaven.

[3] 3. From that Sun the Lord is everywhere present.

In the church it is known from the Word that the Lord has omnipresence; and it has been told already what is meant by His omnipresence, and what it is. It shall now be told how this can be comprehended. It can be comprehended from the correspondence of the sun of the world with the sun of heaven, and therefore the correspondence of nature with life, which correspondence serves also for comparison. Every one knows that the sun of this world is everywhere in its world, and that its presence exists by means of light and heat. This presence is such that the sun is seemingly in these, although it is at a distance. The difference is that the heat which it sends forth is fire in its origin, and that the light which it sends forth is flame therefrom in its origin, also that all things that have been created by means of that sun are recipients of it, more or less perfect according to forms and distances. Consequently all things in the natural world increase in the measure of their sun's presence, and decrease in the measure of its absence. They increase as heat makes one with its light; they decrease as heat does not make one with its light. But this sun thus operates into things that are beneath it, which are called natural things, while it is wholly inoperative in those things that are above it, that are called spiritual. For to operate into lower things is according to order; while to operate into higher things is contrary to order, because this would be operating into the things that it is from; while to operate into lower things is according to order because this is operating into things that are from it. The sun of heaven is that from which is the sun of the world, and spiritual things are those from which are natural things. From this comparison presence from the sun can in some measure be seen. [[2]] The presence of the sun of heaven is universal, not only in the spiritual world where angels and spirits are, but also in the natural world where men are; for men receive the love of their will and the wisdom of their understanding from no other source. Without that sun no animal could live, nor could any plant exist. See what has been said about this and explained above. The presence of that sun also exists by means of heat and light; but its heat in its essence is love, and its light in its essence is wisdom; and to these the light and heat of the sun of the world give supplementary aid, by adding that by means of which they exist in nature and subsist there. But the presence of the sun of heaven by means of spiritual heat and light differs from the presence of the sun of the world, which is by means of natural heat and light, in that the presence of the sun of heaven is universal and dominant both in the spiritual world and the natural world, while the presence of the sun of the world is especially for the natural world, and in that world is a servant; also that the presence of the sun of heaven is not in the extension of space and time, while the presence of the sun of the world is in these, for the extension of space and time was created with nature. This is why the presence of the sun of heaven is omnipresence. [[3]] The presence of the sun of heaven regarded in itself is constant; for the sun of heaven is always in its rising and in its power. But with recipients, who are chiefly angels, spirits, and men, it is inconstant and not in its power, for it is varied according to reception. The sun of the world corresponds to the sun of heaven in that it, too, is constant in its place and in its potency, but in the earth, which is its recipient, it becomes inconstant and not in its potency, for it is varied according to the revolutions of the earth about its axis, which make days and nights, and according to the revolutions of the earth around the sun, which make springs, summers, autumns, and winters. From all this the correspondence of the natural things of the world with the spiritual things of heaven is evident. [[4]] Again the presence of the sun of heaven in the natural world can in some measure be illustrated by the presence of the understanding and the will in man's body. There what the understanding thinks the mouth instantly speaks, and what the will intends the body instantly does; for the mind of man is his spiritual world, and his body is his natural world; and this is why man was called by the ancients a microcosm. When all this is understood a wise man can see and perceive in the objects of nature the Divine operation and spiritual influx, in a tree with its fruit, in a plant with its seed, in a grub with the pupa and butterfly from it, in a bee with its honey and wax, or in any other animal; and he can laugh at the insanity of those who see and perceive in such things nothing but nature.

[4] 4. All things that have been created were created for obedient service to life itself, which is the Lord.

Something shall be said first about life, and afterwards about the creation of all things for obedient service to life. Life is love and wisdom, for so far as a man through wisdom loves God, and the neighbor, so far he lives. But life itself, which is the life of all things, is the Divine love and the Divine wisdom. The Divine love is the being (esse) of life, and the Divine wisdom is its existence (existere); and the reciprocal union of these is the Lord. Both the Divine being (esse) and the Divine existence (existere) are infinite and eternal, for the Divine love is infinite and eternal and the Divine wisdom is infinite and eternal. And yet both of these may have conjunction with angel and with man, although there is no possible ratio between the finite and the infinite. But since it is difficult to comprehend how there can be any conjunction when there can be no ratio, this shall be explained. There is no ratio between the natural and the spiritual, but there is conjunction by means of correspondences. Nor is there any ratio between the spiritual in which the angels of the lowest heaven are with the celestial in which the angels of the highest heaven are, but there is conjunction by correspondences. Neither can there be any ratio between the celestial in which the angels of the highest heaven are and the Divine of the Lord, but there can be conjunction by correspondences. What conjunction by correspondences is has been told and shown elsewhere. [[2]] The Divine is infinite and eternal because it is the All in all of the life of love and wisdom with angels and with men. Angels and men have been created recipients of life from the Lord, thus finite; while the Lord is uncreate, in Himself life, and thus life itself. If, therefore, men should be multiplied, and from them angels and spirits, to eternity, still the Lord gives them life, and from Himself leads them in the most minute particulars, as may be seen confirmed above, where His Divine providence was treated of. In this is the eternal, and where the eternal is there is the infinite. Since there is no ratio between the infinite and the finite, let every one take heed not to think of the infinite as of nothing. The infinite and eternal cannot be predicated of nothing, neither can conjunction with anything be predicated of nothing, neither is anything made from nothing. But the infinite and eternal Divine is being (esse) itself; from which the finite is created, and with which there can be conjunction. But this might be made fully clear to many by a comparison of natural things with spiritual, between which there can be no ratio, but there can be conjunction by correspondences. Such is the relation of every cause to its effect; such is the relation between what is prior and what is posterior; such is the relation between a higher degree and a lower; and such is the relation between the love and wisdom of men and angels. But although the love and wisdom of angels is ineffable and incomprehensible to man, they are both finite, and they are not receptive of the infinite except by correspondences. [[3]] That all things have been created for obedient service to life, which is the Lord, follows in its order from this, that men, and angels who are from them, have been created to receive life from the Lord, and are nothing but receptacles, although in the freedom in which they are kept by the Lord they do not appear to be receptacles; nevertheless they are so, both the good and the evil; for the freedom in which they are kept is likewise from the Lord. The life of men and angels is to understand, and from that to think and speak, and it is to will and from that to do; and consequently these belong to life from the Lord, since they are the effects of life. All things that have been created in the world have been created for the use, for the benefit, and for the delight of men, some more nearly, some more remotely. Since, then, these things have been created for man's sake, it follows that they are for the Lord's service, who is the life with men. It may seem as if these things were serviceable for the good, because they live from the Lord, and not for the evil; nevertheless, created things furnish uses, benefit, and delight, both to the evil and the good, for the Lord says that:

He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 5:45).

That the evil have nothing of life from themselves, and that they are led by the Lord, although they are ignorant of it and are unwilling to be led, may be seen in the passages where the life of those that are in hell is treated of.

[5] 5. Souls of life, and living souls, and plant souls, are animated by the life that is from the Lord, by means of uses and according to uses.

By souls of life men and angels are meant; by living souls animals are meant, which are called in the Word "living souls;" and by plant souls trees and plants of every kind are meant. That souls of life, that is, men and angels, are animated by the life that is from the Lord, has been shown in the preceding pages. That living souls or animals are animated by means of life from the Lord has been also shown from the Lord in the preceding pages. The same is true of plant souls, for these souls are uses which are ultimate effects of life; and living souls are affections of various kinds corresponding to the life of those who are in the spiritual world, from which correspondence they might be called mediate lives. Animation means not only that they live, but also that they have being and exist. They are continually animated, that is, have life, being, and existence from the Lord; because when creation has once been completed it is made continuous by means of influx from the sun of heaven. And unless this influx were continuous all things would perish, for apart from this influx the influx of the sun of the world is nothing, for it is only the instrumental cause, while the former is the principal cause. There is a correspondence of heat and its effect with the life of the Lord's love, and there is a correspondence of light and its effect with the life of the Lord's wisdom, for the Divine love proceeding from the sun of heaven is heat in the spiritual world, and the Divine wisdom proceeding from that sun is light there. To these the heat and light of the sun of the world correspond, for everything is a correspondence. [[2]] But how the Lord from His Divine love and Divine wisdom, which are life itself, flows in and animates the created universe, shall be told in a few words. The Divine proceeding is that about the Lord that appears to the angels as a sun. From this His Divine proceeds through spiritual atmospheres which He had created for the conveyance of light and heat even to the angels, and which He had adapted to the life both of their minds and of their bodies, that they might receive intelligence from the light and might see, and also according to correspondence might breathe, for angels, like men, breathe; also that they might receive love from the heat and might have sensation, and according to correspondence their heart might beat, for the angels like men enjoy pulsation of the heart. These spiritual atmospheres increase in density by discrete degrees (which have been treated of above), even to the angels of the lowest heaven, to whom they become adapted. Because of this the angels of the highest heaven live as in a pure aura, the angels of the middle heaven as it were in an ether, and the angels of the lowest heaven as it were in air. Underlying these atmospheres in each heaven are the lands where the angels dwell, where they have their palaces and houses, also paradisal gardens, and cultivated grounds, rose gardens and lawns, which exist anew every morning, with everything in them according to the reception by the angels of love and wisdom, from the Lord. All these things are from a spiritual origin, and from no natural origin; the spiritual origin is life from the Lord. [[3]] In correspondence with these all things that appear in the natural world have been created; and for this reason like things exist there, with this difference, that these like the others are from a spiritual origin, but at the same time from a natural origin. This natural origin is added that they may be at the same time material and therefore fixed, and this to the end that the human race may be procreated, which can be done only in ultimates, where there is fullness; and further, that from the human race as a seminary the inhabitants of the spiritual world, who are angels may exist. This is the chief and the final end of creation. But a full idea of the creation or of the existence of all things in their order from the life which is the Lord is not possible, because of the arcana, which indeed are known in heaven and have been communicated to me; but as the subject is full of those things which lie deeply hidden in the sciences, it would require volumes to explain them; and even then they would be scarcely comprehensible. The following, however, is a summary of them. The sun of heaven, in which is the Lord, is the common center of the universe; all things of the universe are circumferences beyond circumferences even to the last; these He rules from Himself alone as one continuous thing, but the intermediates He rules from the ultimates; these He perpetually animates and makes active, as easily as a man from his understanding and will animates and makes active his body; influx takes place into uses, and from uses into their forms.

[AUTHOR'S MEM0RANDUM:-] (Here follows the Angelic Idea,-which may be inserted, or it may be added as an Appendix, or in notes.)

THE ANGELIC IDEA OF THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE BY THE LORD.

The angelic idea of the universe created by the Lord is as follows. God is the center, and He is Man; and if God were not Man creation would not have been possible; and the Lord from eternity is that God. Of creation: The Lord from eternity, that is, God, by His Divine proceeding created the universe and all things in it; and as the Divine proceeding is life itself, all things have been created from life and by means of life. The Divine proceeding that is nearest to the Lord appears before the angels as a sun; this appears to their sight fiery and flaming; this is so because the Divine proceeding is the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, and these so appear at a distance. (The angels add that the Divine proceeding is what the ancients represented by golden or shining and pure circles about the head of God, which modern painters still retain from the ancient idea.) They said that from that sun as a great center proceed circles, one after another and one from another even to the last where their end is subsisting in rest. These circles, of which one is from another and one after another, appearing as spread out in breadth and length, are spiritual atmospheres, which are filled with the light and heat from their sun, and through which the light and heat extend themselves to the last circle; and in this last circle by means of these atmospheres, and afterwards by means of the natural atmospheres from the sun of this world, the creation of the earth and all things on it which are for use was accomplished, and this creation is afterwards continued by generations from seeds in wombs or in eggs. The angels who knew that the universe so created was a continuous work from the Creator even to ultimates, and that being a continuous work it depends upon the Lord, who is its common center and is moved and governed by Him as a single continuous chain, said that the First which proceeds is continued even to ultimates through discrete degrees, just as an end is continued through causes into effects; or like a producing agent and its products in a continued series; also that the continuation is not only in but also around from the First, and so from everything prior into everything posterior, even to the postreme; and thus that the First and the posterior from it exist together in their order in the postreme or ultimate. From this continuity as a one they have their idea of the Lord, that He is the All in all, that He is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient, that He is infinite and eternal; and also their idea of the order according to which the Lord, through His Divine love and Divine wisdom, arranges, provides, and governs all things.

It was asked, "Whence, then, is hell?" They said, "From man's freedom, without which man would not be a man;" that man by that freedom broke the continuity in himself, which being broken a separation took place; and the continuity that was in man from creation became like a chain or a linked work which falls when the links above are broken or torn asunder, and it thenceforward hangs by slender threads. Separation or breaking was effected and is effected by the denial of God.

[Fragments FROM THE LAST PAGE OF THE AUTHOR'S MANUSCRIPT.]

BY MEANS OF THAT HEAT AND THAT LIGHT ALL THINGS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD AND ALL THINGS IN THE NATURAL WORLD HAVE BEEN CREATED.

THERE ARE DEGREES OF THAT HEAT AND LIGHT.

THERE ARE THREE DEGREES OF THAT LIGHT AND HEAT TO THE ULTIMATES OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, AND AFTERWARDS THREE DEGREES TO THE ULTIMATES OF THE NATURAL WORLD.

GOD IS THE FOUNTAIN OF ALL USES, CELESTIAL, SPIRITUAL, AND NATURAL.

ALL USES ARE IN GOD IN THEIR VERY LIFE, THUS IN THEIR BEING (esse).

SINCE GOD IS LOVE ITSELF, USES ARE OF HIS DIVINE LOVE.

USE AND GOOD ARE ONE THING.

THE DIVINE LOVE IS THE DIVINE GOOD.

THE DIVINE LOVE IS THE LOVE OF USES.

THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE DIVINE WISDOM APPEAR IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD AS A SUN.

FROM THE SUN WHICH IS THE LORD IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD HEAT AND LIGHT PROCEED.