THE CONJUNCTION OF THE BODY AND THE SPIRIT IN MAN IS THROUGH THE MOTIONS OF HIS HEART AND LUNGS, AND A SEPARATION TAKES PLACE WHEN THESE MOTIONS CEASE.

That this may be comprehended it is necessary for some things to be premised which may as it were bear a torch in advance. The truth will appear from the following propositions:

1. The spirit of man is equally a man.

2. It has equally a heart and pulsation therefrom, and lungs and respiration therefrom.

3. The pulsation of its heart and the respiration of its lungs flow into the pulsation of the heart and the respiration of the lungs with man in the world.

4. The life of the body, which is natural, exists and subsists through that influx, and ceases by its removal, thus by the separation.

5. Man then from natural becomes spiritual.

1. The spirit of man is equally a man.

Of this you will find many proofs in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 73-77, 311-316, 445-452, 461-469); also that every man as to his interiors is a spirit (n. 432-444). To this it may be added, that everything spiritual is in its essence man, thus everything of love and wisdom that proceeds from the Lord, for this is spiritual. Everything spiritual, or everything that proceeds from the Lord, is man because the Lord Himself, who is the God of the universe, is Man, and from Him nothing can proceed except what is like, for the Divine is not changeable in itself and is not extended, and that which is not extended, wherever it may be, is such as it is. From this is the Divine omnipresence. Man's conception of an angel, of a spirit, and of himself after death, as something like ether or air without a human body, comes from the conception of the sensual learned, which is derived from the term spirit, as meaning the breath of the mouth, also from their being invisible, and never evident to the sense of sight; for the sensual think solely from the sensual-corporeal and from what is material, and also from certain passages of the Word not spiritually understood. Yet they know from the Word that although the Lord was a man as to flesh and bones, still He became invisible to the disciples, and passed through closed doors. They know also from the Word that angels have been seen by many as men, who did not assume a human form, but they manifested themselves in their own form before the eyes of their spirits which were then opened. That man, therefore, may no longer remain in a fallacious idea respecting spirits and angels and his own soul after death, it, has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my spirit, and to permit me to converse face to face with angels and men that have died, and to observe them and touch them, and to say many things about the unbelief and fallacies of men who are still living. With these I have had daily association from the year 1744 to the present time, a period of nineteen years. From all this it can be seen that the spirit of man is equally a man.

[2] 2. The spirit of man has equally a heart and pulsation therefrom, and lungs and respiration therefrom.

This shall first be confirmed by experience, and afterwards by reason. By experience:-The angelic heaven is divided into two kingdoms, one called celestial and the other called spiritual. The celestial kingdom is in love to the Lord, and the spiritual kingdom is in wisdom from that love. Heaven is thus divided because love and wisdom in the Lord and from the Lord are two distinct things, and yet are united; for they are distinct as heat and light from the sun are, as has been said above. The angels of the celestial kingdom, because they are in love to the Lord, have relation to the heart of heaven; and the spiritual angels, because they are in wisdom from that love have relation to the lungs of heaven; for the whole heaven, as has been said above, is in the Lord's sight as one man. Moreover, the influx of the celestial kingdom into the spiritual kingdom is like the influx in man of the heart into the lungs. Thus there is a universal correspondence of heaven with these two motions, that of the heart and that of the lungs, in every one. I have also been permitted to learn from the angels that their arteries have a pulsation from the heart, and that they breathe the same as men in the world do; also that with them the pulsations vary with the states of love, and the respiration with the states of wisdom. They themselves have touched their wrists, and have told me so, and I have often perceived the respiration of their mouth. [[2]] As the entire heaven is divided into societies according to the affections which belong to love, and as all wisdom and intelligence is according to these affections, so each society has its peculiar respiration distinct from the respiration of any other society, likewise its peculiar and distinct pulsation of the heart; therefore no one can enter from one society into another that is separated from it, nor can any one descend from a higher heaven into a lower, or ascend from a lower into a higher, without causing the heart to labor and the lungs to be oppressed; least of all can any one ascend from hell into heaven; if he ventures to ascend he pants like one in the agony of death, or like a fish lifted from the water into the air. [[3]] The most general difference in respiration and pulsation is according to the idea of God, for from that idea the differences of love and of wisdom therefrom spring; and for this reason a nation of one religion cannot approach nations of another religion. I have seen that Christians could not approach Mohammedans on account of the respiration. The most easy and gentle breathing is enjoyed by those who have the idea that God is Man; and from the Christian world those who have the idea that the Lord is the God of heaven; while those who deny His Divinity, as the Socinians and Arians do, have a hard and rough breathing. As the pulsation makes one with the love of the will, and the respiration makes one with the wisdom of the understanding, therefore those who are about to come into heaven are introduced into angelic life by harmonious respirations; and this is effected in various ways; and from this they come into interior perceptions and into heavenly freedom. [[4]] By reason:-The spirit of a man is not a substance that is separate from his viscera, organs, and members, but it cleaves to them in close conjunction; for the spiritual goes along with every fiber of these from outermosts to innermosts; and thus with every fiber and filament of the heart and lungs; consequently, when the bond between man's body and spirit is loosed the spirit is in a form like that in which the man was before; there is only a separation of spiritual substance from material. For this reason the spirit has a heart and lungs the same as the man in the world, and for the same reason it has like senses and like motions, and also speech; and there can be no senses or motions or speech without heart and lungs. Spirits also have atmospheres, but spiritual. How greatly, then, are those deceived who assign to the soul a special seat somewhere in the brain or in the heart, for the soul of man, which is to live after death, is his spirit.

[3] 3. This pulsation of its heart and the respiration of its lungs flow into the pulsation of the heart and the respiration of the lungs with man in the world.

This, too, must be confirmed by experience and afterwards by reason. By experience:-It is not known that during his life in the world man has a double respiration of the lungs, and a double pulsation of the heart; because it is not known that man in regard to his interiors is a spirit, and that a spirit is equally a man. But it has been granted to perceive sensibly that these two motions exist continually in man, and that these two motions of the spirit flow into the two motions of the body. I was once admitted into these motions when certain spirits were with me, who from a strong power of persuasion were able to deprive the understanding of the faculty of thinking and at the same time to take away the ability of breathing. That this might do me no harm I was brought into the respiration of my spirit, which I then plainly felt to be harmonious with the respiration of the angels of heaven. And from this it was clear that heaven in general and every angel there in particular breathes; also that so far as the understanding suffers, the respiration also suffers; for the power to persuade that is possessed by some evil spirits in the spiritual world at the same time suffocates, consequently this power is called suffocative in reference to the body, and destructive in reference to the mind. On one occasion it was also granted to the angels to control my respiration, and to diminish and gradually withdraw the respiration of my body until only the respiration of my spirit remained, which I then sensibly perceived. Moreover, I have been in the respiration of my spirit whenever I have been in a state like that of spirits and angels, and whenever I have been raised up into heaven; and oftentimes I have been in the spirit and not in the body, at other times both in the body and in the spirit. See the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 449) for an account of the removal of the animation of the lungs and of the body, while the animation of my spirit remained. [[2]] By reason:-From these living experiences it can be seen that since every man enjoys a double respiration, one within the other, he has the power to think rationally and also spiritually from his understanding, and by this is distinguished from the beasts; also that as to his understanding he can be enlightened, raised up into heaven, and respire with the angels, and thus be reformed and regenerated. Moreover, where there is an external there must be an internal, and the internal must be in every action and in every sensation; the external supplies the general and the internal the particular, and where there is no general there is no particular. For this reason there is in man both an external and an internal systolic and animative motion, and external which is natural an internal which is spiritual. And thus the will together with the understanding can produce bodily motions, and the understanding with the will can produce bodily sensations. General and particular pulsations and respirations exist also in beasts but with them both the external and internal are natural, while with man the external is natural and the internal is spiritual. In a word, such as the understanding is such is the respiration, because such is the spirit of man; and the spirit is what thinks from the understanding and wills from the will. That these spiritual operations may flow into the body and enable man to think and will naturally, the respiration and pulsation of the spirit must be conjoined to the respiration and pulsation of the body, and there must be an influx of one into the other; otherwise no transfer is effected.

[4] 4. The life of the body, which is natural, exists and subsists through that influx, and ceases by its removal, thus by the separation.

A man after death is just as much a man as before death, except that after death he becomes a spirit-man, for the reason that his spiritual is adjoined to his natural, or the substantial of the spirit to the material of the body, so fitly and unitedly that there is not a filament or fiber or smallest thread of them in which the human of the spirit is not in union with the human body. And as the life of the whole and the life of the parts depend solely on these two most general motions, the systolic motion of the heart and the respiratory motion of the lungs, it follows that when these motions in the body cease, natural things, which axe material, are separated from the spiritual things, which are substantial, because they are no longer able to do the same work together; and in consequence the spiritual which is the essential active withdraws from the particulars acted upon, which are natural, and thus the man becomes another man. This, therefore, is the death of man and this is his resurrection, about which some things from living experience may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 445-452, 453-460, 461-469).

[[2]] It is known that when respiration ceases man seems to be dead, and yet man is not dead until the motion of the heart also ceases, and this commonly takes place later. That until this the man is not dead is shown by the life of infants in the womb, and by the life of adults in swoon or suffocation, in which the heart maintains its contractions and dilations, while the lungs are at rest, and yet they live, although without sensation and motion, thus without any consciousness of life. The reason of this is that the respiration of the spirit then continues, but there is no corresponding respiration of the body, and thus no reciprocation between the two vital motions, that of the heart and that of the lungs; and without correspondence and reciprocation there is no sensitive life, neither is there any action. What is true of the natural life of man's body is true also of the spiritual life of his mind. If the will and understanding, or love and wisdom, do not act conjointly, no rational operation can take place. If the understanding or wisdom withdraws, the will with its love becomes as it were dead; nevertheless, it continues to live, though with no consciousness of itself, so long as the understanding only ceases to act, as takes place when memory fails. But it is otherwise when the will or love recedes; then all is over with the mind of man, as all is over with him when the heart stops beating. That the separation of the spirit from the body generally takes place on the second day after the last struggle I have been permitted to know from the fact that I have talked with some deceased persons on the third day after their decease, and they were then spirits.

[5] 5. Man then from natural becomes spiritual.

A natural man is wholly different from a spiritual man, and a spiritual man from a natural man; the difference is so great that they cannot be given together. One who does not know what the spiritual is in its essence may believe that the spiritual is only a purer natural, which in man is called the rational; but the spiritual is above the natural, and as distinct from it as the light of midday from the evening shadow in the time of autumn. The distinction and the difference can be known only to one who is in both worlds, the natural and the spiritual, and who can change alternately from one to the other, and be in one and then in the other, and by reflection can look at one from the other. From this privilege, which has been granted to me, I have learned what the natural man is and what the spiritual man is who is a spirit. That this may be known it shall be described briefly. In all things of his thought and speech, and in all things of his will and action, the natural man has as his subject matter, space, time and quantity; with him these are fixed and permanent, and without them he can have no idea of thought and speech from it, and no affection of the will and action from it. The spiritual man or the spirit does not have these as subjects, but only as objects. [[2]] The reason is that in the spiritual world the objects are altogether similar to those in the natural world; there are lands, plains, fields, gardens and forests, houses containing rooms, and in them all useful things; moreover, there are garments for women and for men, such as are in the world; there are tables, food, and drinks, such as are in the world; there are also animals both gentle and destructive; there are spaces and times, and numbers and measures. All these things have such a resemblance to the things that are in the world that to the eye they cannot be distinguished, and yet all these are appearances of the wisdom belonging to the understanding of angels, and perceptions of loves belonging to their wills; for these objects are created in a moment by the Lord, and in a moment are dissipated. They are permanent or not permanent according to the constancy or inconstancy of the spirits or angels in the things of which they are the appearances. This is why these things are merely objects of their thoughts and affections, while their subjects are those things of which these are the appearances, which, as has been said, are such things as relate to wisdom and love, thus spiritual things. For example, when they see spaces they do not think of them from space; when they see gardens containing trees, fruits, shrubs, flowers, and seeds, they do not think of these from their appearance but according to the things from which these appearances spring; and so in all other cases. [[3]] In consequence of this the thoughts of the spiritual, and their affections also, are wholly different from the thoughts and affections of the natural, and so different that they transcend natural ideas and do not fall into them except in some measure into the interior rational sight, and this in no other way than by withdrawals or removals of quantities from qualities. This shows clearly that the angels have a wisdom that is incomprehensible and also ineffable to the natural man. As their thoughts are such so their speech is such, and so different from the speech of men that they do not agree in a single expression. The same is true of their writing; although as to its letters this resembles the writing of men in the world, no man in the world can understand it. Every consonant in their writing expresses a distinct meaning, every vowel a distinct affection. The vowels are not written, but pointed. Their manual employments, which are innumerable, and the duties of their callings, likewise differ from the employments and duties of natural men in the world, and cannot therefore be described in the terms of human language. [[4]] From these few instances it can be seen that the natural and the spiritual differ from each other like shadow and light. Nevertheless, there are, various differences; there are some who are sensual-spiritual, some who are rational-spiritual, and some celestial-spiritual, also there are the spiritual evil and the spiritual good. The differences are according to the affections and the thoughts therefrom, and the appearances are according to the affections. From all this it is clear that man from natural becomes spiritual as soon as the. lungs and heart of the body cease to be moved, and by this means the material body is separated from the spiritual body.