1. In man there is an angelic mind.
2. Such a mind can be formed only in man.
3. It cannot be procreated and be multiplied by procreations.
4. From this spirits and angels derive the ability to subsist and to live to eternity;
5. And of being adjoined and conjoined to the human race;
6. And thus heaven exists, which was the end in creation.
1. In man there is an angelic mind.
It is known in the Christian world that man is born for heaven, and that if he
lives well he will come into heaven, and will there be associated with angels as
one of them; also that a soul or mind has been given him which is such that it
will live to eternity; also that this mind viewed in itself is wisdom from the
Lord derived from love to the Lord; and that the angels have a like mind. This
makes clear that there is in man an angelic mind. To this may be added that this
mind is the man himself; for every man is a man by virtue of this mind, and such
as this mind is such is the man. The body with which this mind is clothed and
compassed in the world is not in itself the man, for the body cannot be wise
from the Lord and love Him from itself, but only from its mind; consequently the
body is separated and cast off when the mind is about to depart and become an
angel. And then man comes into angelic wisdom, because the higher degrees of the
life of his mind are opened; for every man has three degrees of life; the lowest
degree is natural, and man is in that while in the world; the second degree is
spiritual, and in that is every angel in the lower heavens; the third degree is
celestial, and in that is every angel in the higher heavens. And man is an angel
so far as the two higher degrees are opened in him in the world by means of
wisdom from the Lord and by means of love to Him. And yet in the world man does
not know that these degrees have been opened. This he does not know until he has
been separated from the first degree which is natural; and the separation is
effected through the death of the body. That he is then wise like an angel,
though not so in the world, it has been granted me both to see and hear. I have
seen in the heavens many of each sex who were known to me in the world, and who,
while they lived there, believed in simplicity those things that are from the
Lord in the Word, and had lived faithfully according to them; and these were
heard in heaven speaking things ineffable, as is said of the angels.
2. Such a mind can be formed only in man.
For this there are many reasons. For all Divine influx is from first things into
ultimates, and through a connection with ultimates into intermediates, and thus
the Lord binds together all things of creation, and for this reason He is called
"the First and the Last." For the same reason He came into the world and put on
a human body and therein glorified Himself, that from firsts and also from
ultimates He might govern the universe, both heaven and the world. The same is
true of every Divine operation. This is so because in ultimates all things
co-exist, for all things that are in successive order are in ultimates in
simultaneous order; consequently all things that are in simultaneous order are
in a continuous connection with all things in successive order. This makes clear
that the Divine in the ultimate is in its fullness. What successive order is and
the nature of it, and what simultaneous order is and the nature of it, may be
seen above. From this it is clear that all creation has been effected in
ultimates, and that every Divine operation passes through to ultimates and there
creates and operates. That the angelic mind is formed in man is evident from
man's formation in the womb, also from his formation after birth, also from the
law of Divine order that all things should return from ultimates to the first
from which they are, and man to the Creator from whom he is.
This is
evident from the formation of man in the womb, as can be seen from what has been
said above, where it was shown that by life that is from the Lord man is fully
formed in the womb for birth, for the reception of life from the Lord, for the
reception of love by means of a future will, and for the reception of wisdom by
means of a future understanding, which together constitute the mind which is
capable of becoming angelic.
This is evident from man's formation after
birth, in that all the means have been provided that man may become such a mind;
for every nation has a religion, and the Lord's presence is everywhere, and
there is a conjunction with Him according to the love and wisdom therefrom. Thus
there is in every man a capacity to be formed, and in one who desires it there
is from his infancy to old age a continual formation for heaven, that he may
become an angel.
This is evident from the law of Divine order that all
things should return from ultimates to the first from which they are, as can be
seen from every created thing in the world. The seed is the first thing of a
tree. From the seed the tree rises out of the earth, puts forth branches,
blossoms, produces fruit, and stores up seed therein, and thus returns to that
from which it was. This is true of every shrub, plant, and flower. Also seed is
the first thing of the animal, which is formed for birth either in the matrix or
the egg, and afterwards grows and becomes an animal of the same kind, and when
it has come to maturity has seed in itself. Thus everything in the animal
kingdom, like everything in the vegetable, from its first rises to its last, and
from its last rises again to its first from which it was. The same is true of
man, but with this difference, that the first of an animal and of a vegetable is
natural, consequently when it has risen it relapses into nature; while the first
of man is spiritual like his soul, receptive of Divine love and Divine wisdom;
and when this is separated from the body, which relapses into nature, it must
needs return to the Lord, from whom it has life. Other types of the same thing
present themselves in both kingdoms, the vegetable and the animal; in the
vegetable from their resuscitation out of ashes, and in the animal from the
metamorphosis of caterpillars into the chrysalides and the butterflies.
3. Only in man can the angelic mind be procreated and be multiplied by
procreations.
One who knows what the substances in the spiritual world are, and relatively
what the matters in the natural world are, can easily see that no procreation of
angelic minds is possible or can be possible except in those and from those who
dwell upon an earth, the ultimate work of creation. But as it is not known what
the substances in the spiritual world are relatively to the matters in the
natural world, it shall now be told. Substances in the spiritual world appear to
be material, although they are not, and because they are not material they are
not permanent. They are correspondences of the affections of angels, and they
remain as long as the affections or the angels remain, and disappear with them.
And the same would have been true of angels if they had been created in the
spiritual world. Furthermore, with the angels there is and there can be no
procreation, and no consequent multiplication, except such as is spiritual,
which has relation to wisdom and love, and such as pertains to the souls of men
who are born anew or regenerated. But in the natural world there are matters by
means of which and out of which procreations and afterwards formations can be
effected, thus multiplications of men, and of angels therefrom.
4. From this, spirits and angels derive the ability to subsist, and to live to
eternity.
They have this for the reason that an angel or spirit from having been first
born a man in the world takes to himself permanent existence; for from the
inmosts of nature he takes to himself a medium between the spiritual and the
natural by which he is so terminated that he may subsist and endure. Through
this he has what gives him a relation to the things that are in nature, and
corresponding with them.
5. Through this also spirits and angels can be adjoined and conjoined to the human
race, for there is conjunction, and where there is conjunction there must be a
medium.
The angels know that there is such an intermediate, but as that intermediate is
from the inmosts of nature, and the expressions of language are from the
ultimates of nature, it can be described only by means of abstract terms.
6. The angelic heaven, which was the end of creation, had its existence in no other
way.
This follows from what has been said; also that the human race is in consequence
its nursery and source of supply.
