A stand-alone module on the Word and the nature of Divine revelation. Far too often, we approach these ancient texts with a literal mindset, inadvertently obscuring the vast spiritual treasures they hold. Sacred writings, particularly the Bible, are multi-layered tapestries of Divine revelation, designed not merely as historical records, but as profound guides for our inner spiritual transformation. Join us as we uncover the timeless wisdom embedded within these words and discover how they speak directly to the awakening of the human soul.

To view the material as a PDF The Hidden Depths Of Holy Scripture (PDF).

This module on Sacred Text links to the audio recording of Chapter 15 from the book Spiritual Christianity by Charles Augustus Tulk. You can listen to that here  https://www.youtube.com/@SpiritualChristianity

Here also is a copy of the Video Transcript (PDF).

From The Doctrines For Spiritual Christianity

From the first chapter of Genesis up to this point, or rather up to Eber, the story elements were not true history but were made up, and on an inner level they symbolised heavenly and spiritual matters. In the current chapter, and in those to come, the narrative details are not made up but are truly historical details. On a deeper level they too symbolise heavenly and spiritual matters, as anyone can see simply by considering that it is the Lord’s Word. (Arcana Coelestia 1403)

The situation resembles that in which we hear someone talking and focus on the words. We do not pick up on the idea of the speaker as well as we would if we ignored the words and their definitions. Scripture’s inner meaning (compared to its outer letter) is almost the same as speech whose words we only barely hear, much less pay attention to, when our mind is entirely absorbed by the ideas embodied in the speaker’s words. The ancient method of writing used words and human figures to represent ideas in an entirely allegorical way. Secular writers of the day composed their histories in this way, and also [their works on] issues of public and private life. As a matter of fact, not a single written word was what it literally seemed to be; each represented another meaning. Ancient authors even presented the full range of passions as gods and goddesses, whom pagan peoples later began to worship as divine. Any literate person can see that this is so, since ancient books of the kind are still in existence. (Arcana Coelestia 1756{1-2})

The most ancient people, who were celestial, were by nature such that they did actually see with their eyes whatever objects they beheld in the world or on earth, but their thoughts were focused on the heavenly and Divine things which those objects meant and represented. Their physical sight was only something instrumental, and so consequently was their speech. Anyone may recognise the nature of this from his own experience, for a person who directs his attention to the sense of the words a speaker uses does indeed hear his words, but so to speak does not hear them. He grasps only the sense of them. And anyone who thinks more profoundly does not pay attention even to the sense of the words, only to their fuller implications. This generation of the descendants of the Most Ancient Church, however, who are the subject now, were not like their forefathers when they beheld worldly and earthly objects. Because they loved these objects, their minds were fixed on them. They thought about them, and from them thought about heavenly and Divine things. In this way the sensory part began to be the principal, and not, as it had been with their forefathers, the instrumental. And when the worldly and the earthly become the principal, people reason about heavenly things and blind themselves. The nature of this also anyone can recognise from his own experience; for a person who pays no attention to the sense of the speaker’s words but to the words themselves grasps very little of their sense, still less any fuller implications; and sometimes he relies on a single expression or even one grammatical usage to determine the whole of what somebody is saying. (Arcana Coelestia 241)

When internal breathing came to an end, external breathing practically the same as that today gradually took its place. And with external breathing came vocal speech or articulated sounds, which encapsulated the ideas comprising thought. In this way man’s state was changed completely, and he became such as to be incapable any longer of possessing perception of that kind. Instead of perception he had a different kind of dictate, which may be called conscience, for though similar to conscience, it was in fact something half-way between perception and conscience as some people know it today. And once such an encapsulation of the ideas comprising thought had taken place, that is to say, within vocal speech, people could not be taught any longer by way of the internal man, as the most ancient people had been, but by way of the external. Consequently the revelations that the Most Ancient Church received were succeeded by matters of doctrine which had first of all to be apprehended by the external senses. These would produce material ideas in the memory, from which the ideas comprising thought were formed, such ideas being the means by which they were taught. Consequently the mental constitution of this Church was altogether different from that of the Most Ancient Church which it succeeded. (Arcana Coelestia 608)

The truths in the literal sense of the Word are in part not bare truths, but appearances of truth. They are like similes and comparative analogies taken from appearances in the natural world. Thus they are adapted and brought down to the level at which they may be understood by simple people and even children. But because they are at the same time correspondences, they serve to receive and make a home for genuine truth. They are containers in the sense that a crystal cup is a container of vintage wine, a silver salver of tempting foods; or like the clothes which we wear, whether a baby’s shawls or the pretty dresses of a girl. They are also like the facts stored in the memory of the natural man, which include his perception of and affections for spiritual truth. The bare truths themselves which are wrapped, contained, clothed and grasped, exist in the spiritual sense of the Word; the bare forms of good exist in its celestial sense. (True Christian Religion 215)

Key Points From The Video

The Spiritual Foundation of Holy Scripture: The opening chapters of Holy Scripture, including elements like the Garden of Eden, are not literal historical accounts but rather use natural imagery, to symbolically represent the process of the Divine creating a new spiritual consciousness within the human mind.

The Form of Divine Revelation: The style of sacred texts evolved from pure symbolism to historical narrative to reflect humanity’s shifting focus from spiritual realities toward the material world.

The Descent of Divine Influx: Divine revelation emerges from a progressive ‘stepping down’ of Divine influx.

The Science of Correspondences: The “science of correspondences” acts as a key to unlocking the infinite spiritual truths hidden beneath the literal text by connecting natural effects to their spiritual causes.

The Natural Basis of the Word: The literal meaning of scripture serves as a necessary vessel that adapts limitless Divine truths into a form that our finite, material minds can comprehend.

The Power of the Literal Sense: The Word maintains its full Divine power and holiness in its literal form, providing exactly what is needed for a person’s salvation regardless of their current mental or spiritual state.

Awakening to the Divine Word: By moving from literal to symbolic engagement with the Word we unlock its boundless power to guide us towards the spiritual heaven and earth meant to flourish within each one of us.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the primary intention of the opening chapters of Holy Scripture?
a) To provide a literal historical account of the material universe’s creation.
b) To symbolise the continuous influx of Divine Life into the human mind.
c) To record ancient human history before the time of Abram.
d) To describe the physical location of the Garden of Eden.
Answer b)

2. What caused the shift in Divine revelation from a “mythological” style to a more “factual” narrative?
a) The discovery of better writing materials.
b) A Divine decision to stop using symbols.
c) Humanity’s changing priorities and increased focus on the material world.
d) The need to record genealogies for legal purposes.
Answer c)

3. Why is the “literal sense” of the Word described as vital or necessary?
a) It adapts limitless spiritual truths to the limitations of finite, material thinking.
b) It provides a perfect scientific account of natural history.
c) It is easier to memorise than symbolic meanings.
d) It acts as a distraction for those not ready for the truth.
Answer a)

5. What is the primary purpose of the “Science of Correspondences”?
a) To translate ancient Hebrew and Greek into modern English.
b) To find similarities between different world religions.
c) To reveal the link between natural phenomena and their spiritual causes.
d) To prove that the Bible is a collection of myths.
Answer c)

Reflective Questions

1. Consider a familiar biblical story or passage. How might understanding the distinction between literal history and symbolic spiritual truth change your interpretation or appreciation of that text?

2. The material suggests that without the natural basis of the Word, spiritual thought would lack definition and certainty. In what ways do you think literal narratives or events in Scripture provide a necessary grounding for deeper spiritual insights?

3. The concept of the Word being “infused with the Divine Light that gives natural meaning to literal characters and sounds” implies an ongoing, active process. How might this perspective influence your approach to reading and meditating on Scripture in your daily life?

Experiential Integration

Choose a short passage from any part of the Holy Scripture each morning.

First, read the passage literally, noting any immediate historical or narrative elements. Then, pause and reflect: “What deeper, spiritual truth might this passage be symbolising or representing in my own life or in the broader human experience?”

Hold both the literal and potential symbolic meanings in your mind throughout the day, observing if new insights emerge as you go about your activities. This practice aims to attune your mind to both the natural basis and the spiritual influx of the Word.

Further Exploration

The Word’s literal meaning alone, when it monopolises our thinking, can never provide a view of the inner contents. Take for example this first chapter of Genesis. The literal meaning by itself offers no clue that it is speaking of anything but the world’s creation, the Garden of Eden (paradise), and Adam, the first human ever created. Who supposes anything else? The wisdom hidden in these details (and never before revealed) will be clear enough from what follows. The inner sense of the first chapter of Genesis deals in general with the process that creates us anew — that is to say, with regeneration — and in particular with the very earliest church; and it does so in such a way that not even the smallest syllable fails to represent, symbolise, and incorporate this meaning.  (Arcana Coelestia 4)

The spiritual sense of the Word and its natural sense. I have sometimes talked with spirits who were unwilling to know anything about the spiritual sense of the Word, saying that its natural sense is the only meaning the Word has, and this is holy because it comes from God. They asserted that if a spiritual sense were to be accepted, the literal form of the Word would be worthless. Many of them insisted on this, but they received a reply from heaven, that the Word without a spiritual sense in it would not be Divine, and because the spiritual sense is its soul, it is consequently Divine, in fact alive; for without this the literal sense would be as if dead. The real holiness of the Word consists in this. Thus the Word can be compared to the Divine Man, who is the Lord; in Him there is not only a natural Divine, but also a spiritual Divine and a celestial Divine. This is why the Lord calls Himself the Word. It was also said that the real holiness of the Word lies in its literal sense, and that this is more holy than the others, the internal senses, because it is the wrapping and container of the others, and it is like the body which is made alive by the soul. So the Word in its literal or natural sense possesses its fullness and also its power; and by its means a person is linked with the heavens, which would be separated from mankind but for the literal sense. Everyone knows and acknowledges that the Word is in its depths spiritual, but up to now it has been obscure where this spirituality was hidden. But since the spirits who took a stand on behalf of the literal sense alone were unwilling to be convinced by these arguments, there was produced countless passages from the natural sense, which could never be understood without the spiritual sense. For instance there are in the Prophets lists of nothing but names; many kinds of animals are named, such as lions, bears, oxen, calves, dogs, wolves, owls, ojim, ¹ dragons; also mountains and forests, and many other things besides, which would mean nothing without a spiritual sense. For instance, what might be the meaning of a dragon described as red with seven heads and seven diadems on its heads, pulling down with its tail a third of the stars of heaven, and wanting to swallow the baby to which the woman was about to give birth; the woman being given the two wings of the great eagle to fly into the desert, where the dragon ejected water from its mouth after her like a river? Again, without the spiritual sense it would not be known what was the meaning of the dragon’s two beasts; by the one which came up out of the sea, resembling a leopard, with feet like a bear’s and a mouth like a lion’s; and by its other beast which came up out of the ground, as described in Revelation Chapters 12 and 13. Again, what is the meaning there of the Lamb opening the seal of the book, horses coming out, first a white one, then a red, then a black and then a pale one, described in Revelation 6, as well as the other things in that book? Again, in Zechariah, what is the meaning of the four horns and the four smiths (Chapter 1:18-21); the lamp-stand and the two olive trees next to it (Chapter 4); the four chariots coming out between the two mountains, attached to which were horses, red, black, white and dappled (Chapter 6)? Again, the ram and the he-goat and their horns, with which they fought each other in Daniel (Chapter 8); and the four beasts coming up out of the sea (Chapter 7); not to mention vast quantities of similar things? To convince them further it was cited what the Lord said to the disciples in Matthew (Chapter 24) about the ending of the age and His coming again, which no one could understand without the spiritual sense. The existence of a spiritual sense in every detail of the Word can also be confirmed by some of the Lord’s sayings, which could not be grasped unless understood spiritually. For instance, no one would be allowed to call his father on earth ‘father’, nor ‘teacher’ or ‘master’, because they have one Father, Teacher and Master (Matthew 23:7-10); or that they should not judge for fear of being judged (Matthew 7:1-2); or that a husband and wife are not two, but one flesh (Matthew 19:5-6), although they are not one flesh in the natural sense. Nor is there any prohibition of judging one’s companion or neighbour as regards his natural life, for this is in society’s interest; but the prohibition is on judging him as regards his spiritual life, for this is known to none but the Lord. Again, the Lord did not forbid calling one’s father ‘father’, nor a teacher ‘teacher’, nor a master ‘master’ in the natural sense, but He did in the spiritual sense. In this there is only one Father, Teacher and Master. And the same is true in other cases. They were convinced by this that there is a spiritual sense contained in the natural sense of the Word, and that still the real holiness of the Word resides in its literal sense, because all the inner meanings of the Word are fully present in it. In addition it was proved that the literal sense also exhibits clearly everything which teaches the way to salvation, and so how to live and what to believe. Also, every teaching of the church is to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word, and proved by it; not purely by the spiritual sense, since this does not permit linking with heaven and through heaven with the Lord, but this must take place by means of the literal sense. For the Lord’s Divine influence coming through the Word extends from first to last. (The Word/De Verbo 5{1-4})

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From The Doctrines For Spiritual Christianity

Divine Truth emanating from the Lord flows into every person by way of his interiors into his exteriors, right down into the external sensory and the bodily levels, and everywhere it flows it stirs to life things attuned to it in their proper order – on the sensory level things attuned to it such as appear in the world around and on earth. But things that exist in the world around and on earth are different in appearance from what they really are, and so they are full of illusions. When therefore the sensory level relies solely on those appearances* the thought which takes place there is inevitably opposed to any good or truth of faith because that thought is based on illusions, and when Divine Truth flows in the sensory level turns it into falsity. (Arcana Coelestia 6948)

The reason why through that ultimate degree there is so to speak a way in from the natural creation is that man’s natural mind is the place through which things of heaven, that is, which are the Lord’s, flow in and come down into the natural creation; and through that same mind the things that belong to the natural creation go back up, see 3702. The fact that there is so to speak an entrance from the natural creation through the natural mind into interior parts may be seen from what has been stated and shown in various places before. [2] It seems to man as though worldly objects enter in through his physical or external senses and affect interior things, and so that there is an entrance from the ultimate degree of order into things that are within. But this is an appearance and illusion, as is evident from the general rule that what is secondary cannot flow into what is primary, or what amounts to the same, what is lower cannot flow into what is higher, or what is also the same, what is exterior into what is interior, or what is still the same, things of the world and the natural creation into those of heaven and of the spirit. For the former are grosser, the latter purer, and the grosser things that belong to the external or natural man come into being and are kept in being from those belonging to the internal or rational man. Those grosser things are unable to have any effect on the purer things but are affected by them. The nature of this influx however, seeing that appearance and illusion itself convince people that the reverse is true, will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed separately, where influx is the subject. This then is why it is said that through the ultimate degree of order there is, so to speak, a way in from the natural creation. (Arcana Coelestia 3721)

Everything at all visible in the universe is representative of the Lord’s kingdom, so much so that nothing exists in the starry sky above, or on this planet and in its three kingdoms below, which is not in its own way representative. For every single thing within the natural order is an ultimate image, in that the Divine issues forth into celestial things, which are expressions of good; celestial things issue forth into spiritual, which are expressions of truth; and celestial and spiritual things issue forth into natural things. This shows how stupid, indeed how earthly and also topsy-turvy, human intelligence is which separates or isolates natural forces from that which is prior to them and flowing into them – that is, from their efficient cause – and then attributes everything to natural forces. And people who think and talk in this fashion seem to themselves to be wiser than anybody else, that is to say, by their attribution of everything to natural forces. Angelic intelligence however is quite the reverse – it attributes nothing to natural forces but every single thing to the Lord’s Divine, and so to life, not to anything devoid of life. [2] The learned know that remaining in being consists in perpetual coming into being. Nevertheless it is contrary to their affection for falsity, and consequently to their reputation for being learned, to say that natural forces are constantly kept in being, even as they came into being, from the Lord’s Divine. Now because every single thing remains in being from the Divine, that is, is constantly coming into being from Him, and every single thing from that source is inevitably a representative of the real thing by means of which it has come into being, the whole visible universe is therefore nothing else than a theatre that is representative of the Lord’s kingdom. And this in turn is a theatre representative of the Lord Himself. (Arcana Coelestia 3483)

Key Points From The Video

The Essential Role of Natural Sciences: Natural sciences offer valuable insights, but their conclusions should be considered in light of spiritual truths.

The Law of Correspondence: This law describes the unfolding of spiritual causes into sensuous effects, applying equally to both worlds.

Spiritual vs. Natural Thinking: The key difference between the spiritual and natural worlds lies in the ability to think correctly, distinguishing truth from appearance.

Progressing in Spiritual Life: As one progresses spiritually, their thoughts become rational, allowing for a deeper understanding of existence as a projection of wills and intellects.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What caution should be taken when considering the conclusions of the natural sciences?
a. To completely reject them
b. To accept them uncritically
c. To consider them in light of spiritual truths
d. To ignore them entirely
Answer c)

2. What does the law of correspondence describe?
a. The transformation of spiritual causes into physical matter
b. The creation of the universe from nothing
c. The unfolding of spiritual causes into sensuous effects
d. The random interactions of particles
Answer c)

3. What is the primary difference in thinking between the spiritual and natural worlds?
a. Spiritual beings cannot think
b. Natural beings can think more clearly
c. There is no difference
d. The ability to think correctly and distinguish truth from appearance
Answer d)

4. What characterises thinking in the natural world before spiritual development?
a. Always accurate and insightful
b. Naturally rational and consistent
c. Sensual and unable to distinguish truth from appearance
d. Rooted in spiritual understanding
Answer c)

5. How does progressing in spiritual life affect one’s perception of the world?
a. The world becomes a representative projection of human wills and intellects.
b. The world disappears entirely.
c. The world becomes an illusion.
d. There is no change in perception.
Answer a)

Reflective Questions

1. Can you identify any specific scientific conclusions that you have previously accepted without considering their spiritual implications? How might you re-evaluate those conclusions in light of the law of correspondence?

2. How does your own thinking tend to be more natural or spiritual? What specific practices can you implement to cultivate a more spiritual mode of thinking?

3. In what ways do you believe a deeper understanding of spiritual truths could enhance or complement scientific inquiry?

Experiential Integration

Daily Perception Shift Practice: Choose a scientific concept or natural phenomenon that you find intriguing (e.g., gravity, photosynthesis, the water cycle). Instead of focusing solely on the scientific explanation, contemplate the potential spiritual correspondences associated with it. What deeper truths or principles might this phenomenon represent about the nature of the Divine, the human mind, or the interconnectedness of all things?

Journal your reflections and consider how this perspective shifts your understanding of the concept.

Further Exploration

The Word of the Lord may be called a kind of heaven on lowest levels; for all the things that are seen and heard on heaven’s lowest levels are representative of what angels in higher heavens speak and think, all of which has regard to the truths of faith and forms of the good of love. The reason why such representative things are present on heaven’s lowest levels is that those who are on heaven’s lowest levels have no ability to grasp the more internal aspects of angelic wisdom, only such things as represent them. Furthermore it is in keeping with Divine order that when the higher realities pass down to lower levels they are converted into images bearing a similarity to them and are in this way presented to the outward senses, and so are accommodated to everyone’s ability to grasp them. So it is that the Word on its lowest levels, that is, in the sense of the letter, is representative of and consequently serves to mean the celestial and spiritual realities that exist in the higher heavens, and that by this means the Word is also presented to people on earth in a form accommodated to their ability to grasp it. Thus it also serves as a base and foundation for the heavens. (Arcana Coelestia 10126)

A person unacquainted with the arcana of heaven may think that no one can see planets so far away and through what he has experienced with his senses report about them. But let it be recognized that intervals of space and distances between places, and consequent movements from one to another, which are visible in the natural world, are first occasioned by and have their origin in the changes of state undergone by the interiors, and that among angels and spirits appearances are in exact accord with those changes. In this way spirits and angels can be transported from one place to another, and from one planet to another, even to planets on the edge of the universe. The same thing can be done to a person’s spirit while his body remains where it is. It has happened to me also, for I have been allowed in the Lord’s Divine mercy to mix with spirits as a spirit, while at the same time mixing with people on earth as a person on earth. Regarding intervals of space and distances between places, and movements from one to another in heaven, that they are appearances which are products of changes of state undergone by the interiors, see 5605. The person who thinks on a sensory level does not see how anyone’s spirit can be transported in that way, for he dwells within space and time and measures his movements from one place to another according to them. (Arcana Coelestia 9440)

I have spoken to angels about representatives, suggesting that the vegetable kingdom on earth included nothing that was not in some way representative of the Lord’s kingdom. They replied that everything beautiful and glorious in the vegetable kingdom has its origin in the Lord by way of heaven; and that when celestial and spiritual influences from the Lord enter nature, such things are really created, and that this is the origin of the vegetative soul or life. Consequently they are representative. (Arcana Coelestia 1632)

What is more, nothing ever exists in the created world that does not have a correspondence with things in the spiritual world, and so that does not represent in its own way something in the Lord’s kingdom. It is from there that all things come into being and are kept in being. If man knew that this is how these things stand he would never attribute everything to natural forces as he is accustomed to do. (Arcana Coelestia 2999)

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From The Doctrines For Spiritual Christianity

‘Its walls’ means inner levels. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the walls’ or the sides as inner levels; for when ‘the roof’ means that which is inmost, ‘the walls’, which are below it, mean the inner levels. By inner levels those which are below the inmost ones and above the lowest, thus those in the middle, should be understood. Inner levels are meant by ‘the walls’ because the sides and breast of the human body mean inner things; for all representatives on the natural level resemble the human form and carry the same meaning as the parts of it they resemble, 9496. The uppermost part of a house for example, called the roof, is similar in meaning to the head; the inward parts below the uppermost are similar in meaning to the breast and sides; and the foundations of the house are similar in meaning to the feet and soles of the feet. The reason why this should be so is that heaven as a whole resembles one human being, and there is an influx from there into the whole natural order. For the natural world comes into being from the spiritual world and is held in being by it. When the words ‘spiritual world’ are used, that which is Divine and the Lord’s there should be understood. [2] The resemblance of all things on the natural level to the human form is also clear from each member of the vegetable kingdom. Everything there is clothed with leaves and comes into blossom before bearing fruit; and the fruit is the final end, for the sake of which the previous stages of growth take place and towards which they all look. The leaves there resemble the lungs and serve so to speak in place of the breathing-system; for they are the means by which juices are drawn up the plant, which explains why a tree stripped of its leaves bears no fruit. So it is also that in the Word leaves mean truths constituting faith, 885; for by means of those truths the vital element from which good is formed is in a similar way made to rise up. The blossoming before the fruit comes corresponds to that state and time in people’s lives when thoughts of marriage enter their minds and make them glad, thus when truth is joined to good. But the fruit corresponds to actual good, which, to the extent that it matures like fruit, manifests itself in deeds. So it is that in the Word fruit means the deeds of charity, and that the blossoming before the fruit is compared to the voice and the joy of a bride and bridegroom; and so on with all the rest. Anyone therefore who is able to stop and reflect sensibly will recognize most clearly that the heavenly paradise is represented in the earthly paradise, and consequently that all things within the natural order resemble such realities as exist in the spiritual world. And one who is able to draw further conclusions may see that the natural order is not self-existent but is held in being by influx from heaven, that is, from what is Divine there, so completely that if that contact were taken away everything composing the planet would collapse into nothingness. (Arcana Coelestia 10185)

The reason why a person enters heaven and becomes an embodiment of the Church when governed by good is that the Lord flows into the good residing with a person, and through the good into his truth. He flows into the internal man, where heaven within that person exists, and through the internal into the external, where the world within that person exists. Therefore unless the person is governed by good his internal man is not opened but remains closed, no matter how many truths he knows on a doctrinal level. And since heaven exists within his internal man the person is in heaven when that internal man is opened; for heaven does not exist in some place but within a person’s interiors. (Arcana Coelestia 10367)

With regard to the origin of all things, every single thing comes from the Lord. From Him comes the celestial; by way of the celestial from Him the spiritual comes into being; by way of the spiritual comes the natural; by way of the natural comes that which constitutes the body and the senses. And just as these come into being from the Lord in this way, so in the same way they are kept in being, for as is well known, being kept in being is constant coming into being. People who assume that things arise and come into being in any other way, as those do who worship nature and trace the origin of things back to that, are governed by assumptions so dismal that the delusions of wild animals roaming the forest can be said to contain far more sanity. There are many such persons who seem to themselves to excel everybody else in wisdom. (Arcana Coelestia 775)

Key Points From The Video

Essential Similarities and Differences: The natural and spiritual worlds are similar in form but differ in manifestation due to the nature of the minds perceiving them.

Spiritual Perception of Divine Influx: Spiritual minds recognise Divine Life as the source of all experience, understanding the world as a manifestation of continual Divine influx.

Natural Perception and Its Limitations: Natural minds, lacking spiritual knowledge, believe thoughts and the external world are self-evolved and independent.

The Influence of Natural Sciences: Natural sciences, operating within a spatial and temporal framework, reinforce the belief in the independent existence of the physical world.

The Limitations of Sensory Perception: Sensory perception, by its nature, fails to convey the deeper reality of continuous Divine influx, presenting a fragmented view of existence.

Transcending Sensory Limitations: Grasping the interconnected nature of the worlds requires transcending sensory presentations and recognising the dependence of all objects and experiences on the mind.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the primary difference between the natural and spiritual worlds?
a. The nature of the minds perceiving them and their spiritual development
b. The presence or absence of physical matter
c. The laws of physics that govern each world
d. The degree of Divine intervention in each world
Answer a)

2. How do spiritual minds perceive their conscious experiences and the world around them?
a. As random occurrences without meaning
b. As self-created illusions
c. As manifestations of continual Divine influx
d. As independent realities separate from the Divine
Answer c)

3. What is a common conclusion drawn by those rooted in natural thought?
a. That their thoughts and emotions are Divinely inspired
b. That the external world exists independently of them
c. That the natural and spiritual worlds are indistinguishable
d. That the universe is fundamentally chaotic
Answer b)

4. How do the natural sciences often contribute to the belief in an independent physical world?
a. By emphasising the importance of subjective experience
b. By proving the existence of a spiritual realm
c. By disproving the existence of a Creator
d. By deducing that objects possess an actual external existence within space and time
Answer d)

5. What is required to truly grasp the interconnected nature of the natural and spiritual worlds?
a. Developing advanced technology
b. Transcending the limitations of sensory perception and spatial thinking
c. Rejecting all scientific knowledge
d. Isolating oneself from the external world
Answer b)

Reflective Questions

1. How has your understanding of the natural sciences influenced your perception of the relationship between the mind and the external world? How can you reconcile scientific findings with the concept of Divine influx?

2. In what specific ways do you feel limited by your sensory perception? Can you identify any instances where your senses have misled you or prevented you from seeing a deeper truth?

3. How might cultivating a deeper awareness of the Divine source of all life and reality change your daily actions and interactions with others?

Experiential Integration

Daily Perception Shift Practice: Throughout the day, whenever you experience a sense of separation or distance – from yourself, from others, or from the Divine – pause and reflect on the idea that this feeling might be a result of your limited perception. Instead of focusing on the perceived distance, try to shift your awareness towards the underlying connection and the possibility of a deeper, unified reality.

Observe any shifts in your awareness or sense of connection that arise from this practice.

Further Exploration

Afterwards I was taken by the Lord to a planet in the universe which was further away from ours than the first dealt with at the ends of several foregoing chapters. I was allowed to know that it was further away by the fact that it took two days to convey me there as to my spirit. This planet lay to the left, but the first to the right. Lying further away in the next life is not due to spatial remoteness but to difference of state, which however produces there the appearance of a spatial remoteness, in accord with what has been stated previously in 9440. From the time therefore that it took to get there, which was two days, as has just been said, I was able to deduce that the state of the interiors with those people, that is, the state of affections and consequent thoughts, was in like measure different from the state of the interiors that exists with spirits from our planet. And since I was conveyed there as to my spirit by means of changes of the state of the interiors I was allowed to note the actual changes taking place one after another before arrival there. This happened when I was wide awake. (Arcana Coelestia 9967)

I was conveyed to yet another planet in the universe outside our solar system, which was accomplished by means of changes in the state of my mind, thus changes as to my spirit. For as stated several times before, the only way in which a spirit is conveyed from one place to another is by means of changes in the state of the spirit’s interiors, though these changes still seem to him to be like movements from place to place or journeys. (Arcana Coelestia 10734)

From The Doctrines For Spiritual Christianity

I was conveyed by the Lord by means of angels to some planet in the universe, where I was allowed to see into the actual planet. (Arcana Coelestia 9578)

Being conveyed to planets in the universe does not mean being conveyed and brought to them as to the body but as to the spirit; and the spirit is not conveyed by a journey through intervals of space but through variations of the state of inner life, which seem to the person to be a journey through intervals of space, 5605, 7381, 9440. Furthermore any approach towards them depends on the compatability or similarity of state, for compatibility or similarity of state brings people together and incompatibility or dissimilarity of state sets them apart. From this it may be recognized how the spirit can be brought to and approach places far away while the person remains where he is. (Arcana Coelestia 9579)

But conveying a person’s spirit outside his own globe through variations of the state of his interiors and causing the variations to progress one after another till a state is reached that is compatible with or similar to the states of those to whom he is conveyed lies within the power of the Lord alone… Those who are ruled by their bodily senses and think on the level of those senses cannot be led to believe that such a thing has ever happened. The reason for this is that the bodily senses can have no conception of a journey other than one that is made through intervals of space. Those however who think on the sensory level of their spirit, when that level has been removed or withdrawn to some extent from the sensory level of the body, and so think on a more internal level, can be led to believe and conceive that such a thing has happened, because space and time do not come into the idea formed in their mind, but instead of space and time the kinds of realities which are the cause behind all that is spatial and temporal. (Arcana Coelestia 9580, 81)

‘And so it was in the morning watch’ means a state of thick darkness and perdition for those steeped in falsity arising from evil, and a state of enlightenment and salvation for those guided by truth springing from good. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the morning watch’ as a state of enlightenment and salvation, and in the contrary sense as a state of thick darkness and perdition. The reason why ‘the morning watch’ has this meaning is that states of faith and love in the next life are like the times of day in the world. That is to say, they are like morning, midday, evening, and night; and these therefore also correspond to those states, 2788, 5672, 5862, 6110. The states also change in almost the same ways. Whenever change takes place morning, and in particular twilight, is an end and a beginning; for night comes to an end and day begins. In that state to which morning corresponds the good begin to be enlightened in matters of faith and to grow warmer in aspects of charity. The opposite also takes place, for then the evil begin to be overshadowed by falsities and to be chilled by evils. Consequently morning for the latter is a state of thick darkness and perdition, but for the former a state of enlightenment and salvation.[2] These states in heaven are what give rise to the states of light and heat on earth, and also the states of thick darkness and cold, which come round in turn each year and each day. Whatever arises in the natural world has its origin and cause in those things that arise in the spiritual world; for to be sure the whole natural order is nothing other than a theatre representative of the Lord’s kingdom, 3483, 4939, 5173, 5962. And this is the reason for correspondences. Variations of light and shade on earth, also of heat and cold, are indeed attributable to the sun, that is to say, to its different heights in the sky each year and each day, and in different parts of the earth. Yet these causes, which are proximate ones and exist in the natural world, were created in accordance with those things that exist in the spiritual world. The latter are the prior efficient causes from which the former, their posterior causes, arise in the natural world. For nothing in a state of order can ever exist on a natural level if its cause and origin do not lead back to a spiritual level, that is, to the Divine operating through that level. (Arcana Coelestia 8211)

Key Points From The Video

Divine Presence Beyond Space and Time: God’s presence transcends space and time and as Divine Love, He intimately connects all to Him.

The Human Experience of Distinctiveness: Our sense of time, space and distinctiveness from God, arises from our imperfect reception of Divine love and wisdom, not from God’s nature.

The Journey of Growth: Life involves a continuous progression towards higher states of consciousness, even after death, creating distinct realms with indirect communication through correspondence.

The Universal Law of Creation: The law of creation is consistent across all levels of existence, but our natural minds often perceive a superficial, less dynamic reality.

The Challenge of Perception: Believing space and time exist independently makes it difficult to reconcile God’s omnipresence with the perceived separation of the natural world.

Bridging the Worlds: Acknowledging a single law of creation, regardless of perceived differences, helps unify our understanding of the spiritual and natural realms.

The Divine Appearing in the Finite: God manifests in ways that reflect our limited capacity to receive Him, appearing within the constraints of space and time.

Overcoming Appearances and Uniting with the Divine: Recognising our imperfect reception, rather than attributing appearances to God, allows us to bridge the gap between our limited finite view and the Infinite and Eternal Source.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why do humans experience a sense of distinctiveness from God?
a. Because God is intentionally distant
b. Because our minds are perfect reflections of God’s
c. Because of our limited, imperfect reception of Divine love and wisdom
d. Because space and time create a physical barrier
Answer c)

2. What causes our perception of time passing?
a. The constant movement of the stars
b. An imperfect reception of Divine wisdom
c. God’s active manipulation of our senses
d. The natural decay of physical matter
Answer b)

3. What is the relationship between the natural and spiritual worlds?
a. They are governed by completely different laws.
b. The spiritual world is an illusion.
c. They are identical in every way.
d. There is indirect communication by means of correspondence between distinct levels of mind.
Answer d)

4. What is the first step in correcting the misconception about the natural world’s independence?
a. Developing advanced technology
b. Recognising that the difference between the natural and spiritual worlds is rooted in the perfection of minds and their receptivity to the inflowing Divine life.
c. Studying advanced physics
d. Dismissing all spiritual concepts
Answer b)

5. How does God appear to those who experience the world through space and time?
a. As a distant and unknowable force
b. Cloaked in the appearances of space and time, as if He were a finite being
c. As an abstract concept with no relevance to daily life
d. As a being strictly limited to the spiritual realm
Answer b)

Reflective Questions

1. How does the idea that our perception of space and time is limited and imperfect challenge your understanding of free will and responsibility?

2. Considering that the law of creation is the same across all degrees, how can you apply this understanding to your daily interactions and relationships, seeking a more unified perspective?

3. Reflect on a time when you felt a strong sense of connection with the Divine. How does the concept of God appearing in a form that reflects our limited reception resonate with that experience?

Experiential Integration

Daily Perception Shift Practice: Throughout the day, whenever you experience a sense of separation or distance – from yourself, from others, or from the Divine – pause and reflect on the idea that this feeling might be a result of your limited perception. Instead of focusing on the perceived distance, try to shift your awareness towards the underlying connection and the possibility of a deeper, unified reality.

Practise seeing the Divine presence in the seemingly mundane and finite aspects of your life.

Further Exploration

In heaven states of love and light, that is, of goodness and truth, follow one another in sequence unceasingly, just as on earth morning, midday, evening, and twilight do, and as spring, summer, autumn, and winter do. It has also been shown that those states are the origin from which these times of day and seasons of the year arise; for things that come into being in the world are images of the realities that exist in heaven. This is so because everything natural comes into being from what is spiritual, that is, from what is Divine in the heavens. (Arcana Coelestia 10200)

The reason why ‘sowing the land’ has this meaning is that everything involving the field, what is sown in it, and what it produces means such things as belong in general to the Church and in particular to a member of the Church, that is, to a person regenerated by means of the truth of faith and the good of charity received from the Lord. This is why ‘the field’ and ‘the ground’ in the Word mean those within the Church who receive the truths and forms of the good of faith, just as the field receives seeds, and therefore also why the field, seed, sowing, harvest, produce, grain and wheat, bread made from them, and everything else involving the field are mentioned many times in the Word. [2] Anyone unacquainted with the true nature of the heavenly state inevitably supposes that those things as they are mentioned in the Word are no more than metaphorical ways of speaking and comparisons; yet they are true correspondences. For when angels talk about the Lord’s regeneration of a person by means of the truths of faith and forms of the good of charity, there appear at the same time in the world of spirits below them fields, crops, fallow land, and also harvests. The reason for their appearance is their correspondence. Anyone acquainted with this is also able to see that such things have been created in the world in accordance with correspondences; for the whole natural order – that is, all the sky together with the sun, moon, and stars, and the earth together with every object in its three kingdoms – corresponds to such things as exist in the spiritual world. (Arcana Coelestia 9272)

From The Doctrines For Spiritual Christianity

Every good and truth come down from the Lord and go up to Him, that is, He is the First and the Last. For the human being has been so created that Divine things that are the Lord’s may come down through him even to the lowest things of the natural order, and from the lowest things of the natural order may go up to Him. Thus the human being was created to be the means through which the Divine was linked to the natural world, and the natural world was linked to the Divine, and in this way through the human being as the means linking the two together, the lowest degree of the natural order might receive life from the Divine – which would be a reality if mankind had lived in accordance with Divine order. (Arcana Coelestia 3702)

It is well known that the discernment of things seen with the eyes and heard by the ears takes place inwardly in a person; those things pass so to speak from the world by way of the eyes or ears into thought, and so into the understanding since thought belongs to the understanding. And if they are the kinds of things the person loves they pass from there into the will, and then from the will by way of the understanding into words spoken by the mouth and also into actions performed by the body. Such is the cycle in all this, passing from the world by way of the natural man into the spiritual man, and going out from there into the world again. Yet it should be remembered that this cycle is started off by the will, which is the inmost core of a person’s life, and that it begins there and is inspired by it to run its full course. The will of a person in whom good is present is governed from heaven by the Lord, though the situation appears to be other than this. Influx takes place from the spiritual world into the natural world, thus through the internal man into the external man, but not the other way round; for the internal man is in heaven, whereas the external man is in the world. (Arcana Coelestia 10057)

All things in the natural world derive their cause from truth which is spiritual, and their first beginning from good which is celestial. In addition I have been told that natural objects come forth in this way from truth and good according to all the variations of truth or good which exist in the Lord’s kingdom, and so come forth from the Lord, the source of all goodness and truth. These matters are bound to seem strange, especially to those who refuse, or who are unable, to allow their thought to go beyond the natural order, and who do not know what is meant by that which is spiritual and do not therefore acknowledge the existence of it. (Arcana Coelestia 2993)

‘Incense of spices’ means a hearing and receiving with pleasure. This is clear from the meaning of ‘incense’ as the Lord’s hearing and receiving with pleasure everything of worship that springs from love and charity, dealt with in 10177; and from the meaning of ‘spices’ as things that bring pleasure. Things bringing pleasure are meant by ‘spices’ on account of their odour; for ‘odour’ means perception, and therefore a sweet odour means a perception of that which brings pleasure, while an offensive odour means that which brings no pleasure. All things perceived by a person with the sensory organs of smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch mean spiritual realities connected with the good of love and the truths of faith. Consequently smell means the perception of interior truth springing from the good of love; taste means perception and the desire to know and become wise; sight means an understanding of the truths of faith; hearing means perception resulting from the good of faith and from obedience; and touch in general means imparting, conveying, and being received. [2] The reason why they have these meanings is that every reception of impressions by the outward senses begins in reception by the inward senses, which belong to the understanding and will, and so begins within the person, in the truths of faith and the good of love since these constitute the understanding and will within the human mind. Yet inward sensations, which belong properly to a person’s understanding and will, do not feel the same as the outward ones, though they are turned into outward sensations when they flow in. For all the perceptions that a person receives by means of his outward sensory organs flow from inward powers of mind. The path all influx takes is from inward things to outward ones, not from outward to inward, since there is no such thing as physical influx – that is, influx from the natural world into the spiritual world – only influx from the spiritual world into the natural. A person’s inner powers, which belong properly to understanding and will, exist in the spiritual world, and his outward ones, which belong properly to the bodily senses, exist in the natural world. From all this too it becomes clear what correspondence is and what the nature of it is.  (Arcana Coelestia 10199)

Key Points From The Video

Divine Influx and the Act of Creation: Divine influx flows continuously from the interior to the exterior faculties of the mind, creating the external world we perceive.

Space and Time as Products of Thought: Space and time, in both the spiritual and natural worlds, are shaped by our mental and emotional states, rather than being fixed realities.

The System of Correspondences and Representatives: Understanding the system of correspondences is key to unlocking the spiritual meanings in sacred texts and also in understanding the relationship between inner and outer worlds.

Reversing Ordinary Thought: We must shift from seeing the external world as primary to recognising it as a reflection of the internal, spiritual world.

Practical Implications: Focusing on our internal spiritual states can positively influence our external experiences, deepening our spiritual practice, and enhancing our engagement with sacred texts.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which of the following best describes the concept of Divine influx?
a. A force that acts randomly on the natural world
b. A continuous flow of Divine life from the interior to the exterior of the mind
c. An external pressure that shapes our internal thoughts
d. A static entity that never changes
Answer b)

2. According to the Text, how are space and time best understood?
a. As fixed and unchanging dimensions
b. As illusions of the natural world
c. As products of mental and emotional states
d. As separate from the spiritual realm
Answer c)

3. What is the primary purpose of understanding the system of correspondences?
a. To manipulate the natural world
b. To understand spiritual meanings in sacred texts and the connection between inner and outer realities
c. To create a new scientific theory
d. To escape the challenges of everyday life
Answer b)

4. What does it mean to reverse our ordinary way of thinking, according to the Text?
a. To reject all scientific knowledge
b. To see the external world as the primary reality
c. To recognise the external world as a reflection of the internal, spiritual world
d. To ignore our emotions
Answer c)

5. What is one of the practical implications of understanding Divine influx and correspondences?
a. It allows us to control others
b. It has no practical application
c. It can deepen our spiritual practice and enhance our interpretation of sacred texts
d. It isolates us from the external world
Answer c)

Reflective Questions

1. How does understanding divine influx challenge your current understanding of reality, and what aspects do you find most difficult to accept or integrate?

2. How has this material changed your perspective on the relationship between your internal spiritual life and your external experiences? Can you identify specific instances where your mental or emotional state influenced your perception of space and time?

3. In what ways can you apply the system of correspondences to better understand your dreams, relationships, or daily challenges? How might this perspective shift your approach to problem-solving and decision-making?

Experiential Integration

Each day, choose an object in your environment. Instead of simply seeing it at face value, contemplate its potential spiritual correspondence.

Ask yourself what deeper meaning or truth this object might represent about your inner state, your relationships, or the divine principles at play in your life. 

Journal your insights and reflect on how this practice alters your perception of the world around you.

Further Exploration

Nothing exists in the whole natural order which is not in some way representative of the Lord’s kingdom in general, since the natural kingdom has its entire origin in the spiritual kingdom. That which is without an origin prior to itself is nothing, for nothing exists without connection from a cause and so from an end. That which is without such connection collapses in an instant and ceases to be anything. (Arcana Coelestia 2758)

Once when I had been raised up to heaven it seemed to me as though my head was there, but that my body was below it, and my feet even further below. From this I had a perception of how the higher and lower things present in the human being correspond to the same in the Grand Man, and how one flows into another; that is to say, how the celestial, which is the good of love and the first degree of order, flows into the spiritual, which is truth springing from that good and the second degree of order, and then into the natural, which is the third degree of order. From this it is evident that natural things are like the feet on which the higher things support themselves. What is more, things in the spiritual world and those in heaven are ringed about by the natural world. Consequently the whole natural system is a theatre representative of the Lord’s kingdom, every individual part of it being representative, 2758, 3483. The natural system is kept in being by an influx conforming to that order, and without this influx it could not remain in being for even a single moment. (Arcana Coelestia 4939)

The whole natural order is a theatre representative of the Lord’s kingdom; and it is a representative theatre because the natural world has been brought into being by the Divine – and is unceasingly brought into being, that is, is held in being, by Him – by means of the spiritual world. (Arcana Coelestia 10196)

In these 4 modules you’ll be invited to reverse ordinary thought, revealing that the external world that you perceive is not an independent entity, but a continuous manifestation of Divine Influx flowing from your inner spiritual states. You’ll discover how space and time are fluid products of your thoughts and affections, learn to apply the foundational Law of Correspondence to unlock deeper spiritual meanings in both sacred texts and daily life, and reflect on God’s intimate and omnipresent connection to every aspect of creation.

Each module is centred around the contents of the 4-8 minute video and the accompanying passages from the doctrines for Spiritual Christianity. Each module offers 6-7 such passages. However, you may also wish to view them all in one document which you can do so here The Origin of Reality (PDF).

Likewise, throughout the modules links to audio recordings of Chapter 13 &14 from the book Spiritual Christianity by Charles Augustus Tulk are offered, which is what this short course series is based on. For your reference, the Youtube channel is https://www.youtube.com/@SpiritualChristianity

Here also is a copy of the complete Video Transcripts for all of the 4 modules.

1. The Inner World Causes the Outer to Appear

2. Sensing God’s Presence

3. Unifying Mind And World

4. Integrating Science And Spiritual Truth

From The Doctrines For Spiritual Christianity

He who does not know the nature of heaven and hell cannot at all know the nature of man’s mind. His mind is his spirit which lives after death. The reason of this is that the mind or spirit of man is in, every detail in the same form as heaven or hell. There is no difference except that one is very great and the other very small, or that one is the type and the other an effigy; therefore, man with respect to his mind or spirit is either a heaven or a hell in its least form. (Divine Providence 299)

It is well known, or able to be known, that there is a spiritual world and that there is a natural world. In a universal sense the spiritual world is where spirits and angels dwell and the natural world where men dwell, but in a particular sense there is a spiritual world and a natural with every individual person, his internal man being for him a spiritual world, and his external man a natural world. The things that flow in from the spiritual world and present themselves in the natural are, in general, representations. And to the extent they agree with each other they are correspondences. (Arcana Coelestia 2990)

Charity and good works are two distinct things, like willing well and doing well. In every man there is an internal and an external. His internal is what is called the internal man, and his external what is called the external man. But one who does not know what the internal man and the external man are, may suppose that it is the internal man that exercises thought and will, and the external that speaks and acts. These latter belong, indeed, to the external man, and the former to the internal; yet they are not what essentially constitute the external and internal man. In common perception indeed man’s mind is his internal man, but the mind is itself divided into two regions; the one region which is higher and more internal is spiritual; and the other which is lower and more external is natural. The spiritual mind looks mainly to the spiritual world, and has for its objects the things that are there, either such as are in heaven or such as are in hell; for both are in the spiritual world. But the natural mind looks mainly to the natural world, and has for its objects the things that are there, whether good or evil. All of man’s action and speech proceeds from the lower region of the mind directly, and indirectly from its higher region, since the lower region of the mind is nearer to the bodily senses, and the higher region more remote from them. There is this division of the mind in man, because he was so created as to be both spiritual and natural, and thus a man and not a beast. All this makes clear that the man who looks primarily to himself and the world is an external man, because he is natural, not only in body but also in mind; while the man who looks primarily to the things of heaven and the church is an internal man, because he is spiritual both in mind and body. He is spiritual even in body, because his actions and words proceed from the higher mind, which is spiritual, through the lower, which is natural. For it is known that effects proceed from the body, and the causes that produce the effects proceed from the mind; also that the cause is everything in the effect. That the human mind is so divided is clearly evident from the fact that a man can act the part of a dissembler, a flatterer, a hypocrite, or an actor; and that he can assent to what another says and yet laugh at it; doing one from the higher mind and the other from the lower. (True Christian Religion 420 VII)

For living creatures both great and small mean such things as compose human affections, that is, such as are connected with the will, or else they mean such things as compose human thoughts, that is, such as are connected with the understanding. For everything without exception in the human being has connection either with his will or with his understanding. Things that have no connection with one or the other do not exist in the human being, and so are not part of the human being. Creatures that walk and also ones that creep mean affections in both senses, and so mean forms of good or else evils since these belong to the affections, whereas flying creatures, including insects with wings, mean such things as belong to thought in both senses, and so mean truths or else falsities since these belong to thoughts. (Arcana Coelestia 9331)

All wars, although they may be civil in character, represent in heaven states of the Church and are correspondences. Such were all the wars described in the Word, and such also are all wars at this day. The wars described in the Word are those which the Children of Israel waged with various nations, as with the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Philistines, the Syrians, the Egyptians, the Chaldeans and the Assyrians. Moreover, when the Children of Israel, who represented the Church, departed from their precepts and statutes and fell into the evils which were represented by those nations, for each nation with which the Children of Israel waged war signified some particular kind of evil, then they were punished by that nation. For example, when they profaned the holy things of the Church by foul idolatries they were punished by the Assyrians and the Chaldeans, because Assyria and Chaldea signify the profanation of what is holy. (Divine Providence 251)

Key Points From The Video

Hellish Influx and Its Manifestations: These influence the natural mind, giving rise to all evil: wars, selfishness, noxious life, and sterile qualities in the animal and mineral kingdom, all representing the collective state of humanity.

Heavenly Influx and Its Positive Impact: These, in contrast, influence the spiritual mind with goodness and truth, manifesting as peace, order, and harmony, just administration of laws, abstention from evil and removal of harmful irritants supporting fertility and growth.

Correspondence and Effects: Both hellish and heavenly influxes are effects of spiritual causes existing within internal and external aspects of the mind.

Spiritual Causes and Natural Effects: Outward changes stem from spiritual causes within the minds of individuals. The transformations are manifested in the faculties through correspondences.

Uniformity of Influx Across Worlds: Influx is consistent across worlds, but effects are perceived sensually, spiritually, or celestially.

Resistance to Change in the Natural Mind: Influences of evil and falsehood cause resistance to change. Positive tendencies indicate spiritual influence.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the unique aspect of the natural world compared to heaven and hell?
a. it is subject to influx from both heaven and hell
b. it is free from any spiritual influence
c. it is governed solely by physical laws
d. it is a realm of pure neutrality
Answer a )

2. What does the influx from hell give rise to in the natural mind?
a. every conceivable good
b. every conceivable evil
c. a state of perfect balance
d. a feeling of blissful ignorance
Answer b )

3. What is promoted by the influx from heaven, according to the material?
a. chaos and destruction
b. selfishness and greed
c. peace, order, and harmony
d. the pursuit of worldly power
Answer c )

4. What does the reformation and regeneration of the mind involve?
a. accumulating knowledge and wealth
b. achieving physical perfection
c. separating good from evil and truth from falsehood, subduing the latter to the heavenly governance of the former
d. denying the existence of the spiritual world
Answer c )

5. What do changes in the natural world stem from, according to the spiritual man?
a. random chance and unpredictable events
b. solely from natural causes
c. spiritual causes within the minds of individuals
d. external economic forces
Answer c )

Reflective Questions

1. How do you perceive the influence of both heavenly and hellish influx in your own life and in the world around you? Can you identify specific examples of these influences in your thoughts, feelings, and actions?

2. What are the specific areas in your life where you feel the most resistance to positive change? How can you cultivate greater receptivity to heavenly influences and overcome the inertia of the natural mind?

3. How can you actively contribute to the reformation and regeneration of your own mind and, by extension, the transformation of the world around you? What specific steps can you take to align your thoughts and actions with heavenly principles?

Experiential Integration

Daily Perception Shift Practice: Throughout the day, pay attention to the thoughts, feelings, and actions that arise within you. As you become aware of these thoughts, feelings, and actions, Ask yourself: Are they aligned with heavenly principles (love, wisdom, service)? Or are they influenced by hellish tendencies (selfishness, greed, hatred)? I

f you identify thoughts, feelings, or actions that are not aligned with heaven, consciously choose to redirect your attention and energy towards more positive and uplifting alternatives.

Visualise yourself surrounded by the light of heaven, and allow this light to guide your choices and actions.

Further Exploration

Few are aware of what representations and of what correspondences are. Nor can anyone know what they are unless he knows that there is a spiritual world and that this is distinct and separate from the natural world. For between spiritual things and natural things correspondences exist, and the manifestations of spiritual things within natural are representations. They are called correspondences because they correspond, and representations because they represent. (Arcana Coelestia 2987)

The human being is a spirit. It is owing to it that he thinks and wills. Consequently the spiritual world is where people are, and not at all removed from them. In short, every person in the interiors of his mind is in that world, in the midst of spirits and angels there, and he thinks because of its light, and loves because of its warmth. (Divine Love and Wisdom 92)

Similar things are represented by the wars of the present day, wherever they occur; for all things which take place in the natural world correspond to spiritual things in the spiritual world, and all spiritual things have relation to the Church. (Divine Providence 251{4})

The reason why ‘wise men from the east’ offered them was that among some in the east there remained from ancient times the knowledge and wisdom of the people of old, which consisted in their understanding and seeing heavenly and Divine realities within things in the world and on earth. For it was well known to the ancients that all things had a correspondence and were representative, and therefore had a spiritual meaning. (Arcana Coelestia 9293)

Reference is made very many times in the Word to earth or land, ground, field, seedtime, harvest, standing grain, threshing-floor, grain, wheat, and barley; and in those places they mean the kinds of things that are involved in the establishment of the Church and that are involved in the regeneration of a person who is in the Church, thus the kinds of things that are connected with the truth of faith and the good of love which constitute the Church. The reason why those kinds of things are meant lies in correspondence; for all things on this planet, including those in its vegetable kingdom, correspond to spiritual realities that exist in heaven, as is plainly evident from the things which appear there. For in heaven newly ploughed fields, open ones, gardens of flowers, fields ready to be harvested, land planted with trees, and similar things such as exist on earth are seen; and it is well known to those who are there that the realities composing heaven, thus those composing the Church, are what appear before their eyes in this kind of way. (Arcana Coelestia 10669{3})

From The Doctrines For Spiritual Christianity

Yet although the heavens are so distinct that the angels of one heaven cannot have association in their affairs with the angels of another, still the Lord conjoins all the heavens by immediate and mediate influx-by immediate influx from Himself into all the heavens, and by mediate influx from one heaven into another. He thus makes the three heavens to be one, and all to be in such connection from the First to the last so that there is nothing that is not connected. Whatever is not connected through intermediates with the First does not continue in existence, but is dissipated and becomes nothing. (Heaven and Hell 37)

But influx is of such a nature that there is an influx from the Divine of the Lord into every angel, into every spirit, and into every man, and that in this way the Lord rules everyone, not only in the universal, but also in the veriest singulars, and this immediately from Himself, and also mediately through the spiritual world. In order to make known the existence of this influx, much has already been said about the correspondence of man’s parts with the Grand Man, that is, with heaven; and at the same time about the representation of spiritual things in natural. (Arcana Coelestia 6058)

The self-love and love of the world within a person start to reign when he comes to make his own decisions and to be responsible for his own actions; for then he starts to think from himself or what is his own, and starts to make those [evils] his own, which he does increasingly the more firmly he embraces evil in his life. To the extent that a person makes evils his own the Lord sets apart the good of innocence and of charity which he has received in infancy and childhood and receives from time to time after that, and He stores them away interiorly within the person. For the good of innocence and the good of charity cannot by any means exist together with the evils that are products of those loves, and the Lord is unwilling to let them be destroyed. (Arcana Coelestia 7493)

Since man is both a heaven and a world in least form after the image of the greatest (see above, n. 57), there is in him both a spiritual and a natural world. The interior things that belong to his mind, and that have relation to understanding and will, constitute his spiritual world; while the exterior things that belong to his body, and that have relation to its senses and activities, constitute his natural world. Consequently, everything in his natural world (that is, in his body and its senses and activities), that has its existence from his spiritual world (that is, from his mind and its understanding and will) is called a correspondent. (Heaven and Hell 90)

The representatives and correspondences which exist in his external man are such that they have a different appearance from the things to which they correspond in the internal man and which they represent. Consequently they cannot enter his awareness until he has become rid of those externals. Blessed at that time is the person with whom correspondence exists, that is, whose external man corresponds to the internal man. (Arcana Coelestia 2994)

When a person’s natural is being regenerated every single form of good and truth is gathered into the known facts there. Any that are not present within these facts are not in the natural. This is because that part of the natural mind which is subject to the understanding part is made up solely of factual knowledge; and this knowledge present in the natural is the last and lowest degree of order. To come forth and manifest themselves in that sphere things that are prior must exist within ones that are last and lowest. More than this, prior things all extend into their last and lowest forms which serve them as their boundaries or final limits. Prior things come into being simultaneously on that lowest level, in the same way as causes do within their effects, or as higher objects do within lower ones that serve as vessels to contain them. The known facts present in the natural are such last and lowest things. This being so, the final limit that holds the spiritual world within it is man’s natural, in which things existing in the spiritual world reveal themselves in the form of representations. If spiritual things did not reveal themselves within the natural in the form of representations, thus with the help of such things as exist in the world, no one could have any awareness of them at all. From these considerations one may see that when the natural is being regenerated every form of interior truth and good which has its origin in the spiritual world is gathered into known facts to enable it to manifest itself. (Arcana Coelestia 5373)

Key Points From The Video

The Descent of Mediatory Influx: This influx of the passage of good and truth from the highest levels to the lowest is received by every finite mind, even those in the infant and preparatory stages before regeneration.

Development and Influx: As the intellect develops, representative innocence fades, and selfish loves emerge. The mind becomes susceptible to negative influences from hell, shaping it into a hellish form.

Degrees of Life and Their Sensuous Worlds: Every degree has its sensuous world as Divine Life flows into interior forms to produce affections and thoughts, creating the objects of the senses.

Community of State and Representation: The community of state of those in the same societies creates a general resemblance in the landscapes they behold.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is mediatory influx?
a. the process of physical evolution
b. the scientific explanation of sensory perception
c. the random occurrence of events in the natural world
d. the communication of thoughts and affections across different degrees of heavenly life
Answer d )

2. During infancy, through which heaven does the influx of Divine Life come?
a. the lowest heaven
b. the middle heaven
c. the highest or celestial heaven
d. the outermost heaven
Answer c )

3. What happens to a person as their intellect develops?
a. they become more innocent and pure
b. their initial state of representative innocence fades
c. they become immune to negative influences
d. they automatically achieve enlightenment
Answer b )

4. What is formed by shared thoughts and affections within a society in the afterlife?
a. a common, representative place that signifies a shared state of being
b. a physical city or community
c. a hierarchical structure of power and authority
d. a state of constant conflict and competition
Answer a )

5. What shapes the reality we perceive ?
a. physical laws and scientific principles
b. random chance and unpredictable events
c. our personal experiences and memories
d. the continual influence of Divine life at every level
Answer d )

Reflective Questions

1. How do you perceive the presence and influence of mediatory influx in your own life? Can you identify instances where you have been influenced by higher or lower degrees of heavenly life?

2. In what ways do you see the effects of negative influences from hell shaping the natural mind? How can you actively resist these influences and cultivate a more spiritual state of mind?

3. How does the understanding that every distinct object is an effect of Divine life change your appreciation for the beauty and wonder of the natural world? How can you use this awareness to deepen your connection with the Divine and foster a greater sense of interconnectedness with all of creation?

Experiential Integration

Daily Perception Shift Practice: Throughout the day, pay attention to the thoughts and feelings that arise within you. As you become aware of these thoughts and feelings, ask yourself: Where are they coming from? Are they aligned with Divine love and wisdom, or are they influenced by selfish desires and negative emotions?

If you identify thoughts and feelings that are not aligned with the Divine, consciously choose to redirect your attention towards more positive and uplifting thoughts. Visualise yourself surrounded by the light of heaven, and allow this light to cleanse and purify your mind.

Further Exploration

Nobody up to now has known of the existence of such correspondences, and I realize that people will marvel when they hear of them. They will do so because they do not know what the internal man is and what the external man is, or that the internal man exists in the spiritual world and the external in the natural, or that it is the internal man which lives within the external, flowing into it and governing it. From these considerations, as well as from those introduced above in 4044, it is nevertheless possible to know of the existence of influx, and also of correspondence. Their existence is very well known in the next life, as is the fact that the natural is nothing else than the representation of spiritual things from which it comes into being and is kept in being, and that as is the correspondence of natural with spiritual so is its representation of it. (Arcana Coelestia (4053)

Each and all things in the universe represent the Lord’s kingdom, so much so that the universe with all its constellations, its various atmospheres, and its three kingdoms is nothing else than a kind of stage on which the Lord’s glory as it exists in heaven is represented. (Arcana Coelestia 3000)

The representation of spiritual things by natural, and the correspondence of natural things with spiritual, may also be known from the consideration that what is natural cannot in any sense come into being without a cause prior to itself. Its cause exists in that which is spiritual. Nothing natural exists which does not have its cause there. Natural forms are effects and cannot appear as causes, let alone as the causes of causes, or first origins. Instead they take the forms they do from the use they perform in the place where they belong. Nevertheless the forms taken by effects represent the things that exist among causes, and these causes in turn represent those that exist among first origins. Thus all natural things represent those that exist among the spiritual things to which they correspond, and those spiritual things in turn represent those that exist among the celestial things in which they have their origin. (Arcana Coelestia 2991)

First, it will be stated what correspondence is. The whole natural world corresponds to the spiritual world, not only the natural world in general but also in every particular. Therefore, whatever in the natural world comes into existence from the spiritual world is said to be in correspondence with it. It must be known that the natural world comes into existence and continues in existence from the spiritual world, precisely like an effect from its effecting cause. By the natural world is meant everything in its whole extent that is under the sun, receiving heat and light from it; and all things that continue in existence therefrom belong to that world. But the spiritual world is heaven, and all things in the heavens belong to that world. (Heaven and Hell 89)

Because members of the Most Ancient Church, who were spoken of in 1114-1125, saw in every thing belonging to the natural order something spiritual and celestial, so much so that natural things served them simply as objects for thinking about spiritual and celestial things, they were for that reason able to talk to angels and so be present with them in the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens at the same time as they were in His kingdom on earth, which is the Church. Thus with them natural things were joined to spiritual and wholly corresponded. It was different however after those times, when evil and falsity began to reign, that is, after the golden age, when the iron age began. Because at that time correspondence did not exist any longer, heaven was closed. It ceased to exist so completely that men scarcely wished to know whether there was anything spiritual; indeed they did not wish at length to know that there was a heaven or a hell, or a life after death. (Arcana Coelestia 2995)

For nothing at all comes into being in the natural creation that does not have a correspondence with the spiritual world; it has no cause from which it may be brought into being and from which it may be kept in being. Things existing in the natural world are nothing else than effects; their causes exist in the spiritual world, while the causes behind those causes, which are the ends, exist more internally in heaven. No effect can remain in being unless its cause is present within it constantly; for the instant a cause ceases to exist, so does its effect. Essentially an effect is nothing else than its cause; but a cause so clothes itself outwardly with an effect that it is enabled to act as a cause in a lower sphere than its own. And similar to the relationship between an effect and its cause is the relationship between a cause and its end. Unless a cause likewise comes into being from its own cause, which is the end, it is not a cause; for without an end a cause is devoid of order, and where there is no order nothing is brought into being. From this it is now evident that the essence of an effect is its cause, while the essence of a cause is its end, and that an end which has good in view exists in heaven and comes forth from the Lord. Consequently an effect is not an effect unless there is a cause within it, constantly there, and a cause is not a cause unless there is an end within it, constantly so. Nor is an end an end that has good in view unless the Divine which goes forth from the Lord is present within it. From this it is also evident that even as every single thing in the world has been brought into being from the Divine, so it is kept in being from the Divine. (Arcana Coelestia 5711)

From The Doctrines For Spiritual Christianity

For a person cannot help feeling that he loves and is wise of himself, that is, he wills good and understands truth of himself, when in fact it is not in the least from himself, but from God. It is only God who loves of Himself and is wise of Himself, because God is love itself and wisdom itself. The likeness or appearance that love and wisdom, or good and truth, are present in a person as if they belonged to him is what makes him human, and capable of being linked to God and so living for ever. (Conjugial Love 132)

But now [it is to be affirmed] that the life of the Lord flows in into all in the universe, for they constitute the Grand Body [corpus maximum] and heaven, with the heaven of spirits, which is His body, because it lives from Him, as a man lives from his soul; i.e. from the Lord through the soul, wherefore all the members, and the parts of the members, cannot but live from Him; just as in man the members and parts of members depend exclusively upon his soul; and according to the forms of the members and the forms of the parts, so they live, and so do they perform their functions, however diverse, in the universal body; and yet in such a way that they are led to uses and ends, like each single organ in the body, for there is a consent of all to uses and to one end, which is the Lord; whence life [flows] into all and each, from one mediately into another, through a society of forms. (Spiritual Experiences 1710)

Whatever exists in the human being, both in the external man and in the internal man, has a correspondence with the Grand Man. Without that correspondence with the Grand Man – that is, with heaven, or what amounts to the same, with the spiritual world – nothing can ever come into being and remain in being. This is because it does not have a connection with anything prior to itself or consequently with Him who is the First, that is, with the Lord. Nothing that lacks such a connection, thus that is independent, can remain in being for even a single instant. For everything that remains in being does so entirely by virtue of its connection with and dependence on what brings it into being; for remaining in being consists in a constant coming into being.  [2] From this it follows that not only all the individual parts of the human being correspond to the Grand Man but also every single thing in the universe. (Arcana Coelestia 5377)

The Lord alone is Man, and it is owing to Him that angels, spirits, and inhabitants of the world are called men. By His own flowing into heaven He causes the whole of heaven to represent and resemble one human being; and through an influx both by way of heaven and directly from Himself into each individual there He causes all to be seen as men, and angels to be seen in a form more beautiful and dazzling than anyone can possibly describe. (Arcana Coelestia 6626 )

Heaven is the Grand Man corresponding to every single part of the human being… For whatever passes from the Infinite Being by way of heaven as the Grand Man presents an image of that Being in every single thing. (Arcana Coelestia 4687{2}).

But we must briefly say how the Lord leads and teaches every person from the angelic heaven. In our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom, and above in the present treatise Divine Providence, as also in the book Heaven and Hell, published in 1758 in London, we have reported from things we have seen and heard that the entire angelic heaven appears in the Lord’s sight as a single person, and so, too, every society of heaven, and that for this reason every angel or spirit is a human being in perfect form. In the aforementioned treatises we have also shown as well that heaven is not heaven owing to anything of the angels’ own, but because of the angels’ reception of Divine love and wisdom from the Lord. It can be seen from this that the Lord governs the entire angelic heaven as though it were a single person; that that heaven, being in itself human, is the very image and very likeness of the Lord; and that the Lord Himself governs that heaven as the soul governs its body. So, because the entire human race is governed by the Lord, it can be seen that it is governed by the Lord not through heaven, but from heaven, consequently from Himself, because He is heaven, as we have said. (Divine Providence 163)

Our whole spirit is desire and its consequent thought; and since all desire is a matter of love and all thought a matter of discernment, our whole spirit is its love and its consequent discernment. This is why our thinking flows from the desires of our love when we are thinking solely from our own spirit, as we do when we are in reflective moods at home. We may conclude, then, that when we become spirits (which happens after death), we are the desire of our love, and not our thought except to the extent that it comes from that desire. We are drawn to what is evil (which amounts to a compulsion) if our love has been a love for what is evil, and we are drawn to what is good if our love has been a love for what is good. We are drawn to what is good to the extent that we have abstained from evils as sins; and we are drawn to what is evil to the extent that we have not abstained from evils. Since all spirits and angels are desires, then, we can see that the whole angelic heaven is nothing but a love that embraces all desires for what is good and therefore a wisdom that embraces all perceptions of what is true. Further, since everything good and true comes from the Lord and the Lord is love itself and wisdom itself, it follows that the angelic heaven is an image of Him; and since divine love and wisdom are human in form, it also follows that this is the only possible form the angelic heaven can have. But I will have more to say about this in the next section. (Divine Providence 61)

Key Points From The Video

The Source of Life and Consciousness: Every person derives their sense of autonomous existence from the continual influx of life from God.

The Role of Divine Life: Divine life creates each mind differently to fulfil specific uses. Spiritual relationships are based on associated functions of use, performed for the good of the whole.

The Grand Man and Spiritual Affinities: In heaven, distinct spiritual uses are represented by functional uses of the body (Grand Human).

Divine Organisation of Minds: Divine life passes into regenerate minds, organising them into affinities of use and function, which are also affinities of affection and thought.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What are the formation of the natural and spiritual worlds rooted in?
a. random chance
b. the interplay of two contrary states of mind
c. physical laws
d. human imagination
Answer b )

2. What is the purpose of the shift of the objects of sensation brought on by the process of death?
a. to punish the wicked
b. to reward the righteous
c. to shift to a necessary consequence of the interior change in the state of the mind
d. to erase all memory of earthly existence
Answer c )

3. What does every person derive their sense of existence as a distinctive conscious being from?
a. their own inherent power
b. the continual influx of life from God
c. the love and support of their family and friends
d. the pursuit of material wealth and success
Answer b )

4. What does heaven facilitate for angels?
a. continual increases in their happiness
b. the accumulation of worldly possessions
c. the exercise of power and control over others
d. a life of ease and luxury
Answer a )

5. How are regenerate minds organised by Divine life?
a. into hierarchies of power and authority
b. into competition with one another for resources
c. into affinities of use and function, which are also affinities of affection and thought
d. into isolation from the rest of creation
Answer c )

Reflective Questions

1. How does the concept of correspondences between the natural and spiritual worlds influence your understanding of everyday events and experiences? Can you identify specific examples of these correspondences in your own life?

2. In what ways do you see the Divine organisation of minds reflected in the structure and function of your own community or social network? Are there any areas where this organisation could be improved or strengthened?

3. How can you actively contribute to the promotion of good and happiness for others in your daily interactions and relationships? What specific actions can you take to align your personal actions with the Divine purpose of fostering harmony and interconnectedness?

Experiential Integration

Daily Perception Shift Practice: Choose one specific part of your body (e.g., your hands, your eyes, your heart). For 5 minutes, focus your attention on this part of your body, becoming aware of its sensations, its movements, and its functions. As you focus, consciously remind yourself that this part of your body is a representative image of a specific mental function belonging to heavenly life.

Reflect on the qualities and virtues associated with this function and how you can cultivate them in your own thoughts, feelings, and actions. Keep a record of your observations and reflections in a journal.

Further Exploration

Since the Lord wills to be conjoined with a person, for the sake of his salvation, He also provides that a person have in him something reciprocal. The reciprocal condition in a person consists in this, that the good that he wills and does in freedom, and the truth that he thinks and speaks in consequence of that will in accordance with his reason, appear to issue from him; and that this good in his will, and this truth in his intellect, appear to be his. Indeed, they appear to the person to issue from him and be his altogether as though they were his, without any difference. Observe whether anyone perceives with any of his senses anything else. Concerning this appearance to a person that he does what he does as though of himself, see nos. 74-77 above; and concerning its attachment to him as his, nos. 78-81. The only difference is that a person ought to acknowledge that he does good and thinks truth not of himself but from the Lord; and therefore that the good that he does and the truth that he thinks are not his. To think in this way, impelled by some love of the will, because it is the truth, occasions conjunction. For a person then turns his face to the Lord, and the Lord turns His face to the person.(Divine Providence 92{3})

How the Word of the Lord appears before the angels cannot be described, but some idea can be formed by those who have seen in museums the optical cylinders in which beautiful images are represented from things roughly projected. Although the things which are round about in the projection appear to have no form, series, or order, and to be merely confused projections, still when they are concentrated toward the cylinder, they there present a lovely image. So it is with the Word of the Lord, especially with the prophetic Word of the Old Testament. In the literal sense there is scarcely anything that does not appear destitute of order, but when it is being read by a man, and especially by a little boy or girl, it becomes more beautiful and delightful by degrees as it ascends, and at last it is presented before the Lord as the image of a human being, in which and by which heaven is represented in its whole complex, not as it is, but as the Lord wills it to be, namely, a likeness of Himself. (Arcana Coelestia 1871)

In this world it is a great secret, although in the other life nothing is better known to every spirit, that all things in the human body have a correspondence to those in heaven; insomuch that there is not the smallest particle in the body, to which something spiritual and celestial does not correspond; or what is the same, to which heavenly societies do not correspond, for these exist according to all the genera and species of spiritual and celestial things; and this in such an order that together they represent one man, even as to all his parts, in general and in particular, both the interior and the exterior. Hence it is that the universal heaven is also called the Grand Man; and hence it is that it has been so often said that one society belongs to one province of the body, another to another, and so on. The reason is that the Lord is the Only Man, and heaven represents Him; and the Divine good and truth that are from Him are what make heaven; and because the angels are therein, they are said to be in the Lord. But they who are in hell are outside this Grand Man, and correspond to things unclean, and also to bodily corruptions. (Arcana Coelestia 2996)

From The Doctrines For Spiritual Christianity

Since a person has in him three degrees of love and wisdom and consequent useful endeavor, it follows that he has in him three degrees of will and intellect and consequent resolve, and thus of a determination to a useful end. For the will is the receptacle of love, and the intellect the receptacle of wisdom, and the resolve is the useful result springing from them. It is apparent in consequence of this that every person has in him a natural, spiritual and celestial will and intellect, potentially from birth, and actually as they are opened. In a word, from creation and thus from birth, the human mind, which consists of will and intellect, exists in three degrees, so that a person has a natural mind, a spiritual mind, and a celestial mind. (Divine Love and Wisdom 239)

As in the rational, so in the natural, there are things which are of the will and things which are of the understanding. The things in the natural that have relation to the will are delights, and those which have relation to the understanding are memory-knowledges, and in order to be something these two must be conjoined together. (Arcana Coelestia 3519)

The universe is divided in general into two worlds, one spiritual and one natural. Inhabiting the spiritual world are angels and spirits. Inhabiting the natural world are people. These two worlds are totally alike in their outward aspect – so alike that they cannot be distinguished – but in their inward aspect they are entirely unalike. The people who inhabit the spiritual world – who, as we said, are called angels and spirits – are themselves spiritual, and because they are spiritual, they think spiritually and speak spiritually. In contrast, people who inhabit the natural world are natural, and therefore they think naturally and speak naturally; and spiritual thought and speech have nothing in common with natural thought and speech. (Divine Love and Wisdom 163)

What the natural man is, and what the spiritual man. A man is not a man from the face and body, but from the understanding and the will, and therefore by the natural man and the spiritual man is understood his understanding and will which are either natural or spiritual. The natural man as to his understanding and will is like the natural world, and may also be called a world or microcosm; and the spiritual man as to his understanding and will is like the spiritual world, and may also be called a spiritual world or heaven. From this it is clear that because the natural man is a natural world in a certain image, he loves the things of the natural world, and that because the spiritual man is a spiritual world in a certain image, he loves those things belonging to that world or heaven. The spiritual man, indeed, also loves the natural world, but in no other way than a master loves his servant through whom he performs uses. According to uses also the natural man becomes like the spiritual, which happens when the natural man feels the delight of uses from the spiritual man. This natural man may be called natural-spiritual. The spiritual man loves spiritual truths. He loves not only to know and understand them, but he also wills them; but the natural man loves to speak of those truths and also to do them. To do truths is to perform uses. This subordination is from the conjunction of the spiritual world and the natural world. For whatever appears and is done in the natural world derives its cause from the spiritual world. From these considerations it may be established that the spiritual man is altogether distinct from the natural man, and that no communication occurs between them other than such as there is between cause and effect. (Divine Love and Wisdom 251)

Every man has two minds, one natural and the other spiritual; and as it is the mind that wills and thinks, every man has also natural will and thought and spiritual will and thought. The natural mind wills and thinks like a man in the world, and the spiritual mind wills and thinks like an angel in heaven. From this it follows that as faith is in man, it, too, is natural or spiritual; and that natural faith is according to man’s will and thought in the world, and spiritual faith is according to his will and thought in heaven. It is said the will and thought, because all things from which man is a man have relation to these two, for from the will he acts, and from the thought he speaks. And as a man acts and speaks either from self or from God, so he wills and thinks either from self or from God. From this it is clear, in the first place, that there is natural faith and spiritual faith; and that natural faith apart from spiritual faith is to think such things as are in the Word from self, while natural faith from spiritual faith is to think such things as are in the Word from God; although this also seems to the man to be from himself. As every man has two minds, a natural and a spiritual, and the natural mind is opened and formed by such things as are in the world, while the spiritual mind is opened and formed by such things as are in heaven, and as the things that are in heaven are all spiritual, so a man’s spiritual mind must needs be opened and formed by such things as are in the Word, in which all things are spiritual because they are Divine. In the Word there are truths that are to be known and thought, and goods that must be willed and done; therefore it is by these goods and these truths that man’s spiritual mind is opened and formed. From this it follows, that unless the spiritual mind is opened and formed by truths and goods from the Word it remains closed; and when this is closed the natural mind only is opened and formed by such things as are in the world, from which man, indeed, derives a natural lumen, but such as has in it no wisdom from heaven. From this it is clear, in the second place, that faith is not faith so long as the natural mind only is opened, but that if the thought that a thing is so is called faith it is historical faith, which is nothing but knowledge from which the natural man thinks. (Apocalypse Explained 790{3-4})

Key Points From The Video

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is one of the most magnificent revelations made to humanity?
a. the discovery of quantum physics
b. the teaching that a representative world of sensuous objects is created through spiritual influx
c. the invention of the printing press
d. the formulation of the theory of evolution
Answer b )

2. Why is it more difficult to comprehend the doctrine of spiritual influx when applied to the natural world?
a. because the spiritual world is more logical
b. because the natural world is too complex
c. because the doctrine is not meant to apply to the natural world
d. because those in the natural world are deeply immersed in its space and time
Answer d )

3. What mistaken belief do people tend to have about the objects of the natural world?
a. that they are illusions created by the mind
b. that they are infinitely malleable
c. that they exist independently of the mental life of human beings
d. that they are all connected to a higher power
Answer c )

4. What is the true nature of the supposed two worlds (spiritual and natural)?
a. they are fundamentally different in their origins and nature
b. they are merely two distinct states of the will and intellect, appearing identical in their external forms
c. they are reflections of each other, but one is more real than the other
d. they are entirely separate and unconnected realms of existence
Answer b )

What is death from the perspetive of Spiritual Christianity?
a. the final end of existence
b. a punishment for sins committed in life
c. nothing more than the passage from a natural state of the will and intellect into a spiritual state
d. a random and unpredictable event
Answer c )

Reflective Questions

1. How do you typically understand the relationship between your thoughts and feelings and the external world around you? Does this understanding align with the doctrine of spiritual influx, or do you tend to see the external world as existing independently of your mind?

2. Can you identify specific instances where your immersion in space and time might be distorting your perception of reality? How can you actively challenge these distortions and cultivate a more spiritual perspective?

3. How does the understanding that both the natural and spiritual worlds are products of Divine life manifesting through the sentient faculties change your appreciation for the beauty and wonder of the natural world?

Experiential Integration

Daily Perception Shift Practice: Choose a simple object in your environment (e.g., a flower, a piece of fruit, a stone, a chair). For 5 minutes, observe it closely, paying attention to its shape, colour, texture, and smell.

As you observe, consciously remind yourself that this object is not merely a static, independent entity, but rather a manifestation of Divine creative life flowing through your sentient faculties. Try to connect with the spiritual qualities or principles that this object might represent (e.g., beauty, growth, harmony).

Keep a record of your observations and reflections in a journal.

Further Exploration

All things in heaven bear relation to good and the derivative truth, whereas all things in hell bear relation to evil and the derivative falsity; hence likewise in man, all things with him which are from heaven bear relation to good and truth, but all things with him which are from hell bear relation to evil and falsity. Or, what is the same, all things with man which are from the Lord bear relation to good and truth, but all things which are from man himself bear relation to evil and falsity. Now as these are the things to which all things in the universe bear relation, and man is a receptacle of them, therefore there are two things with man which receive them, one called the will, and the other the understanding. The will is the receptacle of good or of evil, and the understanding is the receptacle of truth or of falsity. The will which is from the Lord, which is also called the new will, is the receptacle of good; whereas the understanding which is from the Lord, which is also called the new understanding, is the receptacle of truth. But the will which is from man’s own, and is also called the old will, is the receptacle of evil, and the understanding which is from man’s own, and is also called the old understanding, is the receptacle of falsity. Into this understanding and into this will, man is born from his parents; but into the former understanding and into the former will, man is born from the Lord, which is done when he is being regenerated. For when a man is being regenerated, he is conceived and born anew. (Arcana Coelestia 10122{2})

Awakening one morning, I fell to thinking about some questions having to do with conjugial love, coming finally to this one: In what region of the human mind is truly conjugial love seated, and in what region, therefore, coldness in marriage? I knew that the human mind is divided into three regions, one above the other, and that natural love resides in the lowest region, spiritual love in the next higher one, and celestial love in the highest. I knew also that in each region there is a marriage of good and truth, and because good has to do with love, and truth with wisdom, that in each region there is a marriage of love and wisdom; moreover, that this marriage is the same as a marriage of the will and understanding, since the will is the recipient vessel of love, and the understanding the recipient vessel of wisdom. While I was deep in thought on this question, I suddenly saw two swans flying towards the north, and presently two birds of paradise flying towards the south, and then two turtledoves flying in the east. Following their flight with my eyes, I next saw the two swans veer their course from the north to the east, likewise the two birds of paradise from the south, until they met up with the pair of turtledoves in the east. Then together they flew towards a certain lofty palace there, rising in the midst of olive trees, palms and beeches. The palace had three rows of windows, one above another; and as I watched, I saw the birds fly into the palace – the swans through windows standing open in the lowest row, the birds of paradise through windows open in the middle row, and the turtledoves through windows open in the highest row. After I witnessed this event, an angel stood beside me and said, “Do you understand the things you have seen?” “A little,” I replied. “The palace,” said the angel, “represents the abodes of conjugial love as these exist in human minds. Its highest level – into which the turtledoves disappeared – represents the highest region of the mind, where conjugial love resides in the goodness of love together with its wisdom. The middle level – into which the birds of paradise disappeared – represents the intermediate region, where conjugial love resides in a love of truth together with its intelligence. And the lowest level – into which the swans disappeared – represents the lowest region of the mind, where conjugial love resides in a love of what is just and right together with its knowledge. “These degrees are also symbolized by the three pairs of birds – the two turtledoves symbolizing conjugial love in the highest region, the two birds of paradise conjugial love in the intermediate region, and the two swans conjugial love in the lowest region. The three kinds of trees surrounding the palace – the olive trees, palms and beeches – symbolize the same. “In heaven we call the highest region of the mind celestial, the intermediate one spiritual, and the lowest one natural. And we conceive of them as being like apartments in a house, one above another, with steps going up from one to the next, like stairs. Moreover, on each level there are as it were two sets of rooms, one for love, one for wisdom, with a bedroom, so to speak, in front, where they come together in bed – love with its wisdom, or good with its truth, or to say the same thing, the will with its intellect. In such a palace, all the mysteries of conjugial love become visible as though in effigy.” Hearing this, being fired with a desire to see one, I asked whether a person might go in and look at the palace there, since it was a representational one. The angel replied that only angels in the third heaven could, because for them every representation of love and wisdom becomes real. “What I have related to you I have heard from them,” he said, “including as well the following, that truly conjugial love resides in the highest region, in the midst of mutual love in the chamber or apartment of the will, and at the same time in the midst of perceptions of wisdom in the chamber or apartment of the intellect; and these come together in bed in a bedroom that is located in front on the east side.” “Why,” I asked, “are there two chambers?” “Because,” he said, “a husband lives in the chamber of the intellect, and a wife lives in the chamber of the will.” At that I inquired, “If that is where conjugial love resides, where then does coldness in marriage reside?” “It, too, resides in the highest region,” he replied, “but only in the chamber of the intellect, with the chamber of the will on that level being closed off. For as often as it pleases, the understanding with its truths can ascend by a spiral stairway to its chamber in the highest region; but if the will with the goodness of its love does not ascend at the same time to its companion chamber, the latter remains closed, and coldness develops in the other, which is the coldness one finds in marriage. “As long as such coldness to one’s wife continues, the intellect looks down from the highest region to the lowest; and if fear does not hold it back, it also descends in order to warm itself there with an illicit fire.” Having said this, the angel wished to tell me still more about conjugial love from the depictions of it in that palace; but he said, “Enough for now. First investigate whether these concepts are beyond people’s general comprehension. If they are, what is the use of saying more? On the other hand, if they are not, more will be disclosed another time.” (Conjugial Love 270{1-6})

Changes of state there, to which morning, midday, evening, and night correspond, are not attributable to the sun there, for that sun is always radiating heat and light, that is, the good of love and the truth of faith. Instead those changes are attributable to the recipients, that is to say, to the angels and spirits, who move through a regular cycle of such changes as their life progresses. At one point it is morning, that is, they are filled with the good of love; at another it is midday, that is, they are enlightened with the truth of faith; and at yet another it is evening and night, that is, these gifts become vague and dull with them. [5] The reason why the situation in the world is as it is in heaven, except for the difference that in the world the regular cycle consists of states belonging to the fumes of day, while in heaven it consists of states of life, is that all things in the world have been created in the image of those in heaven. For natural things arise from spiritual ones as effects from their causes. Consequently there is a correspondence of all things in the world with those in heaven, and therefore the whole natural order is nothing other than a theatre representative of the Lord’s kingdom, 3483, 4939, 8211.  (Arcana Coelestia 8812)