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)