388、从现在所说的也可以看出，人的心智就是这个人自己。人类形式的原生结构，或人类形式本身，以及它的每一个组成部分，都来自从脑经由神经延伸下来的最初成分，正如前面所说明的。这就是人死后所进入的形式，死后他被称为一个灵人，或一位天使，完完全全就是一个人，不过是一个属灵人。在世上所补充并添加的物质形式不是凭自己，而是仅凭这种属灵形式而成为一个人的形式。它被补充并添加到属灵形式上，是为了使人能在自然界发挥功用，还能从世界上更纯粹的物质中给自己提取出某种固定容器，以盛纳属灵事物，从而使他的生命得以延续和持久。我从天使智慧中得知，人的心智，不仅在总体上，而且在每一个细节上，都拥有一种不断朝向人类形式的努力，因为神就一位人。
388. We can also see from what has been said that the human mind is the essential person. The very first impulse toward the human form, or the essential human form, complete in all detail, comes from its primary forms, extended from the brain through its nerves, as already explained [366].
This is the form we attain after death, the form we call a spirit or an angel, a form that is an absolutely complete person, but a spiritual one. The material form that was added on the outside in the world is not the human form in its own right, but is derived from that form, added on the outside so that we can function usefully in the physical world. It also provides us with a stable vessel for our spiritual natures, a vessel drawn from the purer substances of this world, that we take with us [after death] in order to carry on and continue our lives.
It is an item of angelic wisdom that the human mind, both in a general way and in every least detail, is in a constant effort toward the human form because God is human.
388. From what we have now said it can also be seen that a person's mind is the person himself. For the first framework of the human form, or the human form itself, with each and every one of its constituents, comes from its first elements continued from the brain through the nerves, in accordance with what we have also already shown above.
This is the form into which a person comes after death, who is then called a spirit or angel, and who is in every measure of perfection a human being, only a spiritual one. The material form which is added and superimposed in the world is not the human form per se, but is its product, being added and superimposed to enable the person to perform useful services in the natural world, and also to take with him from the purer substances of the world some fixed containing vessel for his spiritual constituents and so continue and perpetuate his life.
I have it from angelic wisdom that a person's mind possesses, not only in general but also in every particular, a constant effort toward the human form, because God is human.
388. From what has just been said it may now be seen that man's mind is the man himself. For the fundamental texture of the human form, or the human form itself with every detail thereof is continued from its first principles, out of the brain and through the nerves, as also has been shown above. This is the form into which man comes after death. He is thereupon called a spirit and an angel, and is a completely equipped man, but a spiritual man. The material form which was added and assumed in the world, is not a human form of itself, but by reason of that spiritual form. It was added and assumed so that man could perform uses in the natural world, and also that he might carry with him out of the purer substances of the world some fixed containant of spiritual things, and in this way continue and perpetuate his life. It is a truth of angelic wisdom that man's mind, not only in general, but in every particular, is in constant conatus towards the human form, because God is a Man.
388. From what has now been said it can also be seen that man's mind is the man himself. For the primary texture of the human form, that is, the human form itself with each and every thing thereof, is from first principles continued from the brain through the nerves, in the manner described above. It is this form into which man comes after death, who is then called a spirit or an angel, and who is in all completeness a man, but a spiritual man. The material form that is added and superinduced in the world, is not a human form by itself, but only by virtue of the spiritual form, to which it is added and superinduced that man may be enabled to perform uses in the natural world, and also to draw to himself out of the purer substances of the world a fixed containant of spiritual things, and thus continue and perpetuate life. It is a truth of angelic wisdom that man's mind, not alone in general, but in every particular, is in a perpetual conatus toward the human form, for the reason that God is a Man.
388. Ex nunc dictis etiam videri potest, quod Mens hominis sit ipse homo; prima enim tela formae humanae, seu ipsa forma humana cum omnibus et singulis ejus est ex principiis e Cerebro per nervos continuatis, secundum illa quae etiam supra ostensa sunt. Haec forma est, in quam homo post mortem venit, et qui tunc vocatur spiritus et angelus, et qui est in omni perfectione homo, sed spiritualis: forma materialis, quae addita et superinducta est in Mundo, non est humana forma ex se, sed est ex illa, addita et superinducta, ut homo possit usus facere in naturali mundo, et quoque aliquod fixum continens spiritualium ex purioribus substantiis mundi secum ducere, et sic continuare et perpetuare vitam. Ex sapientia angelica est, quod mens hominis non solum in communi, sed etiam in omni particulari, 1 sit in perpetuo 2 conatu in formam humanam, quia Deus est Homo.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: particuiari,
2. Prima editio: pepetuo