4627. Inflow, light, a sensuous person
Those who are not acquainted with the inner elements of a human being can in no way know the nature of the communication of the soul with the body, still less when they have no idea of the soul and absolutely none of its nature. This is so unknown that it cannot even be defined except as being the intellect or thinking faculty. But as for its nature, it is not known whether it is something ethereal, or flaming, or like an exhalation, or like a tiny living thing reigning in a systematic world of its own, or something else. But most have no idea about it, especially when theories about it are rampant. These utterly confuse any idea.
[2] Because what the nature of a person is as to the person's inward elements is unknown, [the bodily elements shall be explained]. A person's bodily element is that which sees earthly things and those of the world: it hears people speaking, tastes and savors the things that are eaten, smells the things that float in the air; and through touch feels throughout the whole body. This is a person's bodily element. This, together with the elements that most closely contribute to producing those sensations, dies and becomes a corpse. The bodily part is also every action and gesture, and also speech, and therefore the muscles, which are properly called the flesh.
[3] The inward elements composing a person which do not die are in the following series: the raw sensation; all that has been derived from the natural realm; spiritual thinking about the realm of nature. These are a person's outward elements. After this there are: the spiritual heavenly element, the heavenly element, and the innermost, which lacks a name, because it receives the Good and Truth that go forth from the Lord. These constitute a person's Inner being. The intermediary between man's inward and outward elements is called the heavenly Spiritual element.
[4] All these elements actually exist in a person and follow one after the other, and one of them is dominant with everyone, and they are distinct from each other. This can also be shown by the fact that throughout nature there are perpetual compositions and derivations, and likewise in a person. It is also shown by the heavens, which are divided in like manner, and also by the hells. A person is either a heaven in its smallest form or a hell in its smallest form, for the whole heaven in general needs to consist of so many individual images of itself, otherwise the particulars do not square with the general form. For a general is not a something alone of itself but comes into being: it arises and is called a general form from its parts in so far as they are likenesses of it.
[5] Every division of the inward human elements has a light and a heat that is distinct from the others. Sensation has a respectively foggy light, and much experience has enabled me to distinguish its difference from inward lights. And I have observed that as often as I was let down into it, filthy and disgraceful things from the hells came to mind, showing that it is pernicious because earthly, bodily, and worldly things are in that light.
[6] This light is visibly present when such things as have been seen, heard, and felt come into [one's] thinking in such a manner that one sees, hears, and feels them inwardly. As a consequence, when this happens, the shameful acts that one had seen and that one had heard about, filthy words, and more are felt inwardly as fully as they were outwardly.
[7] However, when one is lifted up from that light so as to be somewhat drawn or led away from sensuous matters, one then comes more inwardly into a light that is not a sensuous, but a more inward earthly light. When one is in that light, one is then in a better state; one has an insightful awareness of sensuous things, of their nature and causes. If one is able to think still more inwardly, one then has a still more inward light, namely spiritual earthly light. This light is in part from heaven's light in earthly light. The wise men of old, among the gentiles, knew this and said, as is clear from passages in their books, that if the mind were withdrawn from sensuous matters, it would come into light and into a higher blessedness.
[8] It must be fully known and taken into consideration that all understanding, and thus human thought, comes from light which flows in; for just as the sight of the eye sees objects which are outside of itself by the light of the world, in the same way the understanding sees by the light of heaven, the inward understanding by the light of heaven, the outward by the inflow of the light of heaven into the light of the world. This is the source of all understanding, for understanding is an inner view, or rather, inward sight. Thus it is from the light of heaven, which is from the Lord, which contains wisdom and intelligence. For this light is from the Divine truth going forth from the Lord. And consequently thought, perception, reflection, awareness, prudence, rational analysis, the ability to judge, make distinctions and choose come from this light. All these come from light because they pertain to inward sight. On this account, whatever a person hears passes over into that light so that it may be understood.
[9] However, everything belonging to the human will is from heat: the will to do evil is from the heat of the world, into which the heat of heaven flows and is there adulterated. But the will to do good is from the heat from heaven, for spiritual heat is the love that goes forth from the Lord as from the sun of heaven. That heat is heavenly and spiritual heat, which is love. From that heat comes all goodness, thus all affection for goodness and truth, consequently everything having to do with life, and these belong to the will. From them also comes all heat in people, which is felt most when they love, for in the degree they have love, to that degree they grow warm and their life is enkindled as if by fire.
[10] From all this it can be known what heavenly fire is and what hellish fire is, namely that heavenly fire is the love of doing good to all, and hellish fire is the love of doing evil to all; and it can also be known from this that there is a life-giving fire that is not from the solar fire of the world but from the solar fire of heaven.
[11] I have noticed from frequent experience that when I was let down into sensuous light and as often as I came into it, which was granted me to be well aware of, evil spirits poured in filthy and disgraceful things, which ceased at once as soon as I was lifted out of it.
[12] One day, at dawn, it was granted me to see, by sensuous light also, spirits in the other life who had that light. They appeared in a crowded marketplace carrying sacks containing rough materials, weighing them, and carrying them off. It was a gang that were in that sensory light as are many from among the common people who thought about nothing deeper than simply what they saw with their own eyes and heard with their ears. At that time certain Sirens were present. They were saying that they want to be here because they can see people with their own eyes. And it was said that they do not see other than in a dim view, or rather that they notice spirits who have inner light, thus that they also had only sensory light, that is, light of the lowest natural [level].
[13] One who has that foggy light, namely that of the bodily sense, is also engrossed in the pleasures of the body and sensuous things, which to him are the chief things in life, and also in the kind of knowledge conducive to extending these. And when he thinks from that light about the truths of faith, about heaven, and about Divine matters, he has no regard for them and rejects them as matters that are indeed talked about but do not exist, because he neither sees them nor touches them, believing only his senses. Such sense-governed people run rampant in the world at the present day. For this reason the ancients said that if one could be withdrawn from sensuous things, one would behold marvelous things and be lifted up to heaven.
[14] For this reason also, when people are being regenerated, truths of faith and goods of charity are instilled by the Lord into the things that pertain to sensory light and heat. Then they are kept together with inward things and do not allow themselves to be led astray, for then spiritual light is within that light and leads it as the soul leads the body.
[15] The reason that sensuous light is of this nature is because all from hell who are in the world of spirits are in it, and when one is in it, one is in company with the infernal gang there.
4627. INFLUX, LIGHT [LUX], THE SENSUAL MAN.
(He who does not know about the interiors of man, can never know of what nature is the communication of the soul with the body, and this the less, since people have no idea at all of the soul, and know nothing at all of its quality; consequently, it is so entirely unknown that it cannot even be defined, save as being the intellectual and thinking faculty, but of what quality this is, is unknown, whether it is like a something ethereal, or flaming, or vapory, or like a very diminutive living something, as reigning in a hypothetical world of its own, or something else. But very many have no idea thereof, especially when they know theories concerning it; [for] these quite confuse any ideas respecting it.
Inasmuch as it is unknown of what quality man is as to his interiors, [let it be stated that] it is the corporeal of man that sees terrestrial things and those things which are of the world, hears those that are speaking, tastes or relishes those things which are eaten, smells those things that float in the air, and that feels by touch throughout the entire body. This is man's corporeal. This dies and becomes a corpse, with those things which most directly concur in establishing those sensations. The corporeal is also every action and gesture, and also speech wherefore, it is, likewise, the muscles, [and that envelope] which is properly denominated flesh.
The interiors of man, which do not die, succeed one another in the following order. There is the sensual, there is the natural, there is the spiritual-natural: these are of the external of man. Afterward there is the celestial of the spiritual, the celestial, and the inmost, which, because it immediately receives the good and truth which proceed from the Lord, is destitute of a name: these are of the internal of man. The medium between the external and internal man is called the spiritual of the celestial.
All these do really exist in man, and succeed each other; and, with every individual, one of them has dominion: they are, also, distinct from each other. This may be evident, also, from the fact, that, in universal nature, there are perpetual compositions and derivations: so also in man. This is also evident from the heavens, which are similarly divided, and also from the hells: and man is either a heaven in the least form, or he is a hell in the least form; for the universal heaven must consist in the general of such images of itself in particular; otherwise, the particulars do not square with the general; for the general is nothing of itself, but it is made, it becomes, and so it is called, a general, from its parts, as far as they are likenesses of itself.) (Every division of man's interiors has a distinct light [lumen], and a distinct heat, from the others. The sensual has comparatively a gross light [lumen]; and it was granted me, by much experience, to discriminate this light [lumen] from the interior lights [lumen]; and it was observed, that, as often as I was let down into this light [lumen], just so often there came up, from the hells, filthy and shameful things, so that this light [lumen] is hurtful, because, in this light [lumen], terrestrial, corporeal and worldly things are.) (This light [lumen] is set up when such things occur to the thought as are fully seen, heard and felt; so that when a man sees, hears and feels those things inwardly, thus when the shameful deeds which he had seen and about which he had heard, filthy words, and many things which are inwardly perceived, [occur to the thought], they are clearly, and, as it were, outwardly, discerned, by the senses.)
(But when man is elevated from this light [lumen], so that he is abstracted, or withdrawn, even a very little, from sensuals, he then comes into a more interior light [lumen], which is not of the sensual but of the interior natural. When man is in that light [lumen] he is then in a better state, he is then in discernment concerning sensuals, concerning their quality and concerning causes. If he is able to think still more interiorly, he is then in a light [lumen] still more interior, to wit, in [that of] the spiritual of the natural. This light [lux] is partly from the light [lux] of heaven, within natural light [lux]. The ancient philosophers among the gentiles knew this, and said, as appears by the things in their books, that, if the mind were withdrawn from sensuals, it would come into superior light [lux] and blessedness. It ought to be thoroughly known and considered, that all the understanding, and hence the thought, of man, is from the light [lux] which inflows; for, as the sight of the eye beholds objects which are without itself, by means of the light of the world thrown upon them, so that it may constantly behold the objects, without, not within, itself: so, and in such an order, are interiors in externals.) Thus, the understanding sees by means of the light [lux] of heaven: the interior understanding by means of the light [lux] of heaven [simply]; the exterior by means of the influx of the light [lux] of heaven into the light [lumen] of the world. (Everything intellectual is thence; for the intellectual is the internal visual faculty, or understanding is internal sight. Hence it [i. e., understanding] is from the light [lux] of heaven, which is from the Lord, in which [light] is wisdom and intelligence, for that light [lux] is from Divine truth proceeding from the Lord. Hence, from light [lux] exists thought, discernment, reflection, attention, prudence, rational analysis, and the faculty of judging, distinguishing and choosing. All those things exist from light [lux], because they are of the internal sight. Wherefore, whatever man hears, passes over into that light [lux], in order that it may be perceived.)
(But everything voluntary belonging to man, exists from heat. The voluntary of evil is from the heat of the world, into which the heat of heaven inflows, and in which it is adulterated. But the voluntary of good is from the heat proceeding from heaven; for spiritual heat is of the love which proceeds from the Lord as from the Sun of heaven. That heat is celestial and spiritual heat, which is love. From that heat is everything good, consequently, every affection of good and of truth, and, consequently again, everything of life: and these things pertain to the will. Hence, also, is all the vital heat in man, which is most perceived when his love is active; for, so far as his love is active, so far he grows warm, and so far his life is inflamed, as if with fire.)
(From these things it may be known what heavenly fire is, and what infernal fire, to wit, that heavenly fire is the love of doing well to all, and infernal fire the love of doing ill to all; and, also, that vital fire is not from the solar fire of the world, but from the solar fire of heaven.) (From frequent experience, I have observed - so that it was granted me to know it thoroughly - that, when I have been let down into the light [lumen] of the sensual, and as often as I came into it, evil spirits infused filthy and disgraceful things, which at once ceased, when I was raised out of that light.) (One day, at dawn, it was granted me to see, even by means of sensual light [lumen], some spirits who were in that light in the other life. They appeared in crowds, in a market place, carrying sacks, in which were raw materials, which they weighed and carried away. This was a crowd which is in the light [lumen] of that sensual, as are many of the common people, who have thought no more deeply than on those things which they saw with their eyes and heard with their ears. Certain sirens were then present: they said that they wish to be here, because they see men with their eyes, and it was said that those [sirens] do not see except with an obscure sight, or rather that they observe spirits who are in an interior light [lumen], in such a manner that they, also, were only in the light [lumen] of the sensual, or of the lowest natural.) (He who is in that gross light [lumen], to wit, in sensual [light], is also in the pleasures of the body and of the sensuals, which to him are the primaries of life; and he is also in such scientifics as conduce to the furtherance of these; and, when he thinks from that light [lumen] concerning the truths of faith, concerning heaven, and concerning Divine things, he accounts them as nothing and rejects them, like such things as are, indeed, asserted, but that do not exist, because he does not see nor touch them. He believes in the senses only. Such sensual men are, now, abundant in the world. Wherefore, the ancients said that if man were withdrawn from sensuals, he would see marvelous things, and would be elevated towards heaven.) (Wherefore, while man is being regenerated, the truths of faith and the goods of charity are insinuated, by the Lord, into those things which belong to sensual light [lumen] and heat. They are, then, kept in connection with the interiors. Nor do they [the goods and truths] suffer themselves to be withdrawn; for their spiritual light [lumen] is in that [sensual] light [lumen], and leads it, like the soul does the body.) (That there is such a sensual light [lumen], is because all who are in the world of spirits from hell, are in such a light [lumen]; and, when anyone is in such light, he is in company with the infernal crew there.)
4627. Influxus, lux, sensualis homo
Qui interiora hominis non novit, nequaquam potest scire qualis communicatio sit animae cum corpore, et eo minus, cum prorsus nullam ideam animae habeant, deque quali ejus prorsus nihil sciant, ita ignoratur, ut ne quidem definiri queat, nisi per quod sit intellectuale, et cogitativum, sed quale hoc nescitur, num sicut aethereum quid, aut flammeum, aut exhalativum, aut sicut parvulum vivum, ut dominans in suo mundo systematico, aut aliud, at plerique nullam ejus ideam habent, praesertim cum hypothetica de illa nota sunt, haec confundunt prorsus ideas de illa.
[2] Quia nescitur qualis est homo quoad interiora, corporeum hominis est quod videat terrestria et illa quae mundi sunt, audiat loquentes, gustet seu sapiat quae eduntur, odoret illa quae in aere fluitant; et quod sentiat tactu per totum corpus, hoc corporeum est hominis, hoc moritur et fit cadaver, cum illis quae proxime concurrunt ad sistendas illas sensationes; corporeum etiam est omnis actio et gestus, tum loquela, quare musculi, qui proprie caro vocantur.
[3] Interiora hominis, quae non moriuntur, ita succedunt, est Sensuale, est naturale, est spirituale naturale, haec sunt externi hominis; postea est coeleste spiritualis, est coeleste, et intimum caret nomine, quia immediate recipit Bonum et Verum quae procedunt a Domino, haec sunt Interni hominis: medium inter externum et internum hominem, vocatur Spirituale coelestis.
[4] Omnia haec realiter existunt in homine, et succedunt sibi mutuo, et apud unumquemvis dominatur unum, et sunt inter se distincta; hoc quoque constare potest ex eo, quod in universa natura perpetuae compositiones et derivationes sint, ita quoque in homine, hoc quoque constat ex coelis, qui divisi sunt similiter, et quoque ab infernis; et homo est vel coelum in minima forma, vel est infernum in minima forma, universum enim coelum in communi consistere debet a totidem sui imaginibus in particulare, aliter non particularia quadrant cum communi, nam commune ex se nihil est, sed fit, existit et sic dicitur commune a partibus suis, quatenus sun effigies sui.
[5] Unaquaevis divisio interiorum hominis habet distinctum lumen et distinctum calorem ab aliis, sensuale habet lumen crassum respective, et hoc lumen datum est per multam experientiam discernere a luminibus interioribus, et observatum est, quod quoties in hoc lumen demissus fuerim, toties obvenerint ab infernis spurca, et scandalosa, sic ut hoc lumen sit perniciosum; ex causa quia terrestria, corporea et mundana in hoc lumine sunt.
[6] Hoc lumen sistitur, cum talia cogitationi obveniunt, quae prorsus visa, audita et sentita sunt, sic ut cum videt, audiat et sentiat illa intus, ita cum facta scadalosa quae viderat, et de quibus audiverat, verba spurca, et plura quae intus sentiuntur plane sicut extus sentita sunt.
[7] Cum autem homo ab hoc lumine elevatur, sic ut abstrahatur seu abducatur paululum a sensualibus, tunc venit in lumen interius, quod non sensualis est, sed naturalis interioris, cum homo in illo lumine est, tunc est in meliori statu, est tunc in apperceptione de sensualibus, de quali eorum et de causis; si adhuc interius cogitare potest, tunc est in lumine adhuc interiore, nempe in spirituali naturalis; haec lux est quoad partem ex luce coeli in luce naturali; veteres sophi, inter gentiles, hoc noverunt, et dixerunt, ut patet apud eos in libris eorum, quod si animus abduceretur a sensualibus, veniret in lucem et in beatitudinem superiorem.
[8] Probe sciendum et considerandum, quod omnis intellectus et inde cogitatio hominis sit ex luce, quae influit, sicut enim visus oculi videt objecta quae extra se, per lucem mundi, ita intellectus videt per lucem coeli, intellectus interior per lucem coeli, exterior per influxum lucis coeli in lumen mundi, inde omne intellectuale, nam intellectuale est visuale internum, seu intellectus est visus internus, inde ex luce coeli, quae a Domino, in qua sapientia et intelligentia, nam lux illa est ex Divino vero procedente a Domino, inde ex luce est cogitatio, apperceptio, reflexio, animadvertentia, prudentia, analysis rationalis, judicandi, discernendi, et ligendi facultas, omnia illa ex luce, quia sunt visus interni. Quapropter quicquid audit homo, in lucem illam transit, ut percipiatur. 1
[9] Omne autem voluntarium hominis est ex calore, voluntarium mali, est ex calore mundi, in quod influit calor coeli, et ibi adulteratur; voluntarium autem boni est ex calore e coelo, nam calor spiritualis est amor qui procedit a Domino ut a sole coeli, ille calor est calor coelestis et spiritualis, qui est amor, ex illo calore est omne bonum, ita omnis affectio boni et veri, consequenter omne vitae, et haec sunt voluntatis; inde etiam omnis calor vitalis in homine, qui percipitur maxime cum in amore est, nam quantum in amore, tantum incalet, et tantum accenditur vita ejus quasi igne; -
[10] Ex his sciri potest, quid ignis coelestis, et quid ignis infernalis, quod nempe ignis coelestis sit amor benefaciendi omnibus, et ignis infernalis amor malefaciendi omnibus, est etiam igneum vitale, quod non est ex igne solari mundi, sed ex igne solare coeli.
[11] Animadverti ex frequenti experientia, quando demissus fuerim in lumen sensualis, et quoties in illud veni, quod probe scire datum est, infernales spiritus infundebant foeda et scandalosa, quae illico cessabant, cum ab illo elevabar.
[12] In diluculo quodam datum est videre per lumen sensuale etiam spiritus qui in altera vita in lumine illo essent, apparebant in foro turmatim, portantes saccos, in quibus materiae rudes, ponderantes illa, et deportantes; erat turba quae in sensualis illius lumine est, ut sunt plures ex plebe, qui nihil cogitarunt altius, quam solum ad illa quae videbant oculis suis, et audiebant auribus; quaedam tunc Sirenes aderant, dicebant illae quod velint hic esse, quia vident oculis suis homines; et dictum quod illae non nisi quam visu obscuro videant, seu potius animadvertant spiritus qui in lumine interiore, ita quod etiam illae essent modo in lumine sensualis seu infimi naturalis.
[13] Qui in crasso illo lumine est, nempe in sensual, is quoque est in voluptatibus corporis et sensualium, quae illi primaria vitae, et quoque in talibus scientificis, quae ad illa promovenda conducunt; et cum ex illo lumine cogitat de veris fidei, de coelo, et de Divinis, illa nihili facit, et rejicit, sicut talia quae quidem dicuntur, sed quod non sint, quia non videt illa, nec tangit, credit solum sensibus, tales sensuales homines sunt nunc copia in mundo: quapropter veteres dixerunt, si homo possit abduci a sensualibus, quod visurus mirabilia, et elevaretur versus coelum.
[14] Quapropter dum regeneratur homo, in illa quae sensualis luminis et caloris sunt, insinuantur a Domino vera fidei, et bona charitatis, tunc continentur una cum interioribus: nec se abduci patiuntur, tunc enim spirituale lumen in illo lumine est, et ducit illud sicut anima corpus.
[15] Quod tale sit lumen sensuale, est quia omnes qui ab inferno in mundo spirituum sunt, in tali lumine sunt, et cum in tali, est in consortio cum infernali turba ibi.
Footnotes:
1. Sidebar: obs: quod semper videat extra se objecta, non intra, ita ordine interiora in externis [imperfectum in ms.]