Chapter 22

411. All things that favor it love calls its goods, and all things that as means lead to goods it calls its truths; and because these are means they are loved and come to be of its affection and thus become affections in form; therefore truth is nothing else than a form of the affection that is of love. The human form is nothing else than the form of all the affections of love; beauty is its intelligence, which it procures for itself through truths received either by sight or by hearing, external and internal. These are what love disposes into the form of its affections; and these forms exist in great variety; but all derive a likeness from their general form, which is the human. To the love all such forms are beautiful and lovely, but others are unbeautiful and unlovely. From this, again, it is evident that love conjoins itself to the understanding, and not the reverse, and that the reciprocal conjunction is also from love. This is what is meant by love or the will causing wisdom or the understanding to be reciprocally conjoined to it.

412. What has been said may be seen in a kind of image and thus corroborated by the correspondence of the heart with love and of the lungs with the understanding (of which above). For if the heart corresponds to love, its determinations, which are arteries and veins, correspond to affections, and in the lungs to affections for truth; and as there are also other vessels in the lungs called air vessels, whereby respiration is carried on, these vessels correspond to perceptions. It must be distinctly understood that the arteries and veins in the lungs are not affections, and that respirations are not perceptions and thoughts, but that they are correspondences, that is, they act correspondently or synchronously; likewise that the heart and the lungs are not the love and understanding, but correspondences: and inasmuch as they are correspondences the one can be seen in the other. Whoever from anatomy has come to understand the whole structure of the lungs can see clearly, when he compares it with the understanding, that the understanding does not act at all by itself, does not perceive nor think by itself, but acts wholly by affections which are of love. These, in the understanding, are called affection for knowing, for understanding, and for seeing truth (which have been treated of above). For all states of the lungs depend on the blood from the heart and from the vena cava and aorta; and respirations, which take place in the bronchial branches, proceed in accordance with the state of those vessels; for when the flow of the blood stops, respiration stops. Much more may be disclosed by comparing the structure of the lungs with the understanding, to which the lungs correspond; but as few are familiar with anatomical science, and to try to demonstrate or prove anything by what is unknown renders it obscure, it is not well to say more on this subject. By what I know of the structure of the lungs I am fully convinced that love through its affections conjoins itself to the understanding, and that the understanding does not conjoin itself to any affection of love, but that it is reciprocally conjoined by love, to the end that love may have sensitive life and active life. But it must not be forgotten that man has a twofold respiration, one of the spirit and another of the body; and that the respiration of the spirit depends on the fibers from the brains, and the respiration of the body on the blood-vessels from the heart, and from the vena cava and aorta. It is evident, moreover, that thought produces respiration; it is evident, also, that affection, which is of love, produces thought, for thought without affection is precisely like respiration without a heart, a thing impossible. From this it is clear that affection, which is of love, conjoins itself to thought, which is of the understanding (as was said above), in like manner as the heart does in the lungs.

413. (13) Wisdom or the understanding, from the potency given to it by love, can be elevated and can receive such things as are of light out of heaven, and perceive them. That man has the ability to perceive arcana of wisdom when he hears them, has been shown above in many places. This capacity of man is called rationality. It belongs to every man by creation. It is the capacity to understand things interiorly, and to decide what is just and right, and what is good and true; and by it man is distinguished from beasts. This, then, is what is meant when it is said, that the understanding can be elevated and receive things that are of light out of heaven, and perceive them. That this is so can also be seen in a kind of image in the lungs, for the reason that the lungs correspond to the understanding. In the lungs it can be seen from their cellular substance, which consists of bronchial tubes continued down to the minutest air-cells, which are receptacles of air in respirations; these are what the thoughts make one with by correspondence. This cell-like substance is such that it can be expanded and contracted in a twofold mode, in one mode with the heart, in the other almost separate from the heart. In the former, it is expanded and contracted through the pulmonary arteries and veins, which are from the heart alone; in the latter, through the bronchial arteries and veins, which are from the vena cava and aorta, and these vessels are outside of the heart. This takes place in the lungs for the reason that the understanding is capable of being raised above its proper love, which corresponds to the heart, and to receive light from heaven. Still, when the understanding is raised above its proper love, it does not withdraw from it, but derives from it what is called the affection for knowing and understanding, with a view to somewhat of honor, glory, or gain in the world; this clings to every love as a surface, and by it the love shines on the surface; but with the wise, the love shines through. These things respecting the lungs are brought forward to prove that the understanding can be elevated and can receive and perceive things that are of the light of heaven; for the correspondence is plenary. To see from correspondence is to see the lungs from the understanding, and the understanding from the lungs, and thus from both together to perceive proof.

414. (14) Love or the will can in like manner be elevated and can receive such things as are of heat out of heaven provided it loves wisdom, its consort, in that degree. That the understanding can be elevated into the light of heaven, and from that light draw forth wisdom, has been shown in the preceding chapter and in many places above; also that love or the will can be elevated as well, provided it loves those things that are of the light of heaven or that are of wisdom, has also been shown in many places. Yet love or the will cannot be thus elevated through anything of honor, glory, or gain as an end, but only through a love of use, thus not for the sake of self, but for the sake of the neighbor; and because this love is given only by the Lord out of heaven, and is given by the Lord when man flees from evils as sins, therefore it is that love or the will can be elevated by these means, and cannot without these means. But love or the will is elevated into heaven's heat, while the understanding is elevated into its light. When both are elevated, a marriage of the two takes place there, which is called celestial marriage, because it is a marriage of celestial love and wisdom; consequently it is said that love also is elevated if it loves wisdom, its consort, in that degree. The love of wisdom, that is, the genuine love of the human understanding is love towards the neighbor from the Lord. It is the same with light and heat in the world. Light exists without heat and with heat; light is without heat in winter time, and with heat in summer time; and when heat is with light all things flourish. The light with man that corresponds to the light of winter is wisdom without its love; and the light with man that corresponds to the light of summer is wisdom with its love.

415. This conjunction and disjunction of wisdom and love can be seen effigied, as it were, in the conjunction of the lungs with the heart. For the heart can be conjoined to the clustering vesicles of the bronchia by blood sent out from itself, and also by blood sent out not from itself but from the vena cava and the aorta. Thereby the respiration of the body can be separated from the respiration of the spirit; but when blood from the heart alone acts the respirations cannot be separated. Now since thoughts act as one with respirations by correspondence it is plain, from the twofold state of the lungs in respirations, that man is able to think and from thoughts to speak and act in one way when in company with others, and to think and from thought to speak and act in another way when not in company, that is, when he has no fear of loss of reputation; for he can then think and speak against God, the neighbor, the spiritual things of the church, and against moral and civil laws; and he can also act contrary to them, by stealing, by being revengeful, by blaspheming, by committing adultery. But in company with others, where he is afraid of losing reputation, he can talk, preach and act precisely like a spiritual, moral and civil man. From all this it can be seen that love or the will as well as the understanding can be elevated and can receive such things as are of the heat or love of heaven, provided it loves wisdom in that degree, and if it does not love wisdom, that it can as it were be separated.

416. (15) Otherwise love or the will draws down wisdom, or the understanding, from its elevation, that it may act as one with itself. There is natural love and there is spiritual love. A man who is in natural and in spiritual love both at once, is a rational man; but one who is in natural love alone, although able to think rationally, precisely like a spiritual man, is not a rational man; for although he elevates his understanding even to heavenly light, thus to wisdom, yet the things of wisdom, that is, of heavenly light, do not belong to his love. His love, it is true, effects the elevation, but from desire for honor, glory and gain. But when he perceives that he gains nothing of the kind from that elevation (as is the case when he thinks with himself from his own natural love), then he does not love the things of heavenly light or wisdom; consequently he then draws down the understanding from its height, that it may act as one with himself. For example: when the understanding by its elevation is in wisdom, then the love sees what justice is, what sincerity is, what chastity is, even what genuine love is. This the natural love can see by its capacity to understand and contemplate things in heavenly light; it can even talk and preach about these and explain them as at once moral and spiritual virtues. But when the understanding is not elevated, the love, if it is merely natural, does not see these virtues, but instead of justice it sees injustice, instead of sincerity deceit, instead of chastity lewdness, and so on. If it then thinks of the things it spoke of when its understanding was in elevation, it can laugh at them and speak of them merely as serviceable to it in captivating the souls of men. From all this it can be seen how it is to be understood that love, unless it loves wisdom, its consort, in that degree, draws wisdom down from its elevation, that it may act as one with itself. That love is capable of elevation if it loves wisdom in that degree, can be seen above (n. 414).

417. Now as love corresponds to the heart, and the understanding to the lungs, the foregoing statements may be corroborated by their correspondence; as, for instance, how the understanding can be elevated above its own love even into wisdom; and how, if that love is merely natural, the understanding is drawn down by it from that elevation. Man has a twofold respiration; one of the body, the other of the spirit. These two respirations may be separated and they may be conjoined; with men merely natural, especially with hypocrites, they are separated, but rarely with men who are spiritual and sincere. Consequently a merely natural man and hypocrite, whose understanding has been elevated, and in whose memory therefore various things of wisdom remain, can talk wisely in company by thought from the memory; but when not in company, he does not think from the memory, but from his spirit, thus from his love. He also respires in like manner, inasmuch as thought and respiration act correspondently. That the structure of the lungs is such that they can respire both by blood from the heart and by blood from outside of the heart has been shown above.

418. It is the common opinion that wisdom makes the man; therefore when any one is heard to talk and teach wisely he is believed to be wise; yea, he himself believes it at the time, because when he talks or teaches in company he thinks from the memory, and if he is a merely natural man, from the surface of his love, which is a desire for honor, glory, and gain; but when the same man is alone he thinks from the more inward love of his spirit, and then not wisely, but sometimes insanely. From all this it can be seen that no one is to be judged of by wise speaking, but by his life; that is, not by wise speaking separate from life, but by wise speaking conjoined to life. By life is meant love. That love is the life has been shown above.

419. (16) Love or the will is purified in the understanding, if they are elevated together. From birth man loves nothing but self and the world, for nothing else appears before his eyes, consequently nothing else occupies his mind. This love is corporeal-natural, and may be called material love. Moreover, this love has become impure by reason of the separation of heavenly love from it in parents. This love could not be separated from its impurity unless man had a power to raise his understanding into the light of heaven, and to see how he ought to live in order that his love, as well as his understanding, may be elevated into wisdom. By means of the understanding, love, that is, the man, sees what the evils are that defile and corrupt the love; he also sees that if he flees from those evils as sins and turns away from them, he loves the things that are opposite to those evils; all of which are heavenly. Then also he perceives the means by which he is enabled to flee from and turn away from those evils as sins. This the love, that is, the man, sees, by the exercise of his power to elevate his understanding into the light of heaven, which is the source of wisdom. Then so far as love gives heaven the first place and the world the second, and at the same time gives the Lord the first place and self the second, so far love is purged of its uncleanness and is purified; in other words, is raised into the heat of heaven, and conjoined with the light of heaven in which the understanding is; and the marriage takes place that is called the marriage of good and truth, that is, of love and wisdom. Any one can comprehend intellectually and see rationally, that so far as he flees from and turns away from theft and cheating, so far he loves sincerity, rectitude and justice; so far as he flees and turns away from revenge and hatred, so far he loves the neighbor; and so far as he flees and turns away from adulteries, so far he loves chastity; and so on. And yet scarcely any one knows what there is of heaven and the Lord in sincerity, rectitude, justice, love towards the neighbor, chastity, and other affections of heavenly love, until he has removed their opposites. When he has removed the opposites, then he is in those affections, and therefrom recognizes and sees them. Previously there is a kind of veil interposed, that does, indeed, transmit to love the light of heaven; yet inasmuch as the love does not in that degree love its consort, wisdom, it does not receive it, yea, may even contradict and rebuke it when it returns from its elevation. Still man flatters himself that the wisdom of his understanding may be made serviceable as a means to honor, glory, or gain. Then man gives self and the world the first place, and the Lord and heaven the second, and what has the second place is loved only so far as it is serviceable, and if it is not serviceable it is disowned and rejected; if not before death, then after it. From all this the truth is now evident, that love or the will is purified in the understanding if they are elevated together.

420. The same thing is imaged in the lungs, whose arteries and veins correspond to the affections of love, and whose respirations correspond to the perceptions and thoughts of the understanding, as has been said above. That the heart's blood is purified of undigested matters in the lungs, and nourishes itself with suitable food from the inhaled air, is evident from much observation. (1) That the blood is purified of undigested matter in the lungs, is evident not only from the influent blood, which is venous, and therefore filled with the chyle collected from food and drink, but also from the moisture of the outgoing breath and from its odor as perceived by others, as well as from the diminished quantity of the blood flowing back into the left ventricle of the heart. (2) That the blood nourishes itself with suitable food from the inhaled air is evident from the immense volumes of odors and exhalations continually flowing forth from fields, gardens, and woods; from the immense supply of salts of various kinds in the water that rises from the ground and from rivers and ponds, and from the immense quantity of exhalations and effluvia from human beings and animals with which the air is impregnated. That these things flow into the lungs with the inhaled air is undeniable: it is therefore undeniable also that from them the blood draws such things as are useful to it; and such things are useful as correspond to the affections of its love. For this reason there are, in the vesicles or innermost recesses of the lungs, little veins in great abundance with tiny mouths that absorb these suitable matters; consequently, the blood that flows back into the left ventricle of the heart is changed into arterial blood of brilliant hue. These facts prove that the blood purifies itself of heterogeneous things and nourishes itself with homogeneous things. That the blood in the lungs purifies and nourishes itself correspondently to the affections of the mind is as yet unknown; but in the spiritual world it is very well known, for angels in the heavens find delight only in the odors that correspond to the love of their wisdom, while the spirits in hell find delight only in the odors that correspond to a love opposed to wisdom; these are foul odors, but the former are fragrant. It follows that men in the world impregnate their blood with similar things according to correspondence with the affections of their love; for what the spirit of a man loves, his blood according to correspondence craves and by respiration attracts. From this correspondence it results that man as regards his love is purified if he loves wisdom, and is defiled if he does not love it. Moreover, all purification of man is effected by means of the truths of wisdom, and all pollution of man is effected by means of falsities that are opposite to the truths of wisdom.

421. (17) Love or the will is defiled in the understanding and by it, if they are not elevated together. This is because love, if not elevated, remains impure (as stated above, n. 419, 420); and while it remains impure it loves what is impure, such as revenges, hatreds, deceits, blasphemes, adulteries, for these are then its affections that are called lusts, and it rejects what belongs to charity, justice, sincerity, truth, and chastity. Love is said to be defiled in the understanding, and by it; in the understanding, when love is affected by these impure things; by the understanding, when love makes the things of wisdom to become its servants, and still more when it perverts, falsifies, and adulterates them. Of the corresponding state of the heart, or of its blood in the lungs, there is no need to say more than has been said above (n. 420), except that instead of the purification of the blood its defilement takes place; and instead of the nutrition of the blood by fragrant odors its nutrition is effected by stenches, precisely as it is respectively in heaven and in hell.

422. (18) Love, when purified by wisdom in the understanding, becomes spiritual and celestial. Man is born natural, but in the measure in which his understanding is raised into the light of heaven, and his love conjointly is raised into the heat of heaven, he becomes spiritual and celestial; he then becomes like a garden of Eden, which is at once in vernal light and vernal heat. It is not the understanding that becomes spiritual and celestial, but the love; and when the love has so become, it makes its consort, the understanding, spiritual and celestial. Love becomes spiritual and celestial by a life according to the truths of wisdom which the understanding teaches and requires. Love imbibes these truths by means of its understanding, and not from itself; for love cannot elevate itself unless it knows truths, and these it can learn only by means of an elevated and enlightened understanding; and then so far as it loves truths in the practice of them so far it is elevated; for to understand is one thing and to will is another; or to say is one thing and to do is another. There are those who understand and talk about the truths of wisdom, yet neither will nor practise them. When, therefore, love puts in practice the truths of light which it understands and speaks, it is elevated. This one can see from reason alone; for what kind of a man is he who understands the truths of wisdom and talks about them while he lives contrary to them, that is, while his will and conduct are opposed to them? Love purified by wisdom becomes spiritual and celestial, for the reason that man has three degrees of life, called natural, spiritual, and celestial (of which in the Third Part of this work), and he is capable of elevation from one degree into another. Yet he is not elevated by wisdom alone, but by a life according to wisdom, for a man's life is his love. Consequently, so far as his life is according to wisdom, so far he loves wisdom; and his life is so far according to wisdom as he purifies himself from uncleannesses, which are sins; and so far as he does this does he love wisdom.