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Arcana Coelestia
2990. It is also known, or may be known, that there is a spiritual world, and also a natural world. In the universal sense the spiritual world is where spirits and angels dwell; and the natural world is where men dwell.
In particular, there is a spiritual world and a natural world with every man: his internal man being to him a spiritual world, and his external man being to him a natural world. The things that flow in from the spiritual world and are presented in the natural world, are in general representations; and insofar as they agree they are correspondences.
Heaven and Hell
90. Since man is both a heaven and a world in least form after the image of the greatest (see above 57), there is, therefore, with him both a spiritual and a natural world. Interior things which belong to his mind and relate to the understanding and the will, make his spiritual world, while exterior things which belong to his body and relate to its senses and actions make his natural world. Consequently, whatever in his natural world, that is, in his body and its senses and actions, comes into existence from his spiritual world, that is, from his mind and its understanding and will, is said to be a correspondence thereof.
92. From these observations may also be seen what the internal man is and what the external man. Namely, the internal is what is called the spiritual man, and the external, what is called the natural man; also that the one is distinct from the other as heaven is from the world; and further, that all things that take place and come into existence in the external or natural man, take place and come into existence from the internal or spiritual.
Divine Love and Wisdom
260. It has been shown in the preceding chapter that as the natural mind is in the outmost degree, it envelops and encloses the spiritual mind and the celestial mind, which, in respect to degrees, are above it. It is now to be shown that the natural mind reacts against the higher or interior minds. It reacts because it covers, includes, and contains them, and this cannot be done without reaction; for unless it reacted, the interior or enclosed parts would become loosened and press outward and thus fall apart, just as the viscera, which are the interiors of the body, would push forth and fall asunder if the coverings which are about the body did not react against them … It is the same thing whether the terms “natural and spiritual man” or “natural and spiritual mind” are used.
True Christian Religion
706. The Lord’s “blood” means His Divine truth and the truth of the Word, because His “flesh,” spiritually understood, means the Divine good of love, and in Him these two are united. It is known that the Lord is the Word, and there are two things to which everything in the Word has relation,– Divine good and Divine truth, if therefore, instead of “the Lord” we say “the Word,” it is clear that these two are meant by His flesh and blood. That “blood” means the Lord’s Divine truth or the truth of the Word is evident from many passages, as, for example, where blood is called “the blood of the covenant,” “covenant” meaning conjunction, which is effected by the Lord by means of His Divine truth; as in ( Zechariah:– By the blood of thy covenant I will send forth the bound out of the pit (Zechariah 9:11).
John 3:8
The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the spirit.
For more on substituting the word “WORLD” for “MIND” and “MAN” for “MIND” see Emmaus Road Workshop: The Word is a sacred text which describes the life of the mind
Third Round posts are short audio clips taken from Round 3 comments offered in the online Logopraxis Life Group meetings. The aim is to keep the focus on understanding the Text in terms of its application to the inner life along with reinforcing any key LP principles that have been highlighted in the exchanges.
