Divine Love and Wisdom (Rogers) n. 382

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382. (4) The intellect corresponds to the lungs. This follows from what we have said about the correspondence of the will with the heart. For there are two entities which reign in the spiritual self or the mind, namely the will and intellect, and there are two entities which reign in the natural self or the body, namely the heart and lungs; and there is a correspondence of all the mind's constituents with all the body's constituents, as we said above.* It follows therefore that as the will corresponds to the heart, the intellect corresponds to the lungs. Everyone may also observe in himself that the intellect corresponds to the lungs by considering both his thought and his speech. [2] As regards thought, it is impossible for anyone to think without his pulmonary respiration's concurring and according. Consequently when someone thinks quietly, he breathes quietly. If he thinks deeply, he breathes deeply. He breathes in and out, contracting and expanding his lungs, in accordance with his thought, thus in accordance with the affection flowing in from his love-slowly, quickly, eagerly, gently, intently. Indeed, if he holds his breath altogether, he cannot think, except in his spirit in consequence of its respiration, something of which he is not consciously aware. [3] As regards speech, not the least utterance of a word flows from the mouth without the ancillary aid of the lungs. For sound which is articulated into words issues wholly from the lungs through the trachea and epiglottis. Consequently, speech is raised even to a shout in the measure that those bellows are inflated and that passage opened, and lowered in the measure that they are contracted. And if the passage is blocked, speech ceases, along with thought. * No. 374.


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