Doc. of Life (Dick) n. 86

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86. Man has a natural mind and a spiritual mind: the natural mind is beneath, and the spiritual mind is above. The natural mind is his worldly mind, and the spiritual mind is his heavenly mind. The natural mind may be called the animal mind, and the spiritual mind the human mind. Man is also distinguished from the animal by this circumstance, that he has a spiritual mind, by which he is capable of being in heaven while he is in the world. By virtue of this mind also man lives after death.

[2] As to his understanding a man may be in his spiritual mind, and thence in heaven; but as to his will he cannot be in his spiritual mind, and thence in heaven, unless he shuns evils as sins. Moreover, if he is not in heaven as to his will also, he is still not in heaven; for the will draws the understanding downwards, and causes it to be just as natural and animal as itself.

[3] Man may be compared to a garden, the understanding to light, and the will to heat. During winter a garden is in light and not at the same time in heat; but during summer it is in light and heat together. The man therefore who is only in the light of the understanding is like a garden in wintertime; but he who is in the light of the understanding, and at the same time in the warmth of the will, is like a garden in summer-time. Moreover, the understanding enjoys wisdom from spiritual light, and the will loves from spiritual heat; for spiritual fight is Divine Wisdom, and spiritual heat is Divine Love.

[4] So long as a man does not shun evils as sins, the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind on the part of the will. They are as a thick veil there, and as a dark cloud beneath the spiritual mind, preventing it from being opened. But as soon as a man shuns evils as sins, then the Lord flows in from heaven, removes the veil, disperses the cloud and opens the spiritual mind, and thus introduces the man into heaven.

[5] So long as the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind, as was just said, so long a man is in hell; but as soon as these lusts are dispersed by the Lord, the man is in heaven. Moreover, so long as the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind, so long is he a natural man; but as soon as these lusts are dispersed by the Lord, he becomes a spiritual man. Further, so long as the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind, so long a man is an animal, differing only in this respect that he can think and speak, even of such things as he does not see with his eyes, a power which he derives from the faculty of elevating the understanding into the light of heaven; but as soon as these lusts are dispersed by the Lord, the man is a man, because he then thinks what is true in the understanding, from what is good in the will. Again, so long as the lusts of evils close up the interiors of the natural mind, so long man is like a garden in winter-time; but as soon as these lusts are dispersed by the Lord, he is like a garden in summer-time.

[6] The conjunction of the will and the understanding in man is meant in the Word by the heart and soul, and by the heart and spirit; as where it is said that God should be loved.

With all the heart, and with all the soul. Matt. xxii 37;

and that God would give A new heart, and a new spirit. Ezek, xi 19; xxxvi 26, 27;

where by the heart is meant the will and its love; and by the soul and spirit, the understanding and its wisdom.


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