reason also was given on this Earth, and not on any other[qq].  And as the Lord is the Word, and the First and Last of it, therefore, in order that all things might exist according to order.  He also willed to be born on this Earth, and to become the Word, according to these words in John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through It, and without It was not anything made that was made.... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw Its glory the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father....  No one hath seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, Himself hath manifested Him” (i. 1-3, 14, 18).  The Word denotes the Lord as to the Divine Truth, consequently the Divine Truth from the Lord[rr].  But this is an arcanum which enters into the understanding of only a few.

[Footnote qq:  The Word in the sense of the letter is natural, no. 8783; by reason that what is natural is the ultimate, in which spiritual and celestial things close, and on which they subsist as on their foundation, and that otherwise the internal or spiritual sense of the Word without an external or natural sense would be as a house without a foundation, nos. 9430, 9433, 9824, 10044, 10436.]

[Footnote rr:  The Word is the Lord as to the Divine Truth, consequently the Divine Truth from the Lord, nos. 2859, 4692, 5075, 9987.  Through the Divine Truth all things were created and made, nos. 2803, 2894, 5272, 7835.]

EARTHS IN THE STARRY HEAVEN.

123.  Those who are in heaven are able to speak and converse not only with those angels and spirits who are from the earths in our solar system, but also with those who are from other earths in the universe beyond this system; and not only with the spirits and angels there, but also with the inhabitants themselves, only, however, with those whose interiors have been opened, so that they are able to hear those who speak from heaven.  The same thing is possible for a man to whom it has been given by the Lord to speak with spirits and angels, during his life in the world; for a man as to his interiors is a spirit, the body which he carries about in the world being serviceable to him only for performing functions in this natural or terrestrial sphere, which is the ultimate or last sphere.  But to no one is it given to speak as a spirit with angels and spirits, unless he be of such a character that he can be consociated with angels as to faith and love.  Neither can he be consociated with them, unless his faith and love are directed to the Lord; for man is conjoined to the Lord by means of faith in Him and love to Him, that is, by means of truths of doctrine and goods of life from Him; and when he has been conjoined [with the Lord], he is secure from the assaults of evil spirits from hell.  With others the interiors cannot be opened to such