295.  That there is such a difference between the thoughts of angels and the thoughts of men was made known to me by this experience:  The angels were asked to think spiritually on some subject, and afterwards to tell me what they had thought.  This they did; but when they wished to tell me they could not, and said that these things could not be expressed in words.  It was the same with their spiritual language and their spiritual writing; there was not a word of spiritual language that was like any word of natural language; nor was there anything of spiritual writing like natural writing, except the letters, each of which contained an entire meaning.  But what is wonderful, they said that they seemed to themselves to think, speak, and write in the spiritual state in the same manner that man does in the natural state, when yet there is no similarity.  From this it was plain that the natural and the spiritual differ according to degrees of height, and that they communicate with each other only by correspondences.

296.  There are in the lord three things that are the lord, the Divine of love, the Divine of wisdom, and the Divine of use; and these three are presented in appearance outside of the sun of the spiritual world, the Divine of love by heat, the Divine of wisdom by light and the Divine of use by the atmosphere which is their containant.

That heat and light go forth out of the sun of the spiritual world, heat out of the Lord’s Divine Love, and light out of His Divine Wisdom, may be seen above (n. 89-92, 99-102, 156-150).  Now it will be shown that the third which goes forth out of that sun is the atmosphere, which is the containant of heat and light, and that this goes forth out of the Lord’s Divine which is called Use.

297.  Any one who thinks with any enlightenment can see that love has use for an end and intends it, and brings it forth by means of wisdom; for love can bring forth no use of itself, but only by wisdom as a medium.  What, in fact, is love unless there be something loved?  That something is use; and because use is that which is loved, and is brought forth by means of wisdom, it follows that use is the containant of wisdom and love.  That these three, love, wisdom and use follow in order according to degrees of height, and that the outmost degree is the complex, containant, and base of the prior degrees has been shown (n. 209-216, and elsewhere).  From all this it can be seen that these three, the Divine of Love, the Divine of Wisdom, and the Divine of Use, are in the Lord, and are the Lord in essence.