Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 330 pages of information about Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom.

Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 330 pages of information about Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom.

413. (13) Wisdom or the understanding, from the potency given to it by love, can be elevated and can receive such things as are of light out of heaven, and perceive them.  That man has the ability to perceive arcana of wisdom when he hears them, has been shown above in many places.  This capacity of man is called rationality.  It belongs to every man by creation.  It is the capacity to understand things interiorly, and to decide what is just and right, and what is good and true; and by it man is distinguished from beasts.  This, then, is what is meant when it is said, that the understanding can be elevated and receive things that are of light out of heaven, and perceive them.  That this is so can also be seen in a kind of image in the lungs, for the reason that the lungs correspond to the understanding.  In the lungs it can be seen from their cellular substance, which consists of bronchial tubes continued down to the minutest air-cells, which are receptacles of air in respirations; these are what the thoughts make one with by correspondence.  This cell-like substance is such that it can be expanded and contracted in a twofold mode, in one mode with the heart, in the other almost separate from the heart.  In the former, it is expanded and contracted through the pulmonary arteries and veins, which are from the heart alone; in the latter, through the bronchial arteries and veins, which are from the vena cava and aorta, and these vessels are outside of the heart.  This takes place in the lungs for the reason that the understanding is capable of being raised above its proper love, which corresponds to the heart, and to receive light from heaven.  Still, when the understanding is raised above its proper love, it does not withdraw from it, but derives from it what is called the affection for knowing and understanding, with a view to somewhat of honor, glory, or gain in the world; this clings to every love as a surface, and by it the love shines on the surface; but with the wise, the love shines through.  These things respecting the lungs are brought forward to prove that the understanding can be elevated and can receive and perceive things that are of the light of heaven; for the correspondence is plenary.  To see from correspondence is to see the lungs from the understanding, and the understanding from the lungs, and thus from both together to perceive proof.

414. (14) Love or the will can in like manner be elevated and can receive such things as are of heat out of heaven provided it loves wisdom, its consort, in that degree.  That the understanding can be elevated into the light of heaven, and from that light draw forth wisdom, has been shown in the preceding chapter and in many places above; also that love or the will can be elevated as well, provided it loves those things that are of the light of heaven or that are of wisdom, has also been shown in many places.  Yet love or the will cannot be thus elevated through anything of honor, glory, or gain as an end, but only through

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.