of heaven with the human race, let it be noted that the Lord Himself flows into each man, in accord with the order of heaven, both into his inmosts and into his outmosts, and arranges him for receiving heaven, and governs his outmosts from his inmosts, and at the same time his inmosts from his outmosts, thus holding in connection each thing and all things in man.  This influx of the Lord is called direct influx; while the other influx that is effected through spirits is called mediate influx.  The latter is maintained by means of the former.  Direct influx, which is that of the Lord Himself, is from His Divine Human, and is into man’s will and through his will into his understanding, and thus into his good and through his good into his truth, or what is the same thing, into his love and through his love into his faith; and not the reverse, still less is it into faith apart from love or into truth apart from good or into understanding that is not from will.  This Divine influx is unceasing, and in the good is received in good, but not in the evil; for in them it is either rejected or suffocated or perverted; and in consequence they have an evil life which in a spiritual sense is death.{1}

{Footnote 1} There is direct influx from the Lord, and also mediate influx through the spiritual world (n. 6063, 6307, 6472, 9682, 9683).  The Lord’s direct influx is into the least particulars of all things (n. 6058, 6474-6478, 8717, 8728).  The Lord flows in into firsts and at the same time into lasts-in what manner (n. 5147, 5150, 6473, 7004, 7007, 7270).  The Lord’s influx is into the good in man, and through the good into truth and not the reverse (n. 5482, 5649, 6027, 8685, 8701, 10153).  The life that flows in from the Lord varies in accordance with the state of man and in accordance with reception (n. 2069, 5986, 6472, 7343).  With the evil the good that flows in from the Lord is turned into evil and the truth into falsity; from experience (n. 3642, 4632).  The good and the truth therefrom that continually flow in from the Lord are received just to the extent that evil and falsity therefrom do not obstruct (n. 2411, 3142, 3147, 5828).

298.  The spirits who are with man, both those conjoined with heaven and those conjoined with hell, never flow into man from their own memory and its thought, for if they should flow in from their own thought, whatever belonged to them would seem to man to be his (see above n. 256).  Nevertheless there flows into man through them out of heaven an affection belonging to the love of good and truth, and out of hell an affection belonging to the love of evil and falsity.  Therefore as far as man’s affection agrees with the affection that flows in, so far that affection is received by him in his thought, since man’s interior thought is wholly in accord with his affection or love; but so far as man’s affection does not agree with that affection it is not received.  Evidently, then, since thought is not introduced into