Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
There are with man two determinations of the things of the understanding and of the will — one determination is outward toward the world, and the other is inward toward heaven.• With natural and sensuous men, the determination of the things of the understanding and of the will, thus of the thoughts and affections, is toward the world;
• With spiritual and celestial men the determination of these things is toward heaven, and also alternately toward the world.
The hinge of the determinations turns inward when the man is being regenerated, and so far as it can then be turned inward, so far the man can be raised by the Lord toward heaven to Himself, and consequently be in the same proportion imbued with wisdom, faith, and love. For the man then lives in the internal man, consequently in his spirit, and the external man is subordinate thereto. But if a man does not suffer himself to be regenerated, then all his interiors remain determined toward the world, and then his life is in the external man, and the internal man is subordinate thereto. This is the case when the external man supplies reasonings which favor evil lusts. These men are called natural, and they who abide in things most external are called sensuous; from which it can be seen what is meant by "the sensuous."
(from Arcana Coelestia 9730)