A Spiritual and A Natural World with Man

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
There is a correspondence of all things of heaven with all things of man

At the present day it is not known what correspondence is. There are several reasons for this. The chief one is that man has withdrawn himself from heaven by the love of self and the world. For he who loves himself and the world above all things regards only worldly things because they are pleasing to the external senses and gratify his inclination, and he does not regard spiritual things because they are pleasing to the internal senses and gratify the mind. Therefore he casts these aside, saying that they are too high to think about. The case was different with the ancient peoples. To them the knowledge of correspondences was the chief of all knowledges. By means of it they also derived intelligence and wisdom, and, by means of it, those who were of the Church had communication with heaven, for the knowledge of correspondence is an angelic knowledge. The most ancient people, who were celestial men, thought from correspondence itself, like the angels. So they also spoke with angels, and so the Lord was frequently seen by them and instructed them. But at the present day, that knowledge has been so completely lost that it is not known what correspondence is.

Since, then, without a perception of what correspondence is, it is impossible for anything to be known clearly about the spiritual world, or of its influx into the natural world, or even of what the spiritual is in relation to the natural, or anything with clearness about the spirit of man which is called the soul and of its operation into the body, or yet of the state of man after death, it is necessary, therefore, to explain what correspondence is and what is its nature. So also is the way prepared for what is to follow.

First, it will be stated what correspondence is. The whole natural world corresponds to the spiritual world, not only the natural world in general but also in every particular. Therefore, whatever in the natural world comes into existence from the spiritual world is said to be in correspondence with it. It must be known that the natural world comes into existence and continues in existence from the spiritual world, precisely like an effect from its effecting cause. By the natural world is meant everything in its whole extent that is under the sun, receiving heat and light from it; and all things that continue in existence therefrom belong to that world. But the spiritual world is heaven, and all things in the heavens belong to that world.

Since man is both a heaven and a world in least form after the image of the greatest: —

... man has been created that he may come into heaven and become an angel. Consequently, he who has good from the Lord is an angel-man.

It may be mentioned what a man has in common with an angel and what he has in addition to what angels have.

A man has this in common with an angel, that his interiors are equally conformed to the image of heaven and that he, too, in so far as he is in the good of love and faith, may become an image of heaven. In addition to what angels have, a man has these things, that his exteriors have been formed according to the image of the world, that so far as he is in good, the world with him is subordinated to heaven and serves heaven, and that then the Lord is present with him in both worlds, just as if he were in his heaven. For the Lord is in His Divine order in both worlds, since God is order. ( n. 57)

... there is, therefore, with man both a spiritual and a natural world. Interior things which belong to his mind and relate to the understanding and the will, make his spiritual world, while exterior things which belong to his body and relate to its senses and actions make his natural world. Consequently, whatever in his natural world, that is, in his body and its senses and actions, comes into existence from his spiritual world, that is, from his mind and its understanding and will, is said to be a correspondence thereof.

What correspondence is, may be seen from the human face. In a face which has not been taught to dissemble, all the affections of the mind come to view in a natural form as in their image. This is why the face is said to be the index of the mind; that is, it is man's spiritual world presented in his natural world. In the same way, the things pertaining to the understanding present themselves in speech, and those pertaining to the will present themselves in the movements of the body. All things, therefore, that are done in the body, whether in the face, in speech or in bodily movements, are called correspondences.

From these observations may also be seen what the internal man is and what the external man. Namely, the internal is what is called the spiritual man, and the external, what is called the natural man; also that the one is distinct from the other as heaven is from the world; and further, that all things that take place and come into existence in the external or natural man, take place and come into existence from the internal or spiritual.

(from Heaven and Hell 87-92)