§266 angels’ wisdom 137
love matters of divine and heavenly wisdom, that light radiates from
heaven and provides them with enlightenment.
We may gather what angels’ wisdom is like from the fact that they 266
live in heaven’s light, and in its essence heaven’s light is divine truth or
divine wisdom. This light illuminates at one and the same time both
their inner sight, which is mental, and their outer sight, the sight of their
eyes. (On heaven’s light being divine truth or divine wisdom, see above,
§§ 126 – 133 .) Angels also live in heaven’s warmth, which in its essence is
divine good or divine love, and from this comes their affection and long-
ing for wisdom. (On heaven’s warmth being divine good or divine love,
see above, §§ 133 – 140 .)
Angels enjoy wisdom to the point that they might be called “wis-
doms,” as we may gather from the fact that all the elements of their
thoughts and affections fl ow according to the heavenly form, which form
is the form of divine wisdom, and further that their more inward levels,
which are open to wisdom, are framed according to this form. (On
angels’ thoughts and affections, and therefore their intelligence and wis-
dom as well, fl owing according to heaven’s form, see above, §§ 201 – 212 .)
[ 2 ] We may further infer the excellence of angels’ wisdom from the
fact that their speech is the speech of wisdom. It actually fl ows directly
and freely from their thought, which in turn comes from their affection,
so that their speech is their thought from affection in an external form.
Consequently, nothing draws them away from the divine infl ow: there is
none of that external matter that for us keeps intruding into our speech
from thoughts about other things. (On angels’ speech being the speech of
their thought and affection, see §§ 234 – 245 .)
It also contributes to this kind of angelic wisdom that everything
they see with their eyes and perceive with their senses is in harmony with
their wisdom. This is because all these things are correspondences and
therefore the objects of their senses are forms that portray elements
proper to their wisdom. (On the fact that everything visible in heaven is
in correspondence with the deeper levels of the angels and is representa-
tive of their wisdom, see above, §§ 170 – 182 .)
[ 3 ] Further, angels’ thoughts are not bounded and constrained by
concepts drawn from space and time the way ours are; for space and time
are properties of nature, and properties of nature distract the mind from
spiritual things and deprive our intellectual sight of breadth. (On angels’
concepts being devoid of time and space and therefore unlimited, rela-
tive to ours, see above, §§ 162 – 169 and 191 – 199 .)