God. And because everything that is divine is integrated into a unity, it
cannot help but inspire in us the idea of one God. This idea grows ever
stronger as God lifts us into the light of heaven. In angelic light, the
angels cannot force themselves to say “gods.” In fact, every phrase of
their speech ends rhythmically on a single beat, a phenomenon that
arises from no other cause than the notion inflowing into their souls
that there is one God.
[ 3 ] Now, even though the idea of one God flows into all our souls,
many of us think nonetheless that God’s divinity has been divided among
many gods who share the same essence. This is because as that inflow
comes down it takes forms that do not correspond to one another, and the
forms themselves cause variation. This variation also occurs in every entity
in the three kingdoms of nature. The same God who gives life to us gives
life to every animal, so it is the form on the receiving end that makes the
animal an animal and the human a human. A comparable variation hap-
pens when humans render their minds beastly. The sun flows the same way
into every tree; the difference in trees is a result of each one’s form. The sun
flows the same way into a grapevine as into a thorn bush, but if a thorn
branch is grafted onto a grapevine, the inflow is changed and adapts to the
form of the thorn branch.
[ 4 ] A similar thing happens to the things in the mineral kingdom.
The light that flows into a diamond and into a piece of limestone is the
same; but in one it shines through while in the other it is darkened.
Our minds are varied according to their forms, which are inwardly
spiritual depending on our faith in God and also on our life from God.
These forms become translucent and angelic when we believe in one
God, but become opaque and beastly when we believe in many gods,
which is virtually the same as not believing in God.9 3. As a result, every nation in the whole world that possesses religion and
sound reason acknowledges that God exists and that there is one God.From
the divine inflow into human souls, discussed just above, it follows that
in everyone there is an inner voice saying that God exists and that there is
one God. Nevertheless there are people who deny God, people who wor-
ship nature as God, people who worship many gods, and people who
worship idols as gods. The reason for this is that they have let worldly
and bodily perspectives block off the inner reaches of their reason or
intellect and obliterate their first childhood idea of God; they have
rejected religion from their heart and have put it behind them.