us with his essence. Because he is, he is near to those who love him—peo-
ple who live by his instructions and believe in him. In a sense they see him.
What else is faith except spiritually seeing what is real? And what else
is living by God’s instructions except an actual acknowledgment that he
is the source of salvation and eternal life?
But people whose faith is earthly and not spiritual and consists of
mere factual knowledge, and who have an earthly but not a spiritual way
of life, do indeed see God, but from far away, and then only when they
talk about him.
Spiritual people compared to earthly ones are like people who are
standing in broad daylight, seeing others near themselves and touching
them, compared to people standing in a heavy fog that makes it difficult
to tell whether the objects nearby are people or perhaps trees or rocks.
[ 3 ] Spiritual people compared to earthly ones are like people in a
town on a high mountain, walking around and talking to their friends in
the town, compared to people who look down from that mountain and
cannot make out whether they are seeing people or animals or statues
below.
Spiritual people compared to earthly ones are also like people stand-
ing on a planet and seeing their friends and loved ones right there, com-
pared to people looking at another planet through hand-held telescopes.
People in the second group look at the planet and say they see people
there, when in fact all they have is a vague impression of landmasses, like
the moon’s lighter areas, and bodies of water, like the moon’s darker
patches.
The same difference exists between people who are in faith and also
live a life of goodwill, who see God and divine attributes that emanate
from him in their mind, compared to those who have nothing more than
knowledge about these things. This is the difference between spiritual
and earthly people.
Those, however, who deny the divine holiness of the Word but still
carry their religion around in a pack on their back do not see God at all.
They only sound out the word God, not much differently from parrots.
4. The intrinsic, underlying divine reality and intrinsic capacity to 23
become manifest cannot produce anything else divine that is intrinsically real
and has an intrinsic capacity to become manifest. Therefore another God of
the same essence is impossible.Up to this point I have shown that the one
God, the Creator of the universe, is the intrinsic underlying reality and
capacity to become manifest. Therefore he is intrinsically God. From this
§23 god the creator & creation 31