causing his mind to go up one moment and down the next. When his
mind was up, he was acknowledging a Center about which he had previ-
ously known nothing. When his mind was down, he was looking at the
center that he had previously thought to be the only center. He was see-
ing that life comes from the Center about which he had previously
known nothing, that only nature comes from the center that he had pre-
viously thought to be everything, and that both centers have expanses
around them. [ 11 ] We said that these realizations were good, provided he
tried in addition to see the center and expanse of nature as coming from
the center and expanse of life, and not the other way around. We
explained to him that above the angelic heaven there is a sun that is pure
love. It looks as fiery as the earth’s sun. From the heat that radiates from
that sun, angels and people have volition and love; from its light they
have understanding and wisdom. Things derived from that sun are called
spiritual. Things derived from earth’s sun are containers or vessels of life;
they are called physical.
We told him that the expanse around the center of life is called the
spiritual world.That expanse has continued existence because of its sun.
The expanse around the center of nature is called the physical world.It
has continued existence because of its sun. Now, because units of space
and time do not apply to love and wisdom, but states apply instead, it
follows that the expanse around the sun of the angelic heaven is not
physically extended. It is nonetheless present in the physical extension
around the physical sun and is present with living entities in nature
according to how receptive they are; they are receptive according to their
forms and their states.
[ 12 ] Then he asked, “Where does the fire in the earth’s or nature’s sun
come from?”
“It comes from the sun of the angelic heaven,” we replied, “which is not
fire; it is divine love most closely emanating from God, who is within it.”
He was stunned by this, so we proved it as follows: “Love in its
essence is spiritual fire. This is why fire in the Word’s spiritual sense
means love. This is why priests pray in church for heavenly fire to fill
their hearts—they mean love. In the tabernacle among the Israelites,
the fire on the altar and the fire of the lampstand represented divine
love. The heat in blood, which is vital to us and to many animals as
well, comes solely from the love that makes up our life. This is why we
‘catch fire,’ ‘heat up,’ and ‘become inflamed’ when our love becomes
§35 god the creator & creation 53