impassioned or bursts into anger and blazing rage. From the fact that
spiritual heat, which is love, produces physical heat in us even to the
point that our faces and limbs become hot and inflamed, it stands to rea-
son that the fire of the physical sun came into being from no other
source than the fire of the spiritual sun, which is divine love.
[ 13 ] “To sum up: As we just said, the center is the origin of the expanse,
and not the reverse. The center of life, which is the sun of the angelic
heaven, is divine love most closely radiating from God, who is within that
sun. The expanse around that center, called the spiritual world, is from
that sun. The earth’s sun is also from that sun, and the expanse called the
physical world is from the earth’s sun. From all these points it is clear that
the universe was created by God.”
After that we went away, and he came with us beyond the entrance to
his lecture hall, speaking to us about heaven and hell and God’s guidance
with a new keenness of mind.The Essence of God: Divine Love and Wisdom
36 I have drawn a distinction between God’s underlying reality and God’s
essence because there is a difference between God’s infinity and God’s love.
Infinity pertains to God’s underlying reality; love pertains to God’s
essence. As I said above [§§ 18 , 21 ], God’s underlying reality is more univer-
sal than God’s essence. Likewise, God’s infinity is more universal than
God’s love. “Infinite” is an adjective modifying God’s attributes and the
components of God’s essence. All these are said to be infinite. In the same
way, divine love is said to be infinite, and so are divine wisdom and divine
power. I do not mean that God’s underlying reality came about before
God’s essence, but rather that it is an ingredient or component of that
essence that is connected with that essence, that gives that essence direc-
tion, and that forms and also elevates that essence.
This part of this chapter, like the parts that went before, will be
divided into points, as follows:
- God is love itself and wisdom itself. These two constitute his essence.
- Because goodness comes from love and truth comes from wisdom,
God is goodness itself and truth itself. - Love itself and wisdom itself are life itself, or life in itself.
- Love and wisdom are united in God.