people; in another story Apollo turns Daphne into a laurel tree; in
another, Diana turns a hunter into a deer. And there is a myth that one
of their gods turned the young maidens of Parnassus into magpies.
The belief about divine omnipotence today is similar to these ancient
myths. In every region where there is religion many fanatical and hereti-
cal ideas have been brought into the world as a result.
59 4. God is omniscient; that is, he is aware of, sees, and knows everything
down to the least detail that happens in keeping with the divine design, and
by contrast is aware of, sees, and knows what goes against the divine design.
God is omniscient, that is, he is aware of, sees, and knows all things,
because he is wisdom itself and light itself. Wisdom itself is aware of all
things. Light itself sees all things.
We showed above [§ 37 ] that God is wisdom itself. He is light itself
because he is the sun of the angelic heaven that enlightens the intellect of
all, both angels and people. As our eye is illuminated by the light of the
physical sun, so our intellect is illuminated by the light of the spiritual
sun—not only illuminated, but also filled with intelligence (depending on
how much we love receiving it), since spiritual light is essentially wisdom.
This is why it says in David that God dwells in inaccessible light
[Psalms 104 : 2 ; see also 1 Timothy 6 : 16 ]; and why it says in the Book of
Revelation that in the New Jerusalem they do not need lamps because
the Lord God enlightens them [Revelation 21 : 23 ]; and why it says in John
that the Word that was with God and was God is the light that enlight-
ens everyone who comes into the world [John 1 : 1 , 9 ]. The “Word” in this
last reference means divine wisdom. This is why the more wisdom angels
have, the brighter a light they are in; and why when “light” is mentioned
in the Word it means wisdom.60 God is aware of, sees, and knows everything down to the least detail
that happens in keeping with the divine design because it is a universal
design that encompasses the smallest individual designs. (Individual things
taken collectively are called universal, just as particular instances are collec-
tively called something common or general.)
The universal design with [all] its individual designs is a masterwork
so well connected together into one thing that you cannot touch or affect
one part without something of a sensation flowing back to the others.
Every created thing in this world has something comparable to this qual-
ity of the divine design in the universe.
Comparisons with observable phenomena will shed light on this.
Throughout a human being, there are connective membranes and