54 HEAVEN and HELL §97
d. On the correspondence of all the members of our bodies with the universal human or heaven,
in general and in detail, based on experience: 3021 , 3624 – 3649 , 3741 – 3751 [ 3741 – 3750 ], 3883 – 3896 ,
4039 – 4051 [ 4039 – 4054 ], 4218 – 4228 , 4318 – 4331 , 4403 – 4421 , 4523 – 4534 , 4622 – 4633 , 4652 – 4660 ,
4791 – 4805 , 4931 – 4953 , 5050 – 5061 , 5171 – 5189 , 5377 – 5396 , 5552 – 5573 , 5711 – 5727 , 10030. On the
infl ow of the spiritual world into the natural world, or of heaven into earth, and the infl ow of the
soul into all the elements of the body, based on experience: 6053 – 6058 , 6189 – 6215 , 6307 – 6327 ,
6466 – 6495 , 6598 – 6626. On the interaction of the soul and the body, based on experience: 6053 –
6058 , 6189 – 6215 , 6307 – 6327 , 6466 – 6495 , 6598 – 6626.This is also why people commonly say that someone has a good head
when they are talking about someone intelligent and wise, why they talk
about a truly thoughtful person as a bosom friend, a particularly perceptive
individual as having a keen nose, a discriminating one as sharp-sighted,
someone in power as having a long arm, someone who acts intentionally
from love as acting from the heart—these and many other expressions in
human language come from correspondence. The expressions actually
originate in the spiritual world, though people are unaware of it.98 The reality of this kind of correspondence of everything in heaven
with everything in us has been shown me by a great deal of experience—
by so much, in fact, that I am as convinced of this as I am of anything
that is so obvious as to be beyond doubt. There is no need to append all
the evidence here, though, and there is too much to include. The reader
may see some included in Secrets of Heaven where correspondences, rep-
resentations, the infl ow of the spiritual world into the natural, and the
interaction of soul and body are dealt with.d99 Even though we completely correspond physically to all of heaven, we
are still not images of heaven in outward form, but only in inward form.
Our deeper reaches are receptive of heaven, while our more outward ones
are receptive of this world. To the extent, then, that those deeper reaches
do accept heaven we are heavens in least form, in the image of the great-
est; but to the extent that our deeper reaches are not receptive, we are not
heavens or images of the greatest. Nevertheless, our more outward aspects,
which are receptive of the world, may be in some form that is determined
by the world, and therefore in more or less beauty. Outward, physical
beauty has its origins in our parents and from our formation in the womb,
and thereafter is maintained by a general infl ow from the world. This is
why our natural form differs markedly from our spiritual form.
I have been shown at times what a spiritual person is like in form, and
I have seen that in some people who were lovely and attractive in physical
appearance that inner form was misshapen, black, and grotesque—what
you would call an image of hell rather than of heaven; while in some who