Heaven and Hell: The Portable New Century Edition

56 HEAVEN and HELL §103

There Is a Correspondence

of Heaven with

Everything Earthly

103

I

N the preceding chapter, we have stated what correspondence is, and

have explained as well that absolutely everything in the soul’s body is a

correspondence. Next in orderly sequence we need to explain that every-

thing earthly and in general everything in our world is a correspondence.

104 All earthly things are differentiated into three classes that we call
“kingdoms,” namely, the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, and the
mineral kingdom. Members of the animal kingdom are correspondences
on the fi rst level because they are alive. Members of the plant kingdom
are correspondences on the second level because they merely grow. Mem-
bers of the mineral kingdom are correspondences on the third level
because they neither live nor grow.
The correspondences in the animal kingdom are the living creatures
of various kinds, both those that walk and creep on the earth and those
that fl y in the air. We need not list them by name, because they are famil-
iar. Correspondences in the plant kingdom are all the things that grow
and bloom in gardens and forests and farms and meadows, which again
are so familiar that they need not be listed by name. Correspondences in
the mineral kingdom are metals noble and base, stones precious and
common, and soils of various kinds, as well as bodies of water. Beyond
these, things made from these elements by human industry for our use
are correspondences, things such as foods of all kinds, garments, houses,
major buildings, and so on.

105 Things that are above the earth are also correspondences, things like

the sun, the moon, and the stars, and also things that occur in our atmo-

spheres like clouds, mists, rainstorms, lightning bolts, and thunderclaps.

The emanations of the sun in its presence and absence like light and

shade, warmth and cold, are also correspondences; and so are such corol-

laries as the times of the year called spring, summer, fall, and winter, and

the times of the day—morning, noon, evening, and night.