accept the Lord’s processes with a willing spirit, he cannot carry them out
in us, but his desire to do so remains constant.
151 Believing in the Lord is not only acknowledging him but also doing
what he commands. Merely acknowledging him is just a matter of thought
in our intellect. Doing what he commands also entails an acknowledg-
ment in our will. The human mind consists of an intellect and a will.
Thinking belongs to our intellect; doing belongs to our will. Therefore
when we make a mere acknowledgment based on thinking in our intellect,
we move toward the Lord with only half our mind. When we act, however,
then we move toward the Lord with our whole mind; and this is believing.
The alternative to true belief is to divide our hearts, forcing our gaze
upward while our flesh turns to face the ground. Then we fly like an
eagle between heaven and hell. We do not follow our line of sight, how-
ever; we follow the pleasures of our flesh. Because our pleasures lie in
hell, we fly down there. After indulging in our pleasures there and pour-
ing out a libation of new wine to the demons, we develop a polite affecta-
tion and a sparkle in our eye; and so we masquerade as an angel of light.
These are the kind of satans that we become after death if we
acknowledge the Lord but do not do what he commands.152 In a previous section [§^142 ] we showed that the Lord’s first and last
purpose is for people to have salvation and eternal life. Since first and
last purposes include all intermediate purposes as well, it follows that all
the spiritual processes listed above [§ 142 ] are present in the Lord at the
same time. In fact, the Lord brings all these processes to us at the same
time, but they nonetheless take effect one after the other.
Our human body grows; so does our human mind. Our body grows
in stature; our mind in wisdom. Furthermore, our mind rises up from
one level to another. It goes from being earthly to being spiritual, and
from being spiritual to being heavenly. At the lowest level we are knowl-
edgeable; at the middle level we have understanding; at the highest level
we are wise. This rising of the mind, though, happens only over the
course of time; it takes place as we acquire truths for ourselves and con-
nect them to something good.
This process is much like building a house. First we get ourselves the
materials for it—the bricks, the shingles, the beams, the boards. Then we
lay the foundation, put up the outside walls, frame out the rooms, hang
the doors, install the windows in the walls, and build the stairs from one
level to the next. All these stages and features are together at once in our
goal, however, which is the comfortable and respectable living space we
planned and provided for.