God is one indivisible entity that is the same from eternity to eternity.
He is not the same simplething; he is the same infinitething. All variation
is supplied by the object in which it occurs, as I showed above [§ 364 ]. It
is the receiving form or state that causes variations, as we can see from the
life that is in little children, teenagers, young adults, middle-aged adults,
and the elderly. Because we keep the same soul, we have the same life
inside from infancy to old age; but as our state goes through life stages
and different circumstances, we perceive the life inside us differently.
[ 2 ] God’s life is present in all its fullness not only in people who are
good and religious but also in people who are evil and ungodly. That
life is the same in angels of heaven as it is in spirits of hell. The differ-
ence is that evil people block the road and shut the door to prevent
God from coming down into the lower areas of their mind. Good peo-
ple, on the other hand, smooth the road and open the door. They
invite God to enter the lower areas of their mind since he already
inhabits the highest areas of it. They change the state of their will so
that love and goodwill may flow in, and change the state of their intel-
lect so that wisdom and faith may flow in—they open themselves to God.
Evil people block that inflow with various bodily cravings and spiri-
tual garbage that they spread around to prevent access. Nevertheless,
God with all his divine essence still dwells in the highest parts of evil peo-
ple and gives them the ability to will what is good and understand what
is true. This ability is something that all human beings have, although it
would not be theirs at all if life from God were not present in their soul.
Many experiences have taught me that even the evil have this ability.
[ 3 ] The way we individually receive life from God depends on our
form. This can be illustrated with comparisons to every kind of plant.
Every species of tree, every species of bush, every type of shrub, and every
type of grass receives the inflowing heat and light according to its own
form. This is true not only for plants that serve a good purpose but also for
those that serve an evil purpose. The sun and its heat do not alter the form
of the plants. Instead the forms themselves alter the effects of the sun.
The same is true for substances in the mineral kingdom. Every differ-
ent substance, whether it has high quality or little value, receives what
flows in according to the form of the structure of its component parts.
No two types of stone, no two minerals, no two metals receive the
inflowing heat and light in the same way. Some of them dapple them-
selves with exquisitely beautiful colors; some transmit light without alter-
ing it; some scramble the light inside themselves or suffocate it.
singke
(singke)
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