It is by virtue of this
inmost or highest that a man is a man, and distinguished from the
animals, which do not have it. From this it is that man, unlike the
animals, is capable, in respect to all his interiors which pertain to
his mind and disposition, of being raised up by the Lord to Himself,
of believing in the Lord, of being moved by love to the Lord, and
thereby beholding Him, and of receiving intelligence and wisdom, and
speaking from reason. Also it is by virtue of this that he lives to
eternity. But what is arranged and provided by the Lord in this
inmost does not distinctly fall into the perception of any angel,
because it is above his thought and transcends his wisdom.
436. That in respect to his interiors man is a spirit I have been
permitted to learn from much experience, which, to employ a common
saying, would fill volumes if I were to describe it all. I have
talked with spirits as a spirit, and I have talked with them as a man
in the body; and when I talked with them as a spirit they knew no
otherwise than that I myself was a spirit and in a human form as they
were. Thus did my interiors appear before them, for when talking with
them as a spirit my material body was not seen.
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