Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 2.djvu/75

 same reason the Lord often appeared to them and instructed them. But that knowledge is now so entirely lost, that it is not known what correspondence is.

Without a knowledge of correspondence no clear understanding can be had of the spiritual world; of its influx into the natural world; of the relation of the spiritual to the natural; of the spirit of man, which is called the soul; of the operation of the soul upon the body; and of the state of man after death. Therefore it is necessary to explain the nature of correspondence, and thus prepare the way for what is to follow.

First, I will explain what correspondence is.—The whole natural world corresponds to the spiritual world; not only the natural world in general, but also every particular part thereof. Therefore whatever exists in the natural world from the spiritual, is said to be the correspondent [of that from which it exists]. It is to be observed that the natural world exists and subsists from the spiritual world, precisely as an effect from its efficient cause. All that is called the natural world which lies beneath the sun, and receives therefrom heat and light; and the things of this world are all those which thence subsist. But the spiritual world is heaven; and the things of that world are all those which are in heaven.

Since man is a heaven and also a world in the least