# The Philosophy of Creation/Chapter 9

CHAPTER IX.
THE HUMAN STRUCTURE.
The Soul Is The Formative Element In The Natural Body, And Is A Complex Spiritual Structure.
It is evident from what has been said in the previous chapter that the soul is a substantial, organized form. "Ex nihilo nihil fit," is wisely quoted against the doctrine that the world was made out of nothing. If from nothing nothing comes, causes that transcend the nature of matter can not come from nothing. They must originate in substance. Weismann, in his "Germ Plasm," and other scientists have ably proved that there are forces at work in the animal body superior to those ordinarily treated, which control the cell. For the same reason that there must be an invisible substance that permeates the germ cell and controls its particles and adjusts them, there must be a substance that permeates the aggregate of cells or the whole body, and regulates it. This organism, necessarily superior to matter, is the soul, the spiritual structure upon which ​the body is builded, the essential architect of the material form.
It is the particular, delicate, and complex organization of the soul and its superior order of substances that enable it to be endowed with the faculties of affection, thought, sensation, and the essentials of self-consciousness. The soul is not like a marble statue with all its molecules in a common mass. That it thinks and loves, shows that it is most highly organized. It must have organs for its faculties and powders. No faculty or power exists in the body apart from an organ of which it is predicated. The organs of the soul are as numerous as those of the body, indeed they are like them; for the soul forms the body by Correspondence, whereby the organs of the body are operated by corresponding ones of the soul. The soul could not construct the body in any other than its own form; consequently the body is an organism like the soul, and clothes it part for part. As the particles of dust disclose the form of the invisible air in the whirlwind, so the body reveals the form of the soul.
Having shown that the soul and the spiritual world are real, substantial forms, we are prepared to consider their structure in particulars. To bring at once before the mind the human structure in its successive degrees, diagram II is here introduced.
​g represents the natural body. G represents the Spiritual Body, f, e, d, represent respectively the Sensual, Scientific, and Rational planes of the Natural Mind. F, E, and D represent respectively the Spiritual-Natural, Spiritual, and Celestial planes of the Spiritual Mind. C represents the Inmost, or most interior plane of man. B is the Divine Proceeding or Holy Spirit. A represents the Creator, from whom all are sustained. Let us observe some of the reasons whereby it is known that such degrees exist, and consider what they are.
By means of the senses set in the body, facts are learned, as that birds fly; the sun shines; certain foods are wholesome; heat makes steam, and the like. Thus by means of the senses there is gathered a series of facts distinctly above the merely sensual experiences. These facts are those of science, and the plane of the mind that contains them, or is formed by them, is the Scientific, e. The Scientific plane is distinctly separated from the Sensual, it being a discrete degree higher. To observe the distinction it should be noticed that the mind is composed of substances wrought into forms. The Sensual plane is composed of forms wrought in its substance by impressions made upon the senses. The Scientific plane is composed of forms wrought ​in its substance by the use of the senses or of the Sensual plane. Or it may be said that the Scientific plane is formed from scientific life and knowledge. It is composed of effects that are received through the Sensual, together with effects that are derived from the higher planes of the mind, and is separated from the Sensual as effect is from cause. This relation of cause and effect exists between adjacent planes of the mind.
The Scientific plane having acquired impressions through the use of the senses whereby there is the knowledge of facts, the Rational plane, d, uses that knowledge, and deduces a series of rational conclusions distinctly superior to the plane of scientific facts. It is a scientific fact that the earth appears flat; also that as a ship approaches, the top of the mast is first visible, and the hull last: but it is a rational truth that the earth must therefore be a globe. It is a scientific truth that the sun gives heat and light; and it appears that, as vegetation will not grow without heat and light, the sun makes it grow; but it is a rational truth that the sun merely furnishes condition while other forces give shape to plants. The child, because the Rational plane is not yet formed, wonders if there are mermaids in the ocean or centaurs on the land: the scholar from his knowledge of the unity of plan concludes ​that there never could have been such forms. This latter is a rational truth. So by means of scientific facts, a new plane of rational thought is formed. This is the Rational plane, a discrete degree higher than the Scientific plane. It is formed from rational knowledge and its life.
Not only is it evident that these three planes exist in the human constitution, but also we know that they are developed in the order given, and are related as cause and effect. The infant lives in the Sensual plane until that is formed sufficiently to obtain scientific facts, for there is nothing else for it to live in. The child can not live above the Scientific plane until the Rational is formed by the use of scientific facts. The infant experiences sensation, and forms the Sensual plane. The child asks the what, and forms the Scientific plane. The youth inquires of the why, and forms the Rational plane. When these three planes are formed, there are three distinct orders of life to enjoy, that of sensation, elevated and corrected by mental development; that of facts or science, embracing all the facts of natural science; and that of rational truths. These three discrete planes form and constitute the Natural Mind. The Natural Mind is that which is frequently though vaguely designated as the lower nature of man. The Natural Mind is the natural man.
The Spiritual Mind Is Developed In The Same Manner That The Natural Mind Is.
While the Natural Mind is passing through this orderly development, the Spiritual Mind is undergoing changes in preparation for its own similar advancement on its distinctive planes. As there is an influx through it to the Natural Mind, the designed development of the Natural Mind opens the Spiritual Mind to a greater and stronger influx whereby it is all prepared for its easy and rapid progress in its mission when the Natural Mind has reached the required state.
It is not intended that human development should stop with the acquisition of rational truths. The Rational plane exists that as man ascends from truths of the scientific order to those of a rational order, so he may by means of the Rational ascend to those lying just above or back of rational truths, which are the lowest truths or facts of the spiritual world. The lowest plane of truth in the spiritual world, analogous to the natural laws of the natural world, some have called the "natural laws of the spiritual world." This is a misnomer. We have chosen to call it the spiritual-natural plane; and the laws, spiritual-natural laws. The plane of the mind that ​perceives spiritual-natural laws, or is formed by them and their life, is properly called the Spiritual-Natural, F.
The distinctness of the Spiritual-Natural plane from the Rational may be thus explained. The spiritual world is the realm of causes, for all causes originate there. The proximate causes of effects in the natural world are the lowest forces and laws of the spiritual world, or spiritual-natural laws. The Rational plane is for the purpose of ascending to the knowledge of causes, or what is the same, to the understanding of spiritual-natural laws; hence the Spiritual-Natural is separated from the Rational as the causes in the spiritual world are distinct from their highest effects in the natural world. Since the laws of the spiritual world appertain to that world, the plane of the mind that is formed by them or contains the impressions made by the perception of them, belongs specifically to the spiritual world, and is a plane of the Spiritual Mind. Spiritual-natural laws are not far removed from our experience and comprehension, for they include familiar laws of the mind, which is a spiritual form belonging to the spiritual world.
Spiritual-natural laws are the laws natural to the mind as distinguished from those of the body. They are the laws of common morality. That ​fear, hatred, anger, despondency, and the like, destroy the peace of the mind, and therefore should be shunned; that goodwill, gentleness, charity, and the like are useful to the mind and rejoice it, and similar laws, are spiritual-natural laws. These laws may be comprehended by means of rational truths or the Rational plane. If the Rational plane is guided by the Spiritual-Natural plane, or what is the same, by spiritual-natural laws, man will be a true reasoner; if it is not guided with reference to the order and law of the spiritual world, one becomes a false reasoner. The spiritual-natural truths or laws are those of the spiritual world that first underlie a life in this world, and bring the mind into Divine order. Rational truths enable us to know what these laws are. They manifest themselves in the natural world as civil-moral life and truth, like the doing of good to others, respecting their rights, and the shunning of all ways and states that are detrimental to prosperity and peace, or that are contrary to the natural laws of the mind's welfare, and this from simple obedience and without any special affection for things superior to the natural pleasure, harmony, and use of good moral order. Through the Rational the truths of a good moral life are obtained and a distinct plane of life is formed. That this plane ​is distinctly higher than the Rational is again evident from some men not attaining moral truths or a moral life, though they are strong reasoners. They, having neither the perceptions of spiritual order nor the impressions of goodwilling, fail to open and to form the Spiritual-Natural, which is constituted by moral truths with their life. Such are false reasoners because their Rational does not lead them to the perception of moral truths, the purpose of which is to guide and direct the Rational. All spiritual men are rational, but not all rational men are spiritual. The Spiritual-Natural plane is above the Rational plane just as a good moral life is superior to a merely rational life, which may be false and evil. A good moral life originates in opening and forming the Spiritual-Natural plane.
Next above the Spiritual-Natural is the Spiritual plane, E. What this is and its distinctness may appear by contrast with the Spiritual-Natural. The Spiritual-Natural is opened and formed by a knowledge of and a life according to the external laws of the spiritual world, but without any concern about their origin or cause. The Spiritual plane is opened and formed not merely by the order, harmony, and delights of Spiritual-Natural laws, or the external laws of the spiritual world, but by the perceptions ​of their causes and origin and the consequent delights originating in the wisdom of spiritual things; or, what is the same, it is formed by the affections for and the knowledge of spiritual truths and their uses. If we forgive others God will forgive us, becomes to us a spiritual truth when we see that it is true because God is pure love, and that the only thing that exists between us and God is the grudge in our own hearts, which shuts out God's love, and that when that grudge is removed then love from God flows into us, and fills us with tender compassion where there was hatred toward our enemies. In a sentence, the spiritual sense of the Word, which is spiritual truth, forms the spiritual plane of the mind when we learn it, love it, and obey it.
The highest plane of the mind is the Celestial, D. It is distinguished from the Spiritual in being formed not by the knowledge and delights of spiritual truths, but by celestial truth in which celestial love is dominant. The Celestial plane is opened by living according to spiritual truths until the entire mind is brought into order by the dispersion of the false and evil, and so rectified that one can receive love from the Creator, act from it without conscious thought, and sensate its unperverted activity. In a summary, the celestial sense of the Word, which treats of love to the ​Lord, forms the Celestial plane of the mind. Love is the dominant, active element in the Celestial; wisdom is dominant in the Spiritual; and the outward harmony and order of love and wisdom are supreme in the Spiritual-Natural. Those who attain only the development of the Spiritual-Natural, are prepared for and enter at death the Spiritual-Natural heaven. Those who have added to this the opening of the Spiritual plane of the mind enter the Spiritual heaven. Those who pass through the development of these two planes, and in whom the Celestial plane is opened, finally enter the third or the Celestial heaven. The three degrees may be compared respectively to heat, light, and their effects in nature; or to the natural sense, the spiritual sense, and the celestial sense of the Word. Love which is spiritual heat, characterizes the Celestial; wisdom, which is spiritual light, the Spiritual; and the operation or effects of these in the ultimates of the spiritual world, causing outward order and harmony, distinguish the Spiritual-Natural. These three planes may be illustrated respectively by three classes of people; one sees only things, another sees laws governing things, and another has his mind opened to the love that is within the governing law. Hence it is concluded that the Spiritual Mind is composed of ​three distinct planes or discrete degrees. These three degrees may be again illustrated by three persons; the Celestial, by one who does all things from a love so intuitive and discerning that the processes of thought are not conscious in efficient and correct action; the Spiritual, by another who does likewise, but from the thought of what is right and just; and the Spiritual-Natural, by another who does the same, but only from simple obedience or from the delights and uses of external harmony.
In saying that scientific truths are obtained by means of the senses, or that a higher plane is developed by means of the next lower, it is not to be thought that the senses discover scientific truths, or that any lower plane of truth can reach up and obtain a higher. The particular office performed by a lower plane of knowledge is that it acts as an ultimate for the insinuation and development of the next higher. For so man ascends this Jacob's ladder.
The Inmost Is The Most Interior Structure Of The Human Organization, And As Such It Is The First To Receive Influx From The Creator.
There is yet one other essential of the human form, that called the Inmost, C. It is the most ​internal structure of the soul, and first receives the efflux of life from the Creator. It takes upon itself an activity most perfectly corresponding to that in Him, and communicates it to the mind that invests and contains it. The Inmost is not a part of the mind, since it is a distinctly higher plane, and is above human consciousness. Though having the highest degree of activity, it does not think; but the mind which invests it, constituting a sensorium, receives its activity as affection and thought. The function of the Inmost is to receive activity from the Creator, and to communicate it to the mind, while the relative office of the mind is to receive that activity, which reception the mind experiences as affection and thought.
That there must be such an organism as the Inmost distinct from the mind is apparent, for there is that which impresses and the thing impressed. Spencer rightly reasons in saying "The term sensation . . . . tacitly, if not openly, postulates a sensitive organism and something acting upon it; and can scarcely be employed without bringing these postulates into the thoughts and embodying them in the inferences." The mind is the sensitive organ​ism, and it is the Inmost that acts upon it. Again in reasoning about consciousness of self, he says, "If, then, the object perceived is self, what is the subject that perceives? or if it is the true self that thinks, what other self can it be that is thought of?" In endeavoring to answer the question, this sad but familiar conclusion ensues. "Clearly, a true cognition of self implies a state in which the knowing and the known are one—in which subject and object are identified; and this Mr. Mansel rightly holds to be the annihilation of both. So that the personality of which each is conscious, and of which the existence is a fact beyond all others the most certain, is yet a thing which can not truly be known at all; knowledge of it is forbidden by the very nature of thought." Having levelled all things to the plane of matter, and consequently not recognizing the discrete degrees in the human constitution and the phenomenon of existence through their reciprocal action, Spencer arrives at this conclusion. It well confirms what has been said, that without a knowledge of the discrete degrees in creation nothing of causes can be comprehended. The existence of the Inmost distinctly above the mind, and first receiving ​activity from the Creator, and the conception of the mind as the sensorium upon which the Inmost acts, removes all difficulty. The mind itself, being the sensorium, can be conscious of itself. The Inmost is above human consciousness, because at one time a thing can not be the subject and object of thought. The organism of the mind is within the spiritual body as the brain with its branches is within the material body. The Inmost is within the mind-organism as the purest fluid of the body is within the brain and its extension of nerves. The Inmost receives activity from the Creator, and passes it to the mind just as the purest fluid in the brain receives activity from the spiritual substances of affection and thought, and communicates it to the nerves.
The activity first passing from the Creator is the Divine of the Lord going forth, and is properly called the Divine Proceeding, B. In it are all creative powers. "Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created."
A is the Creator, the Father of all. "Hath not one God created us?"
The Limbus.
It will next be noticed that the lowest degree of matter contributes to the formation of the grosser part of the material body, that the ether ​provides the nerve fluids, and that the highest atmosphere about the globe supplies the materials for the highest part of the material body that is next to the spirit. The highest organization of the material body is its inmost. It is called the Limbus (border), because it borders on the spirit. The Limbus provides the connection between the spiritual body and the grosser part of the material body. It is shown in Diagram IV., p. 312.
A knowledge of the uses of the Limbus provides the explanation of the relation between the life lived in this world, and what it must be in the other, and a beautiful philosophy of the relation of the soul to the body. By the Limbus existence here is made possible, as well as in the hereafter. In it lies the fixity of human character and the preservation of our identity through the countless ages in the spiritual world. A knowledge of its uses also presents the serious side of life by showing how our failure to fulfil life's higher purposes here must bear its effects forever. It makes the Christian life one worthy of every sacrifice, and of constant interest and zeal by revealing how momentous our defects and how great and lasting our virtues are.
The Limbus is that plane or substance in the body that first responds to affection and thought. ​Affection and thought form its contexture. They weave the woof and warp of the Limbus. Consequently the whole life is registered in the Limbus, as sound with its quality and variation is recorded in a phonograph. It is therefore the seat of the external memory, preserving with infinite perfection and fulness the entire life. Every thought, affection, and impulse, every impression that has been made upon the body, even such as the unconscious tremor of a gas-jet, if it has flickered upon the retina, is indelibly written there with faultless accuracy. The external life in flowing in and the internal life in flowing out are photographed there with the perfection of nature's highest law. In the Limbus is the book of each one's life that is opened in the final judgment, and compared to that "other book," the Word of God. Nothing can pass the door either way that does not become there a fixed part of the human organization. Its abiding form, on the one hand stamping our evils upon us in perverted forms that close the door against the Spirit of God, and on the other weaving forms receptive of the holiness and love of God, says to us auspiciously, "For ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess." The uses of the Limbus show religion to be not ​merely a theory, but sound, wise, and righteous, daily thinking, loving, and living.
At death the Limbus is not cast off from the spiritual body along with the material body. It quiesces, and becomes as the outer cuticle of the spiritual body. Nor is it carried into the spiritual world. It still remains in the natural world, for though it is formed from the purest substances in nature, it can not be carried into the spiritual world. It rests upon the atmospheres, which in turn rest upon the earth, whereby its form is preserved from without as the natural body is by the pressure of the air; and its form is preserved by the spirit from within as the material basis of the eternal permanency of the soul. The Limbus performs the physical use of holding the purer substances of the spirit in form after the rejection of the material body at death, just as the skin of the body holds in form the volatile substances within it.
The angelic heavens rest upon the plane of the Limbus in nature, and by that and successive atmospheres lastly upon the solid parts of the earth. In a most real way the earth is the "footstool" of angelic life and of God's creation. Without the Limbus the spiritual bodies of the inhabitants of the other world would dissolve, like decaying bodies, and life there would perish.
​The future life must be in Correspondence with the ruling life fixed in the Limbus, for the influx must be determined by the basis, or ultimate, into which it is received. The interior life could by no possible law or reason be any other than a reactive effect of the exterior basis. The foundation must determine the form of the superstructure. Upon the quiescence of the Limbus the acquired life becomes fixed. Therefore at death, character and spiritual possibilities are determined by the fixed plane in the Limbus acquired by the quality of the life lived in the natural world. It is not by arbitrary judgment, but through the inexorable laws of creation that all are recompensed "according to their deeds"; that those who have lived for self alone, "go away into everlasting punishment"; and that those who have done good to their brethren, enter "into life eternal."
The different degrees of life in the spiritual world have the basis in the Limbus. If the basis of any discrete degree of spiritual life is not laid in the Limbus, it can not be opened in the spiritual world. If life such as is with the angels of any of the three heavens does not have a basis fixed in the ultimate, the corresponding degrees of the internal mind close, and fix the "great gulf", so that they ​who would pass from Lazarus to Dives "can not."
The Limbus is the ultimate to all the planes of the Internal Mind. It has been shown that degrees of height are in fulness and power in their ultimates; and since interior things of successively higher discrete degrees are simultaneously present in their ultimates, coexisting there and acting therewith, it is evident that any plane of the mind that has not an ultimate fixed in the Limbus, can have no power, and hence can not come to human consciousness.
The creative power does not stop at intermediate degrees and there form permanent things, for there would be no containing vessel or basis; but creative power proceeds to the ultimate, where it is in its fulness and power, and thence forms. Procreations can take place therefore only upon the earth, where formations commence. The end of creation is the human race; and this end, by means of the spiritual world as cause, continues from the Creator to the natural world, the effect; and the end reappears in the effect by the earth being the seminary of heaven through the procreation of human beings. From the foregoing it may be seen that procreations of the human race can take place only upon the ultimate plane of an earth, and that all the ​angels of heaven were once people upon an earth from which the Limbus must be taken. They gained the "Father's house" by doing "His commandments," which are the "sum" of the entire laws of the operation of the saving powers of His Spirit. This is in accord with the Word. When John saw the resplendent angel who ministered at the throne, he fell down to worship him. But the angel was only a man, like John, made perfect by obeying the teachings of the Word. So he said, "See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren, the prophets, and of them that keep the sayings of this Book: worship God."
They who lay a basis in the Limbus for the degree of life in which the natural angels are, will come into the life of the angels of the Spiritual-Natural heaven. They can advance on that plane without limitation, but they can not be sustained in a more interior degree of life, without preparation. Likewise of the spiritual degree of angelic life. But those who, through the fulfilment of the law and the finishing of the "Father's business," enter in this world into the love of the Lord as a ruling element, thereby fixing the ultimate of celestial life in the Limbus, are raised after death to the celestial degree of angelic life, and they are forever sustained ​therein. In those who have attained supreme love to the Lord, all the planes of the Internal Mind have their ultimates developed and fixed in the Limbus, in which they subsist in simultaneous order. Therefore influx can pass from the Lord through all the discrete degrees or planes of the mind to their ultimates, and take on there quality from the Limbus, which is determined by the life lived while in the body. And since there is power in a higher degree because its power is in fulness in its ultimate, life in the higher degree, or heavenly life, is possible only when its ultimate is formed in the Limbus.
The Limbus of those who die in infancy, because such are in innocency and the limbus is not filled and fixed, is filled and formed after death as a basis from which they are elevated into heavenly life. For, as we have shown, degrees of height are in fulness and power in their ultimates; and since interior things of successively higher discrete degrees are simultaneously present in their ultimates, coexisting therewith and acting as one, it is evident that any plane of the mind that has not an ultimate fixed in the Limbus can have no power, and hence cannot come into human consciousness.
The Successive Planes Of The Body Are Formed From The Coincident Planes Of Material Substances.
The natural body is formed from the different degrees of matter. The lower parts of the body, the skin, bones, and flesh are composed of the lowest discrete degree of matter, the earthy and aerial substances. The nerve system employs in addition the still higher discrete degree of ether in which is electricity: the ethereal matter furnishes the medium through which the muscles are operated from the mind. The purest matter in the brain constituting the Limbus, is from the purest aura, a still higher discrete degree. In such order the material body is formed.
The Successive Planes Of The Soul Are Formed From The Coincident Planes Of Spiritual Substances.
The soul is formed from the degrees of the substances that constitute the spiritual creation in the same manner that the body is formed from the natural world. The spiritual body as to its lower parts is formed from the lower substances of the spiritual world or the spiritual earth. The lower atmosphere of the spiritual world enters in to form the Spiritual-Natural plane; a still ​higher atmosphere furnishes substance for the formation of the spiritual plane, and a still higher contributes to the Celestial plane. The Inmost, being proximate to the Divine Proceeding, as has been observed, is formed of substances higher than those that enter into the structure of the mind. (See Diagram III, page 181.)
The planes of the Spiritual Mind, like those of the Natural Mind, are not only composed of substances, but also of forms wrought in those substances. Life-forces, passing from the interior plane of the mind to the outmost, dispose the particles, atoms, and fibers so as to be in Correspondence with the forces that pass through the mind. The quality of life-force is dependent not only upon what is received from above or within, but also upon impressions from external forces, which impressions act as vessels for receiving the inflowing force.
The Life Of An Individual Determines The Particular Form Or Internal Structure Of The Planes Of His Being.
The Inmost in each individual must receive alike from the Creator, for the Inmost is superior to the plane of the will, and its substance involuntarily takes upon itself the form of activity ​of the Divine Proceeding, and hence of the Creator in a subordinate degree. The difference in individuals is from the difference in the form or interior structure of the planes of the mind, which are successive wrappings of the Inmost. These differences are caused by variance in individual affection and thought. This variance has its origin in many causes. Men are born designedly with different genius. Hereditary inclinations modify, as well as education and external surroundings. In general the form of the Natural Mind and the exercise of will determine how we shall receive influx or life-force from the Inmost, and how we shall be impressed by the forces that act upon us from without. The Natural Mind is an ultimate form, subject to the effects of education and natural surroundings, which gives shape to the operations of the life-forces within. With these considerations it may be said that the form of the mind is wrought in its interior structure by the affections and thoughts and their quality. The knowledges acquired by the senses constitute vessels receptive of influx.
The Lord acts in man from inmosts and from ultimates simultaneously to order and to regenerate intermediates; but as man acts in the ultimates, the Lord can not act except with man. ​To become regenerated man must therefore keep the laws of God in ultimates as of himself, and look to the Lord for power to do so. Hence it is that whatever is "bound" or "loosed on earth," the ultimates of the mind, is "bound" or "loosed in heaven," the interiors of the mind. "Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven (which is to have the planes of the mind coincident with the heavens opened); but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven (which is God operating in inmosts)."
The Universality Of The Unity Of Plan Accommodates Man To The Reception Of Influx From The Creator Through The Coincident Planes Of The Universe.
Diagram I is introduced to illustrate the universe in its successive degrees and its ascent from the inert rock to the Creator. Diagram II shows the human constitution and its ascent by similar degrees from the dead epidermis to the vital substances of the Inmost, and to the Creator. The way is now prepared to introduce Diagram III, which is so arranged as to bring before the eye the similarity in the general ​structure of the universe and of man, whereby there is Correspondence, or influx from the Creator through the universe into man.
A, in this diagram, represents the Creator, who is distinctly above all created substance, and who fills all below Him by influx.
Part I represents the atmospheres, B, C, D, and E, of the spiritual world, the atmospheres, F, G, and H, of the natural world, the Natural Body, I, and the earth, J, in successive order.
Part II indicates the higher part of the human organization, b, c, d, and e; the Natural Mind, f, g, and h; the Spiritual Body, i, and the spiritual earth, j, in successive order.
J is the Natural Earth. Because it is the continuation of the lowest atmosphere, it is placed at the bottom. The Spiritual Earth is placed opposite because it is its spiritual correlative, and is in close Correspondence with it.
h is the Sensual plane of the Natural Mind, and is placed coincident with the air, H, with which there is the closest relation, as sensation or consciousness commences with the inflation of the lungs with air, and ceases with the deprivation of air. Air also furnishes oxygen to the blood in the lungs, and is thence distributed throughout the body, and contributes to the formation of the mind-organism in the body.
g is the scientific plane of the Natural Mind, and is placed coincident with the ether, G, because these two are next in succession. Also ether, from which is electricity and animal magnetism, contributes a higher degree of substance to the formation of the mental organism in the body, whereby, as has been observed, it is an instrumental medium through which the affections, or will, control the body. The Scientific plane perceives facts, whereby there is mental light; and the ether is the medium of natural light. The Sensual plane is subject to direction through the knowledge of facts embraced by the Scientific; hence it may be observed that the Scientific acts upon the Sensual as the ether acts upon the air. The ether, being used in the construction of the nervous system, ​furnishes the means whereby nervous action, so akin to electrical action, produces muscular contraction and action, thus giving the mind control and direction of the physical senses and organs.
That the ether enters to constitute the invisible nervous fluid is not only reasonably concluded from the way the body appropriates in general the substances of nature for its construction, but it is quite clearly demonstrated. Says Huxley in commenting upon the experiments of M. Dubois Reymond and others, "Every amount of nervous action is accompanied by a certain amount of electrical disturbance in the particles of the nerves in which that nervous action is carried on. In this way the nervous action is related to electricity in the same way that heat is related to electricity; and the same sort of argument which demonstrates the two latter to be related to one another, shows that the nervous forces are correlated to electricity." Science is continually adding new proofs of this. In fact that electricity enters into the nervous organization is so well known among scientists, that a mere statement of the fact might suffice for the purpose here. Spencer ​says "The influence conveyed through the nerves to the muscles, is, though not positively electric, yet a form of force nearly allied to the electric." Though not apparently electric as compared to other manifestations of electricity, it is that manifestation of electric force that would necessarily characterize its use in the human mechanism, or be displayed in the body on the plane of electricity as the effects of willing.
f is the Rational plane of the Natural Mind, coincident with the aura, F, which contributes substance for the formation of the Rational, and enables the mind to operate in the body and on the planes of nature. The purest aura furnishes the substance for the first clothing of affection and thought in the body. Aura is the medium of gravity, which is matter's drawing power or affection, and is therefore, when it is organized as it is in the body, a suitable substance to receive the powers of spiritual affection, and to convey them to the lower planes of the body.
e, d, and c constitute the Spiritual Mind, which is within the spiritual body as the natural mind is within the natural body, or as the nervous fluids are within the nerves.
e is the Spiritual-Natural plane, placed coin​cident with the Spiritual-Natural atmosphere, E, which contributes substance for its formation. Love and wisdom from the Creator act into the atmospheres of the spiritual world and into the spiritual earth as the heat and light of the sun act into the air and the earth, and produce Divine order and beauty in the ultimates of the spiritual world. This order, harmony, and beauty the Spiritual-Natural plane perceives, and is thus formed by it. The relation of the Spiritual-Natural plane of the mind to the Spiritual-Natural Atmosphere is illustrated in general by that of the Sensual plane to the air.
d is the Spiritual plane, next higher, and coincident with the Spiritual Atmosphere, D, because as ether is the medium of natural light the Spiritual Atmosphere is the medium of spiritual light, which is Divine truth; and the Spiritual plane, which is to be thought of as an organism in itself, is that which receives and perceives spiritual truth, and is therefore formed by it.
c is the Celestial plane, coincident with the Celestial Atmosphere, C. As aura is the medium of gravity the Celestial Atmosphere is the medium of spiritual gravity, which is Divine love. The Celestial plane is that which primarily sensates Divine love "in the highest," and is formed from it.
​b is the Inmost, composed of substances responsive to the efflux from the Creator that it may receive the activities of human vitality from Him. The Inmost is superior to the mind that invests it, and that acts as its sensorium. Since the Inmost is superior to the Spiritual Mind and first receives the Divine Proceeding, it is placed coincident with the Divine Proceeding, B. Thus creation proceeded from the Creator to ultimates that it might return and be conjoined to Him.
The sun, if thought to form a continuous degree with the aura, would be represented in Diagram III by the aura, ether, and air wherein are its effects, and from which the earth is made. If it is thought that the sun does contain substance discretely superior to those of the earth's atmospheres, then it does not come down to the earth, and cannot therefore enter into the material body. It is not necessary, therefore, to represent the sun in this diagram.
There Are Two Forms Of Influx, From Within And From Without.
We have in this diagram the means of a clear perception of the form of the universe and of man, as well as of how they are sustained. The Creator is, as it were, the center of the universe, ​in Whom is life itself. The universe is a series of incumbent atmospheres or substances successively lower until they terminate in the inert and implastic rock, which is the basis of creation. The diagrams represent creation in successive order, one degree being below another. This conception aids in thinking how creation comes forth. Creation in simultaneous order is represented by conceiving each plane in the diagrams carried completely around the Creator as a center, and all forming not an ascent, but one plane. This conception helps in conceiving how creation is sustained by interiors and intermediates being in ultimates, and acting as one with them. Activity passes from the Creator through the successive planes of the spiritual world to the sun, and thence, through the successive degrees in nature to the rock, which is the ultimate plane of reaction. The human form is made from the substances of the successive planes in the universe, and its planes are respectively in Correspondence with the coincident planes of the universe. Each plane, both of the universe and of the human form, receiving activity from the Creator, or from the next higher plane, acts as of itself into the next lower. The human form, or man, is therefore sustained by two general forms of influx: first, from the Creator into ​the Inmost, and thence from the Inmost into the Celestial plane, and thence from the Celestial into the Spiritual, and likewise to the ultimates of the body. Second, activity is communicated to the Inmost from the Divine Proceeding, thence from the Divine Proceeding to the Celestial Atmosphere, and thence to the Celestial plane of the mind: and from the Celestial Atmosphere to the Spiritual Atmosphere, and thence to the Spiritual plane of the mind; and likewise to the ultimates of the material earth and of the body.
The Manner In Which Activity Passes From The Sun To The Earth Exemplifies In Detail The Process By Which Vitality Passes From The Creator Into The Soul.
Sufficient has now been adduced to draw the analogy between the natural and the spiritual more in detail. The natural body is under a natural sun from which are natural heat, light, and force. The soul is likewise under a spiritual sun, or the Creator, from which are spiritual heat or love and spiritual light or wisdom. Out of these unfold all the forces of the spiritual world.
​The natural sun is invisible to those in the spiritual world, for there efflux from the Lord appears as a sun. Hence the Word says, "The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."
In speaking of the Creator as a sun, let us not lose sight of the fact that that sun is essentially God in His Divine Humanity, and that the elements of its efflux are unperverted human qualities. As the body receives heat and light from the sun, so the soul receives love and wisdom from the Creator. Affection and thought are from the substance and activity of spiritual atmospheres, affecting the soul just as heat and light are from the substance and the activity of nature's atmospheres. This has been demonstrated in particulars in the Prologue. The spiritual atmosphere proximate to the Creator is so akin to His own substance that it is actuated from the activity in Himself. The activity in Him being life itself, the character which it imparts must be that of Himself, which is Divine human nature. The atmospheres proximate to Him are therefore charged with Divine human ​nature as the atmospheres about the sun are filled, with sun-nature.
The atmospheres proximate to the Creator are adapted to receive activity of so high an order as to be called vital and to have as their essence human life. Rock is capable only of the lowest form of motion. Water has a more complex activity, as is manifested in waves. The air is capable of so high a form of activity that it is the chief medium of sound. Ether, a still higher form of matter, is capable of so complex a form of activity as to be the medium of light, and to print upon the retina the perfect forms of objects. Aura is capable of a still higher form of activity called gravity. It is therefore easily conceivable that spiritual substances near the Creator should be capable of receiving activity like His own vital action, and of becoming charged with Divine human nature. These atmospheres, potent with Divine vitality, act within the Inmost, and fill it with Divine human nature. The Mind, investing the Inmost, is an organism so constructed as to become conscious of the essentials of the Divine nature in the Inmost, which are love and wisdom, from which are affection and thought. The character of consciousness, or the quality of life sensated, depends on the planes of the mind that are opened and ​infilled by instruction and experience. The seat of consciousness is in the Sensual plane of the infant, and with development it ascends to the Scientific, and then to the Rational. If spiritual development then takes place, it ascends as the planes of the Spiritual Mind are successively opened; but if the planes of the Natural Mind are perverted, the seat of consciousness descends as the planes are respectively defiled. Since higher things or inmosts descend to ultimates, and subsist there in simultaneous order as one, all delights descend to the sensual plane, and are there in their fulness; but as the higher planes of the mind are opened, the seat of consciousness ascends, ennobling sensations until from merely corporeal they become the delights of Divine external order, then the delights of love to the neighbor, and lastly the delights of supreme love to the Lord.
The influx of vitality descends from the mind into the spiritual body, and operates its organs. The purest substance in the natural body, which is the first material vesture of the mind, receives activity from the mind. This nervous fluid acts upon the nerves; the nerves act upon the muscles, and the muscular system acts upon the bones.
Each Plane Of An Organism And Of The Universe, Receiving Influx, Appropriates Power From The Influx, And Acts As Of Itself.
Each plane of the human constitution is in itself an organism that receives into itself the influx of vital action, and appropriates it to its own uses, whereby the influx is transformed by the particular nature of the receiving organism, and is passed on successively by each plane as coming from the plane itself. The Mind, receiving and transferring the influx according to its form, affects accordingly the Natural Body. Or, in general, influx proceeds from inmosts to ultimates according to the law of Correspondence.
The influx from one plane to another is not like water flowing over a succession of terraces, nor like wheat falling through a series of sieves in a fanning-mill; but each plane receives according to its form and genius, and passes on the influx as from itself, transformed and accommodated. The lowest plane, being fixed, can not pass the influx on, but its office is reactive, whereby inflowing powers are conserved, and caused to yield their powers in ultimates, and thereby in higher planes. Influx having descended to ​the ultimate, it can not ascend as influx, but must ascend as reacting effects. This is illustrated by the sun's influx into nature. Nature has no influx into the sun, but the sun's influx ascends as the reactive effects of heat, light, electric action, and gravity. A still better illustration is the reactive effect of affection and thought in acts. The passion of music is increased from the reactive effect of singing or of executing. Eloquence is stimulated by the reactive effect of speaking. Zeal is augmented by the reactive effect of doing: that is, affection and thought flow down to the act, and then ascend as effects. How each plane receives according to its form from one stream of influx may be illustrated by the reception of a common current of electricity by three mechanisms, one manifesting the influx as heat, another as light, and another as power. How each plane acts from itself according to its form is illustrated by the sun's activity being communicated to the aura, the ether, and the air, which receive the energy, and reproduce it according to the respective nature and genius of aura, of ether, and of air. In this way the whole human organism, both spiritual and natural, is vitalized and operated by the influx of life from the Divine Human of the Creator, each thing receiving life or power from the one source, ​and appropriating what is received according to the function and form of the receiving organism. The natural sun is simply an external agency whereby matter is raised to the degree of pliability and sensitiveness that makes it responsive to spiritual life-forces; thus the soul is enabled to form and to use the body. The sun renders matter in general plastic to spiritual forces whereby mineral, animal, and plant forms are made. There is no conversion of the substance of one discrete degree into that of another accompanying influx. The substances remain of the same discrete degree, but energy is transferred, which is made possible by the successive degrees being so slightly differentiated that adjacent ones are reciprocally communicative.
The particular adaptability for the transference of activity from one degree to another is due to the manner in which creation took place. The Creator, through His creative powers, emitted from His Divine Organism of uncreated substance that which forms the purest atmosphere that girds Him. This, by the act of creation, has life or activity in a degree less than has His own substance, for it is the first created substance. By gathering together and arranging the particles of this, by compressing them, and by withdrawing activity one degree more, a next lower ​was formed; and in a like manner creation continued on and down until the rock was formed in which activity is withdrawn in the last degree. In this process of the devitalization of substance put forth from the Creator, endeavor was withdrawn until there resulted inertia; activity diminished until there was passivity; heat diminished until there was cold; and life decreased until creation terminated in dead matter, an ultimate basis in which living forces may act and form. The discrete degrees of the universal order are therefore fixed beyond the power of nature or of man to change, disturb, or disorder, being established by a creative act that could originate in the Creator alone. Creation descended by discrete degrees of substance that it might ascend by discrete degrees of forms, as exemplified by minerals, plants, animals, and man. Influx now descends also from the Creator through these forms from the highest to the lowest, whereby there is Correspondence.
* ↑ First Principles, p. 143.
* ↑ First Principles, p. 65.
* ↑ Origin of Species, p. 180
* ↑ First Principles, p. 72
* ↑ Divine Selection, or, The Survival of the Useful, Ch. VI, VII, and VIII.