Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 156
form of one heaven has its permanent existence from another
by means of influx from the Lord. But what communication
by influx is cannot be understood unless it is known what
degrees of height are, and how they differ from degrees of
length and breadth. What these different degrees are may be
seen above (n. 38).
212. When it comes to the particulars of the form of heaven
and how it proceeds and flows, this not even the angels can
comprehend. Some conception of it can be gained from the
form of all things in the human body, when this is scanned and
investigated by an acute and wise man; for it has been shown
above, in their respective chapters, that the entire heaven
reflects a single man (see n. 59–72); and that all things in man
correspond to the heavens (n. 87–102). How incomprehensible
and inexplicable that form is, is evident only in a general way
from the nervous fibers, by which each part and all parts of the
body are woven together.
What these fibers are, and how they proceed and flow in the
brain, the eye cannot at all perceive; for innumerable fibers are
there so interwoven that taken together they appear like a soft
continuous mass; and yet it is in accord with these that each
thing and all things of the will and understanding flow with
the utmost distinctness into acts. How again they interweave
themselves in the body is clear from the various plexuses, such
as those of the heart, the mesentery, and others; and also from
the knots called ganglions, into which many fibers enter from
every region and there intermingle, and when variously joined
together go forth to their functions, and this again and again;
besides like things in every viscus, member, organ, and muscle.
Whoever examines these fibers and their many wonders with
the eye of wisdom will be utterly bewildered. And yet the
things seen with the eye are few, and those not seen are still
more wonderful because they belong to an inner realm of
nature. It is clearly evident that this form corresponds to the
form of heaven, because all the workings of the understanding