PART ONE

Chapter XIV
SPIRITUAL CORRESPONDENCES OF THE BODY.

Introductory

1.    The correspondence of the Human Form is primarily with the Divine Human Form from which it is derived and into the image and lideness of which it was created.  (See chapters III, IV, VI, etc.)

2.    Derivatively, however, the human body corresponds to the order of uses in the Grand Man of Heaven, and thus to all the various angelic societies.

3.    The natural body also corresponds to the spirit, soul, or mind which is within it (P. 181), and the operations of the body thus cohere by correspondence with the operations of the mind.  (See     PART THREE)

I.    What in the Body is the Basis of a Spiritual Correspondence?

1.    It is the corporeal (corporeum) of man - his members, organs, and viscera - in which heaven ultimately terminates, and upon which it subsists as upon its basis (H. 100).  Thus the heavens indeed correspond to the very organic form of the human body" (A. 4223).

    The forms and material substances with man are the recipients - but of a lower degree - of the spiritual of thought and will, even as spiritual forms and spiritual substances are recipients of Divine things from the Lord (A. 3741).  Hence there are forms within forms in the body, which are corporeal and material,  and these correspond to the celestial and spiritual things of heaven (A. 3745).  Even "every particle of a part" of every organ is the basis of a correspondence (AA 4224).

2.    Nevertheless, the heavens correspond chiefly to the functions of these viscera or organs (A. 4223).  It is because they correspond to the functions, that they also correspond to the organic forms; for use commands form, and existed before the organic form (ibid.).

    Thus the Grand Man of Heaven, taken as a Divine Proceeding, is the form of the Divine Use in which the angels cooperate.  Read D. Love XIII, which shows that the Divine Human Form which makes Heaven "consists not of persons, but of the uses which they perform".  "In the spiritual idea, a man is not a person, but a use. (Ibid.).  Compare D. Love VI.

II.    A chain of Correspondences links Externals with Interiors.   See A. 5377 (cited chapter 2).

1.    In a homogeneous series (3. 189-195), each successive degree corresponds mutually with the other (W. 219, 221, 238, i11).  W. 390: Coherence and life is by correspondences.  H. 100: "Correspondence extends itself still more widely than to man; for there is a correspondence of the heavens with one another.  To the third or inmost heaven the second or middle heaven corresponds; and to the second or meddle heaven the first of ultimate heaven dorresponds; and this corresponds to the corporeal form in man., which are called his members, organs and viscera.  Thus it it the corporeal of man which heaven finally (ultimo) ceases, upon which it subsusts as upon it base..."

2.    Conjunction between discreet degrees is not by continuity, but by correspondences (W. 218).

W. 219:

MIND (Conatus) --------------(1)
FORCES in the body (Force)  -(2)
ACTION of the body (Motion)-(3)

"To act by what is discrete is to act by correspondences... The interiors which are of the mind correspond to the interiors of the body, and the interiors of the body correspond to its exteriors through which actions come forth...

III.    What are the general Spiritual Correspondences of the Human Body to the Grand Man?

Note:

Through a true knowledge of the form and psysiology of the human body we may gain an understanding, not only of the body politic, but of the spiritual World itself.

"The states of spirits and angels, with all their varieties, can in nowise be understood without inowledge of the human body, for the Lord's Kingdom is like a Man..."  (D. 1145 1/2).

General Reading: A. 2992, 10030, H. 87-102.

1.    A general idea of the correspondences of the parts of the body is given in Heaven and Hell 95 and 96.

THE TWO VITAL ORGANS:

The Heart
   - correspinds to the Celestial Kingdom, the voluntary part, in which the good of love reigns.

The Lungs
   - correspond to the Spiritual Kingdom, the intellectural par, which refers itself to the truth of faity.

THE BODY PARTS:

Head
   - Those who are in the head excel all others in every good, being in love, peace, innocence, wisdom, intelligence, joy, and happiness.

Breast
   - They who are in good of charity and faith.

Loins and Organs of Generation
   - in Conjugial Love.

Feet|
    - They are in the lowest good of heaven, or in spiritual-natural good.

Arms and Hands
   - In the power of truth from good.

Eyes
   - in Understanding.

Ears
   - in attendance and obedience.

Nostrils
   - in perception.

Mouth and Tongue
   - In the ability to converse from understanding and perception.

Kidneys
   - In truths searching, separating, and correcting.

Liver, Pancreas, Spleen
   - in various purifications of good and truth.

2.    Another general correspondence is given with reference to the three heavens:

The Head
   - Corresponds to the Celestial Heaven.

The breast
   _ Corresponds to the Spiritual Heaven.

The Abdomen
   - Corresponds to the Natural Heave.

3.    The general correspondences of the human body may be listed in various series, as seen by the appended chart.                                                    

GENERAL SERIES OF CORRESPONDENCES OF THE HUMAN BODY