thing most pure
in the ether, and of its containing form they could have no idea except
as being ethereal. But knowing that the soul is spiritual, they dared not
say much about the matter openly, for fear of ascribing to the soul
something natural. With this conception of the soul, and yet knowing that
the soul operates on the body, and produces all things in it that relate
to its sensation and motion, they have wearied themselves, as was said,
with inquiries respecting the operation of the soul on the body. This
has been held by some to be effected by influx, and by some to be effected
by harmony. But as this investigation has disclosed nothing in which the
mind anxious to see the real truth can acquiesce, it has been granted me
to speak with angels, and to be enlightened on the subject by their wisdom;
the fruits of which are as follows: Man's soul, which lives after death,
is his spirit, and is in complete form a man; the soul of this form is the
will and understanding, and the soul of these is love and wisdom from the
Lord; these two are what constitute man's life, which is from the Lord
above; yet for the sake of man's reception of Him, He causes life to appear
as if it were man's; but that man may not claim life for himself as his,
and thus withdraw himself from this reception of the Lord, the Lord has
also taught that everything of love, which is called good, and everything
of wisdom, which is called truth, is from Him, and nothing of these from
man; and as these two are life, that everything of life which is life is
from Him.

395. Since the soul in its very esse is love and wisdom, and these two in
man are from the Lord, there are created in man two receptacles, which are
also the abodes of the Lord in man; one for love, the other for wisdom,
the one for love called the will, the other for wisdom called the
understanding. Now since Love and Wisdom in the Lord are one distinctly
(as may be seen above, n. 17-22), and Divine Love is of His Divine Wisdom,
and Divine Wisdom is of His Divine Love (n. 34-39), and since these so go
forth from God-Man, that is, from the Lord, therefore these two
receptacles and abodes of the Lord in man, the will and understanding, are
so created by the Lord as to be distinctly two, and yet make one in every
operation and every sensation; for in these the will and understanding
cannot be separated. Nevertheless, to enable man to become a receptacle
and an abode of the Lord, it is provide