Chapter III. The Inmost or the Soul Proper.

 

THIS diagram presents that supreme or inmost degree A which is absolutely the first or initial structure in every man, spirit and angel.

Though all of man except the natural body is commonly called soul, yet.technically only this supreme or inmost degree is the soul. (TCR 697, 103; DLW 388.)

This soul is the veriest dwelling-place of the LORD. The LORD flows’ into this degree with love and wisdom as one, and thence forms, flows into, orders and preserves all the degrees below. (Inf. 8; HH 39; LJ 25.)

This inmost is composed of the highest and purest spiritual substances in man and lies above the plane of either human or angelic consciousness. The mind B, which is below this supreme degree and formed from it, is composed of grosser spiritual substances, and the spiritual body C of still grosser. (HH 39; LJ 25; Inf. 8, 14; S.D. 5548.)

Influx from the LORD enters first into this supreme or inmost degree, thence into the mind, thence into the spiritual body and from this into the natural body. (CL 101.)

This inmost is the primal and unconscious origin of the two great faculties of spiritual liberty and rationality by which man is distinguished from the brute, which faculties are essential elements of his nature, – liberty inhering in the will, rationality in the understanding. (LJ 25 ; DLW 240, 247; AC 1707; TCR 697 end.)

In Arcana Coelestia AC (n. 1940, 1889, 1707) this highest degree is called the internal man, all the planes below it being relatively the external man. It is also called the “human internal;” – the human internals of all men, spirits and angels form in the aggregate a vast complex degree called the heaven of human internals, which is above the inmost angelic heaven. (AC 1999.)

The angelic heavens lie within the region of consciousness. What transcends this region is above the angelic heavens and so appears in the sight of the LORD.

This supreme degree is the very Alpha of man, the material body is his Omega.

Doubtless it was from His residence in this highest degree that the LORD inflowed and filled the angels with His Divine when He appeared and spoke through them to the patriarchs and prophets. The private consciousness of the angel, in whatever plane below, being for the time suspended, the utterances were not his own but the LORD’S through him. (AC 1 745, 1925; AE 1228; DP 96.)

This supreme degree being the source of all the others is drawn in gold to represent sun Colour, because sun Colour, the perfect union of red and white, is the source of all other Colours. (See “Colour in the Diagrams,” page 12.)

One thought on “Chapter III. The Inmost or the Soul Proper.

  1. Body, soul and spirit ….
    Explanation ….

    People cannot understand the relationship between body, soul and spirit, which makes it difficult to explain to them the working of the spirit. The spirit is in opposition to the body, whereas the soul finds itself between both, thus it effectively has to side with either the body or the spirit but it can never pay attention to both. In the beginning of embodiment as a human being the soul is totally attached to the body. Hence it endeavours to fulfil the body’s every desire, that is to say thought, feeling and will …. the human soul …. are wholly focussed on the body which, still consisting of matter itself, also seeks to unite with matter. Thus the person will long for material possessions because they epitomise the body’s satisfaction. Therefore the spirit will not come into its own, the soul ignores the spirit’s demands, the spirit cannot find acceptance because the body is still stronger and completely occupies the soul, thus dominating its thoughts and aspirations. However, the soul can also recognise the worthlessness of earthly things, it can consider its bodily wishes to be unimportant, it can demand more of earthly life than mere material goods …. then the spirit comes into its own …. Then it will express itself and be listened to by the soul. The soul will start to move in a different direction, it will no longer ask for the body but strive for spiritual values. It will accept being taught, that is, it shall willingly accept what the spirit conveys. Indeed, it will feel happy and pay consistently less attention to the body, or it will try to incline the body to do what the spirit demands of the soul …. to renounce earthly matter in exchange for spiritual knowledge. Now the spirit will be victorious over the body. Both spirit and body try to win the soul for themselves. And as soon as the spirit has succeeded in displacing the desires of the body, it is the stronger ….
    But what is meant by spirit? …. The spirit is the Divine in the human being; it is that which identifies the human being as God’s living creation, the spirit is the bond which connects the human being to the eternal Father-Spirit. It is the human being’s realisation that he will always be in contact with the Father of eternity. The human being only recognises himself as God’s living creation when the spirit becomes active, until then he will merely be conscious of himself as a living being who wants whatever life has to offer. But once the human being recognises himself, the world will no longer mean anything to him. Then he will search for higher values, then his thoughts will be directed towards the spiritual kingdom, then he will try to make contact with the One Who gave him life, then his thoughts will be right and his wishes and actions in accordance with divine will. Then the spirit of God will be working within the person. The soul subsequently will give itself to the spirit to be guided and taught so that body, soul and spirit unite at last and seek unity with God, because the human being’s spirit constantly strives towards the Father-Spirit to Whom he is, and remains, inseparably joined for eternity ….
    Amen

    Source:
    http://bertha-dudde.info/english/wordofgod/07_html/4/4757.html

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