"The reason of this is, that all things which appear in the spiritual world exist immediately from the sun of heaven, which is the divine love of the Lord; whereas all things which appear in the natural world exist from the same source, but by means of the sun of this world, which is pure fire. Pure love, from which all things exist immediately from the Lord, is immaterial; but pure fire, through which all things exist mediately in the natural world, is material. Hence it is that all things which exist in the spiritual world are, from their origin, spiritual; and that all things which exist in the natural world, are, from their secondary origin, material. Material things are also in themselves fixed, stated, and measurable. They are fixed, because, however the states of men change, they continue permanent, as the earth, mountains, and seas. They are stated, because they constantly recur in their turns, as seasons, generations, and germinations. They are measurable, because all things may be defined; as spaces, by means of miles and furlongs, and these by means of paces and yards; times again, by means of days, weeks, months, and years. But in the spiritual world all things are as if they were fixed, stated, and measurable, but still they are not so in reality; for they exist and continue according to the states of the angels, so that with these very states they make one; they therefore vary also, as these states vary.
"I can positively affirm that the objects which exist in the spiritual world are even more real than those in the natural; for that which is in nature added to the spiritual principle is dead, and does not produce reality, but diminishes it. That there is this diminution arising from this cause is plainly evident from the state of the angels of heaven compared with that of men on earth, and from all the objects existing in heaven compared with all those existing in the world.
"Since there are in heaven objects similar to those which exist in our world, there are therefore spaces and times there also; but the spaces, like the earth itself there and the objects upon it, are appearances. For they appear according to the states of the angels; and the extensions of spaces, or the distances, are according to the similarities and dissimilarities of these states."—Swedenborg: De Symbolo Athatiasiano. On the Athanasian Creed. Nos. 105, 106.
4 (p. 47).—"That this is so can hardly be comprehended by a natural idea, because in such there is space; but by a spiritual idea,