en shown above
in its own chapter), so all the particulars in this kingdom have a
certain relation to such things as are in man, as some in the learned
world know. That all things in this kingdom also are correspondences
has been made clear to me by much experience. Often when I have been
in gardens and have been looking at the trees, fruits, flowers, and
plants there, I have recognized their correspondences in heaven, and
have spoken with those with whom these were, and have been taught
whence and what they were.
110. But at the present day no one can know the spiritual things in
heaven to which the natural things in the world correspond except
from heaven, since the knowledge of correspondences is now wholly
lost. But the nature of the correspondence of spiritual things with
natural I shall be glad to illustrate by some examples. The animals
of the earth correspond in general to affection, mild and useful
animals to good affections, fierce and useless ones to evil
affections. In particular, cattle and their young correspond to the
affections of the natural mind, sheep and lambs to the affections of
the spiritual mind; while birds correspond, according to their
species, to the intellectual things of the natural or the spiritual
mind.{1} For this reason various animals, as cattle and their young,
rams, sheep, he-goats, and she-goats, he-lambs and she-lambs, also
pigeons and turtledoves, were devoted to a sacred use in the
Israelitish Church, which was a representative church, and sacrifices
and burnt offerings were made of them. For they correspond in that
use to spiritual things, and in heaven these were understood in
accordance with the correspondences. Moreover, animals according to
their kinds and species, because they have life, are affections; and
the life of each one is solely from affection and in accordance with
affection; consequently every animal has an innate knowledge that is
in accord with its life's affection. Man is like an animal so far as
his natural man is concerned, and is therefore likened to animals in
common speech; for example, if he is gentle he is called a sheep or
lamb, if fierce a bear or wolf, if cunning a fox or serpent, and so
on.
{Footnote 1} From correspondence animals signify affections;
mild and useful animals good affections, fierce and useless
ones evil affections (n. 41, 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 716,
719, 2179, 2180, 3519, 9280); illustrated by experience from
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