celestial degree has been opened coming into that degree. He who comes
into the spiritual degree after death no longer thinks, wills, speaks,
and acts naturally, but spiritually; and he who comes into the celestial
degree thinks, wills, speaks, and acts according to that degree. And as
there can be communication between the three degrees only by
correspondences, the differences of love, wisdom, and use, as regards
these degrees are such as to have no common ground by means of anything
continuous. From all this it is plain that man has three degrees of
height that may be successively opened in him.

239. Since there are in man three degrees of love and wisdom, and
therefore of use, it follows that there must be in him three degrees,
of will, of understanding, and of result therefrom, thus of determination
to use; for will is the receptacle of love, understanding the receptacle
of wisdom, and result is use from these. From this it is evident that
there are in every man a natural, a spiritual, and a celestial will and
understanding, potentially by birth and actually when they are opened.
In a word the mind of man, which consists of will and understanding, is
from creation and therefore from birth, of three degrees, so that man
has a natural mind, a spiritual mind, and a celestial mind, and can
thereby be elevated into and possess angelic wisdom while he lives in
the world; but it is only after death, and then only if he becomes an
angel, that he enters into that wisdom, and his speech then becomes
ineffable and incomprehensible to the natural man. I knew a man of
moderate learning in the world, whom I saw after death and spoke with in
heaven, and I clearly perceived that he spoke like an angel, and that
the things he said would be inconceivable to the natural man; and for
the reason that in the world he had applied the precepts of the Word to
life and had worshiped the Lord, and was therefore raised up by the Lord
into the third degree of love and wisdom. It is important that this
elevation of the human mind should be known about, for upon it depends
the understanding of what follows.

240. There are in man from the Lord two capacities whereby he is
distinguished from beasts. One of these is the ability to understand
what is true and what is good; this is called rationality, and is a
capacity of his understanding. The other is an ability to do what is true
and good; this is called freedom, and is a capacity of his will.