ree, it envelops and encloses the spiritual mind and
the celestial mind, which, in respect to degrees, are above it. It is
now to be shown that the natural mind reacts against the higher or
interior minds. It reacts because it covers, includes, and contains them,
and this cannot be done without reaction; for unless it reacted, the
interior or enclosed parts would become loosened and press outward and
thus fall apart, just as the viscera, which are the interiors of the
body, would push forth and fall asunder if the coverings which are about
the body did not react against them; so, too, unless the membrane
investing the motor fibers of a muscle reacted against the force of
these fibers in their activities, not only would action cease, but all
the inner tissues would be let loose. It is the same with every outmost
degree of the degrees of height; consequently with the natural mind with
respect to higher degrees; for, as was said above, there are three
degrees of the human mind, the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial,
and the natural mind is in the outmost degree. Another reason why the
natural mind reacts against the spiritual mind is, that the natural mind
consists not only of substances of the spiritual world but also of
substances of the natural world (as was said above, n. 257), and
substances of the natural world of their very nature react against the
substances of the spiritual world; for substances of the natural world
are in themselves dead, and are acted upon from without by substances of
the spiritual world; and substances which are dead, and which are acted
upon from without, by their nature resist, and thus by their nature
react. From all this it can be seen that the natural man reacts against
the spiritual man, and that there is combat. It is the same thing whether
the terms "natural and spiritual man" or "natural and spiritual mind"
are used.

261. From this it is obvious that when the spiritual mind is closed the
natural mind continually acts against the things of the spiritual mind,
fearing lest anything should flow in therefrom to disturb its own states.
Everything that flows in through the spiritual mind is from heaven, for
the spiritual mind in its form is a heaven; while everything that flows
into the natural mind is from the world, for the natural mind in its form
is a world. From which it follows that when the spiritual mind is closed,
the natural mind reacts against all things of heaven, giving