evil and the lust, abide in a love contrary to spiritual love and
affection; and such love or lust can be removed only by fleeing from
evils as sins; and because man cannot flee from evils from himself, but
only from the Lord. He must look to the Lord. So when he flees from
evils from the Lord, the love of evil and its heat are removed, and the
love of good and its heat are introduced in their stead, whereby a higher
degree is opened; for the Lord flowing in from above opens that degree,
and then conjoins love, that is, spiritual heat, to wisdom or spiritual
light, from which conjunction man begins to flourish spiritually, like a
tree in spring-time.

247. By the influx of spiritual light into all three degrees of the mind
man is distinguished from beasts; and, as contrasted with beasts, he can
think analytically, and see both natural and spiritual truth; and when he
sees them he can acknowledge them, and thus be reformed and regenerated.
This capacity to receive spiritual light is what is meant by rationality
(referred to above), which every man has from the Lord, and which is not
taken away from him, for if it were taken away he could not be reformed.
From this capacity, called rationality, man, unlike the beasts, is able
not only to think but also to speak from thought; and afterwards from his
other capacity, called freedom (also referred to above), he is able to do
those things that he thinks from his understanding. As these two
capacities, rationality and freedom, which are proper to man, have been
treated of above (n. 240), no more will be said about them here.

248. UNLESS THE HIGHER DEGREE WHICH IS THE SPIRITUAL IS OPENED IN MAN,
HE BECOMES NATURAL AND SENSUAL.

It was shown above that there are three degrees of the human mind, called
natural, spiritual, and celestial, and that these degrees may be opened