can be no clear knowledge of the spiritual world or of its inflow
into the natural world, neither of what the spiritual is in its
relation to the natural, nor any clear knowledge of the spirit of
man, which is called the soul, and its operation into the body,
neither of man's state after death, it is necessary to explain what
correspondence is and the nature of it. This will prepare the way for
what is to follow.


89. First, what correspondence is. The whole natural world
corresponds to the spiritual world, and not merely the natural world
in general, but also every particular of it; and as a consequence
everything in the natural world that springs from the spiritual world
is called a correspondent. It must be understood that the natural
world springs from and has permanent existence from the spiritual
world, precisely like an effect from its effecting cause. All that is
spread out under the sun and that receives heat and light from the
sun is what is called the natural world; and all things that derive
their subsistence therefrom belong to that world. But the spiritual
world is heaven; and all things in the heavens belong to that world.


90. Since man is both a heaven and a world in least form after the
image of the greatest (see above, n. 57), there is in him both a
spiritual and a natural world. The interior things that belong to his
mind, and that have relation to understanding and will, constitute
his spiritual world; while the exterior things that belong to his
body, and that have relation to its senses and activities, constitute
his natural world. Consequently, everything in his natural world
(that is, in his body and its senses and activities), that has its