is an image of the human being and that this is an image of the infinite
and eternal (nn. 317, 318), that is, of God the Creator, namely, the Lord
from eternity. But be it known that the Divine-in-itself is in the Lord;
whereas the divine-from-itself is the divine from the Lord in things
created.

53. But for better comprehension let this be illustrated. The Divine can
look only to the divine, and can do so only in what has been created by
it. This is evident from the fact that no one can regard another except
from what is his own in himself. One who loves another regards him from
his own love; a wise man regards another from his own wisdom. He can note
whether the other loves him or not, is wise or not; but this he does from
the love and wisdom in himself. Therefore he unites himself with the
other so far as the other loves him as he loves the other, or so far as
the other is wise as he is wise; for thus they make one.

[2] It is the same with the Divine-in-itself. For the Divine cannot look
to itself from another, that is, from man, spirit, or angel. For there is
nothing in them of the Divine-in-itself from which are all things, and to
look to the Divine from another in whom there is nothing of the Divine
would be to look to the Divine from what is not divine, which is an
impossibility. Hence the Lord is so conjoined to man, spirit, or angel
that all which is referable to the Divine is not from them but from the
Lord. For it is known that all good and truth which anyone has are not
from him but from the Lord; indeed that no one can name the Lord or speak
His names Jesus and Christ except from Him.

[3] Consequently the infinite and eternal, which is the same as the
Divine, looks to all things in finite beings infinitely and conjoins
itself with them in the degree in which they receive love and wisdom. In