69. From the Divine omniscience man has wisdom respecting what is good and true to the extent that he lives in accordance with the Divine order, because all love of good and all wisdom of truth, or all good of love and all truth of wisdom, are from God. That this is so is in accordance with the confession of all the churches in the Christian world. From this it follows that man cannot be interiorly in any truth of wisdom except from God, since God has omniscience, that is infinite wisdom. The human mind, like the angelic heaven, is divided into three degrees, and may therefore be lifted up into a higher and still higher degree or be let down into a lower and still lower degree; but so far as it is lifted up into the higher degrees it is lifted up into wisdom, because into the light of heaven; and this God only can do. Moreover, so far as the mind is thus lifted up it becomes a man; while so far as it is let down into the lower degrees it enters the delusive light of hell, and is not man but a beast. This is why man stands erect upon his feet and turns his face heavenward, and can raise it to the zenith, while a beast stands upon its feet in a position parallel with the earth, and turns its whole face in that direction; nor can it without difficulty raise its face heavenward.
[2] The man who lifts his mind to God and acknowledges that all the truth of wisdom is from God, and at the same time lives in accordance with order, is like one who stands upon a lofty tower and sees beneath him a populous city and all that is being done in its streets. But the man who confirms in himself the belief that all truth of wisdom is from the natural light in himself, that is, is from himself, is like one who remains in a cavern beneath that tower and looks through holes at the same city, seeing nothing but the wall of a single house in that city, and how its bricks are joined. Again, the man who derives wisdom from God is like a bird flying aloft, which looks around upon all things in the gardens, woods, and fields, and flies to those things that are of use to it; while the man who derives such things as pertain to wisdom from himself, with no added belief that they are from God, is like a hornet flying near the ground, which, seeing a dunghill, settles upon it and finds enjoyment in its stench. Every man, so long as he is living in the world, walks midway between heaven and hell, and is thereby in equilibrium, and thus in freedom of choice either to look upwards to God or downwards to hell. If he looks upwards to God he acknowledges that all wisdom is from God, and in spirit he is actually with the angels in heaven; while he who looks downward (as everyone does who is in falsities from evil) is in spirit actually with the devils in hell.
