Divine Love and Wisdom (Rogers) n. 403

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403. (5) Love or the will prepares all else in its human form in order to be able to operate conjointly with wisdom or the intellect. We say, the will and intellect, but it should be rightly known that the will is the totality of a person, for the will exists with the intellect in its first elements in the brain, and in its derivative elements in the body, and so is present in the whole and in every part, as we showed above in nos. 365-367. It can be seen from this that the will is the totality of a person as regards his essential form, both as regards his general form and as regards the particular form of all his constituents, and that the intellect is its companion, as the lungs are of the heart. Let everyone take care not to harbor an idea of the will as something separate from the human form, for it is that very form. It can be seen from this, not only how the will prepares a bridal chamber for the intellect, but also how it prepares all else in its home, which is the entire body, in order to be able to operate conjointly with the intellect. It prepares it in such a manner that each and every constituent of the body is joined to the intellect as it is joined to the will, or so that each and every constituent of the body is responsive to the intellect as it is responsive to the will. [2] How each and every constituent of the body is prepared for conjunction with the intellect as with the will cannot be seen except as in a mirror or image in the body through the study of anatomy. Through that study we know how all the components in the body are connected, so that when the lungs breathe, each and every constituent throughout the entire body is actuated at the same time as by the beating of the heart. From the study of anatomy we know that the heart is joined to the lungs through the atria [and right ventricle],* and that continuations of these extend into the inner constituents of the lungs. We know, too, that the viscera of the entire body are all connected with the chest cavity by ligaments, and so connected that when the lungs breathe, each and every one, as a whole and individually, have transmitted to them some measure of the respiratory motion. For when the lungs inflate, the ribs then expand the chest, the pleura broadens, and the diaphragm is distended, and at the same time all the lower organs of the body, which are connected by ligaments extending from them, have transmitted to them by the action of the lungs some measure of the action-not to mention many other occurrences, lest readers who do not possess a knowledge of anatomy, owing to their unfamiliarity with the terminology of that science, come into a state of confusion regarding this subject. Simply consult people knowledgeable and expert in anatomy as to whether all the constituents in the entire body are not so connected from the breast on down that when the lungs inflate during respiration, each and every one is stirred into a motion synchronous with that of the lungs. [3] This now makes apparent the nature of the conjunction of the intellect prepared by the will with each and every constituent of the human form. Simply investigate the connections and examine them with an anatomist's eye, and following the connections observe then their concomitant operation with the breathing of the lungs and with the heart, and afterward substitute in thought the intellect for the lungs, and the will for the heart, and you will see. * In the mature heart, blood from the veins enters from the right atrium into the right ventricle, is pumped to the lungs, and returning from there to the left atrium, enters the left ventricle and is pumped through the aorta into the body. In the fetal heart, the venous blood passes from the right atrium through an opening called the foramen ovale into the left atrium and so into the left ventricle, bypassing the right ventricle.


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