1204. And her smoke goeth up unto the ages of the ages signifies that the falsity of evil that pertains to such is forever condemned to hell. This is evident from the signification of "smoke," as being the falsity of evil (see n. 539, 889, 1131); also from the signification of "going up unto the ages of the ages," as meaning to be in hell forever, consequently to be condemned to hell. (That "the ages of the ages" signifies eternity may be seen n. 289, 468.)
(Continuation)
How the spiritual flows in and acts upon plants and produces such a tendency, effort, and action, cannot be comprehended by any understanding, unless the following are first unfolded: (1) Nothing in nature exists and subsists except from the spiritual and by means of it. (2) Nature in itself is dead, being created that the spiritual may be clothed by it with forms that may serve for use, and thus may be terminated. (3) There are two general forms, the spiritual and the natural; the spiritual is such as belongs to animals, and the natural is such as belongs to vegetables. (4) In everything spiritual there are three forces, an active force, a creative force, and a formative force. (5) From the spiritual by means of these forces both plants and animals, both those which appear in heaven and those which are in the world, have their existence. (6) These two classes have the same origin and thus the same soul, the difference being only in the forms into which the influx flows. (7) And that origin is in use. Until these propositions are explained, the cause of so many wonderful effects in the vegetable kingdom cannot be seen by the understanding.
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