366. (iii) How the influences flowing in from the Lord are received by the person depends upon his form. Form here means the person's state as regards his love together with his wisdom, in other words, as regards his affections for the various kinds of good of charity, and at the same time his perceptions of the truths of his faith. I have shown above that God is one, indivisible, and the same from eternity and for ever, but not the same as a simple object but infinitely the same, all the variation being due to the subject in whom God is. The form or state of the receiver brings about the variations, as is evident from the life of babies, children, youths, adults and the aged. Everyone has the same life, because he has the same soul, from infancy to old age; but as its states change in keeping with different ages and adjustments, so too does the person's perception of life.
[2] God's life is present in all its fulness not only with good and religious people, but also with wicked and irreligious people; and in no way differently with the angels of heaven and the spirits of hell. The difference is that the wicked block the path and close the door, to prevent God entering the lower levels of their minds; whereas the good smooth the path and open the door, also inviting God to enter the lower levels of their minds, even as He dwells in the highest levels. By this they adjust the state of the will to receive the inflowing love and charity, and the state of the understanding to receive the inflowing wisdom and faith, in other words, so as to receive God. The wicked, however, block that inflow by various longings of the flesh and spiritual pollutions, which they place in the way and so prevent passage. But all the while God resides in their highest levels with the whole of His Divine essence, and gives them the ability to will good and to understand truth. Every person has this ability, and this could by no means be the case, if life coming from God were not in his soul. I have been enabled to learn by long experience that even the wicked have this ability.
[3] How the life everyone receives from God depends upon his form can be illustrated by comparisons with every kind of plant. Every tree, every bush, every shrub and every grass receives the inflowing heat and light in accordance with its form. So this is true not only of the good and useful plants, but even of those which are harmful. The sun with its heat does not cause changes in their forms, but the forms in themselves modify the effects produced. It is much the same with things in the mineral kingdom. Each one of them, the noble as much as the base, receives into itself the inflow in accordance with the form presented by the structure of its parts. Thus one stone differs in this from another, one mineral from another and one metal from another. Some of them display the most beautiful variations of colour; some transmit the light without variegation; and some break up the light in themselves and absorb it. These few illustrations may serve to establish that, just as the sun of the world is equally present with its heat and light in one object as in another, but the receiving forms produce its varied effects, likewise the Lord is present from the sun of heaven. For He is in its midst with His heat, which is in its essence love, and with His light, which is in its essence wisdom. But it is a person's form, determined by his states of life, which produces the varied effects; and consequently the Lord is not responsible for a person not being reborn and saved, but it is the person himself who is.
