267. The reason angels can accept so much wisdom is that their deeper levels are open, and wisdom, like any perfection, increases as one moves toward the deeper levels and as they are opened. 1
In every angel there are three levels of life corresponding to the three heavens (see 29-40). People whose first level has been opened are in the first or most remote heaven. People whose second level has been opened are in the second or intermediate heaven. People whose third level has been opened are in the third or inmost heaven. The wisdom of angels in heaven is according to these levels; so the wisdom of angels of the third heaven vastly transcends the wisdom of angels of the intermediate heaven, and their wisdom in turn transcends that of angels of the farthest heaven (see above, 209-210, and on the nature of the levels, see 38).
The reason for these differences is that the elements of the higher levels are detailed, and those of the lower are general, the general ones being inclusive of the details. The ratio of details to generalizations is on the order of thousands or ten thousands to one, so this is the ratio between the wisdom of angels of a higher heaven and that of angels of a lower heaven.
However, the wisdom of these latter angels similarly transcends our wisdom, for we are engrossed in our bodies and their sensory operations, and these physical sensory faculties are on the lowest level of all. This fact enables us to see the nature of the wisdom of people who base their thinking on sensory information - that is, the ones we call sense-oriented people. Specifically, they have no access to wisdom, only to information. 2 It is different, though, for people whose thoughts are raised above sensory matters, and even more for people whose deeper levels have been opened all the way into heaven's light.
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1. [Swedenborg's footnote] To the extent that we are raised from more outward to more inward concerns, we come into the light and therefore into intelligence: Arcana Coelestia 6183, 6313. This raising really happens: 7816, 10330. Being raised from outer to more inward concerns is like rising from a fog into the light: 4598. Our more outward levels are farther from the Divine and therefore relatively cloudy: 6451; and also relatively disorganized: 996, 3855. Our deeper levels are more perfect because they are nearer the Divine: 5146-5147. In our inner nature there are thousands and thousands of things that outwardly look like a single generalization: 5707. So the deeper our thought and perception are, the clearer they 5920.
2. [Swedenborg's footnote] The sensory level is the outmost level of our life, associated with and resident in our bodies: 5077, 5767, 9212, 9216, 9331, 9730. We call people sense-oriented if they base all their judgments and conclusions on their physical senses and believe nothing unless they see it with their eyes and touch it with their hands: 5094, 7693. People like this think on their outward level and not deeply within themselves: 5089, 5094, 6564, 7693. Their deeper levels are closed, so that they do not see any element of spiritual truth there: 6564, 6844-6845. In short, they are people who live in the gross light of nature and therefore do not perceive anything that arises from heaven's light: 6201, 6310, 6564, 6844-6845, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624. Inwardly, they are opposed to the principles of heaven and the church: 6201, 6316, 6844-6845, 6948-6949. Scholars who have made up their minds against the truths of the church are like this: 6316. Sense-oriented people are especially wily and malicious: 7693, 10236. They reason acutely and skillfully, but on the basis of their physical memory, which for them is the location of all intelligence: 195-196, 5700, 10236. However, this is based on sensory illusions: 5084, 6948-6949, 7693.
