CHAP. VII., VERSE I.—N. 419[b].

falsities therefrom; and this brings them into grief, anguish, and torment, on account of which they cast themselves down into the hells, where there are evils and falsities like their own. [2.] When the influx of the Divine is intensified, which occurs when the evil are to be cast out, then lower down in the spiritual world a wind springs up that blows strongly like a storm or tempest; this wind is what is called in the Word "the east wind" (of which presently). The casting down of the evil into the hells is described also in the Word by violent and mighty winds, by storms, and by tempests. "The wind of Jehovah" has the same signification as "the spirit of Jehovah," for the wind of respiration is meant, which is also called spirit (or breath). On this account in the Hebrew and many other languages wind and spirit are expressed by the same word. This is why the greater part of mankind have had no other idea of spirit and of spirits than of wind like the wind of respiration; and from this have come the notions in the learned world that spirits and angels are like wind in which there is merely a vital principle of thought; and this is the reason also that so few of these allow themselves to be persuaded that spirits and angels are men, endowed with body, face, and organs of sensation, like men on the earth. "Wind" and "spirit," in reference to man, signify the life of truth, or a life according to the truths or precepts of the Lord, because respiration, which pertains to the lungs, corresponds to that life, while the heart with its motion corresponds to the life of good. For there are two lives, which should make one in man, a life of truth and a life of good; a life of truth is the life of man's understanding, while a life of good is the life of his will; for truths have their seat in the understanding because these constitute the understanding, while goods have their seat in the will because these constitute the will. "Soul and heart," in the Word, when mentioned together, have the same significance.

[b.] [3.] From all this it can be seen that by "the wind" and "the spirit of Jehovah" is meant the Divine truth, and by "the four winds," Divine truth united to Divine good. Since wind means the wind or breath of respiration, and it signifies Divine truth and spiritual life in those who receive it, so this wind is called also "the breath of the nostrils of Jehovah," "the breath of His mouth," and "breathing;" as can be seen from the following passages. In Ezekiel:

"And I saw sinews upon" the dry bones, "and flesh came up, and skin covered them above, yet there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy about the spirit, prophesy, son of man, and