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However, when we analyze the teaching of the Writings on the subject
of reflection, we learn that it has a universal application because it underlies
all the other operations of the human mind. All consciousness depends
upon it. Without it there can be no sensation, memory, imagination
or thought. Without it the Lord could not have effected the glorification of
His Human; nor could He have provided for the regeneration of man and
the salvation of the human race. Not only does it contain the key to the
understanding of all the conscious activities of the human mind, but it
explains all the countless phenomena of the spiritual world. The life of
man on earth is distinguished from that of angels and spirits solely by the
fact that they have a distinctly different plane of reflection. Because of this,
the inhabitants of one world can be completely unconscious of those in the
other world, and at the same time can be in constant and intimate association
with them. Without this association there could be no conscious life in
either world. Open communication between the two worlds is made
possible only by bringing both men and spirits temporarily into a state of
reflection that is common to both.
Furthermore, the doctrine of reflection has never been revealed before
in the entire history of the human race. The laws of reflection have indeed
been operative from the beginning of time, but they have not been known.
Men have enjoyed the benefits of their operation, and have taken them for
granted without even trying to understand them. Just as the laws of
gravity existed before the time of Newton, and those of electricity before
Franklin began to investigate them, so the laws of reflection were operative
before they were revealed in the Writings of the Lord’s Second coming.
They were unknown to the men of the Most Ancient Church who
nevertheless had great heavenly wisdom. They were concealed from the
men of the Ancient Church even in the days of its pristine glory. They
could not be made known to those who belonged to the Jewish Church,
nor even to Christians before the Lord had made His second coming. Only
through the medium of one who could live consciously in both worlds at
the same time, and who therefore could compare the two worlds and note
how each was related to the other, could the laws of reflection be made
known.
These laws are now laid open by the Lord because some understanding
of them is vital to the establishment of the New Church. Indeed the
whole purpose of the Lord’s Advent was that His heavenly kingdom may
be established on the earth. By this is meant a kingdom of heavenly uses in
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