5116. Its blossom went up. That this signifies the state near regeneration, is evident from the signification of the "blossom" that buds forth from the tree before the fruit, as being the state before regeneration. As just said (n. 5115), the budding and fruiting of a tree represent the rebirth of man-its becoming green from the leaves represents the first state; the blossoming the second, which is the next before regeneration; and the fruiting the third, which is the very state of the regenerate. It is from this that "leaves" signify the things of intelligence, or the truths of faith (n. 885), for these are the first things of the rebirth or regeneration; while "blossoms" signify the things of wisdom, or the goods of faith, because these immediately precede the rebirth or regeneration; and "fruits" signify those things which are of life, or the works of charity, because these follow and constitute the very state of the regenerate.

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[2] That such things exist in the vegetable kingdom is owing to the influx of the spiritual world. This, however, cannot be believed by those who attribute all things to nature, and nothing to the Divine; whereas they who attribute all things to the Divine, and nothing to nature, are permitted to see not only that everything is from the Divine, but also that everything has a correspondence, and is therefore representative; and finally they are permitted to see that universal nature is a theater representative of the Lord's kingdom; thus that the Divine is in every particular of nature, insomuch that nature is a representation of the eternal and the infinite-of the eternal from propagation even to eternity, of the infinite from the multiplication of seeds to infinity. Such endeavors could never have existed in everything in the vegetable kingdom unless the Divine continually flowed in; for from influx comes endeavor, from endeavor energy, and from energy effect.

[3] They who attribute all things to nature say that such things were imparted to fruits and seeds at their first creation, and that from the energy thence received they are afterward impelled of themselves to such activities; but they do not consider that subsistence is a perpetual coming into existence, or what is similar, that propagation is perpetual creation; neither do they consider that the effect is the continuation of the cause, and that when the cause ceases, the effect also ceases, and consequently that without a continual influx of the cause, every effect instantly perishes; nor do they consider that what is unconnected with a first of all things, consequently with the Divine, is instantly annihilated, because the prior must be continually in the posterior in order that the posterior may exist.

[4] If they who attribute all things to nature and little or nothing to the Divine, considered these things, they too could acknowledge that each and all things in nature represent such things as are in the spiritual world, consequently such as are in the Lord's kingdom, where the Divine of the Lord is most nearly represented. For this reason it was said that the influx is from the spiritual world; but it is meant that the influx is through the spiritual world from the Lord's Divine. The reason why natural men do not consider such things is that they are not willing to acknowledge them; for they are in earthly and bodily things, and hence in a life of the love of self and of the world, and therefore are in inverted order relatively to those things which are of the spiritual world or of heaven, and from an inverted state it is impossible to see such things; for they see the things which are below as if they were above, and the things which are above as if they were below; and therefore when in the other life such persons are seen in the light of heaven, they appear with the head downward and the feet upward.