219.  But let application of this be made to living conatus, and to living force, and to living motion.  Living conatus in man, who is a living subject, is his will united to his understanding; living forces in man are the interior constituents of his body, in all of which there are motor fibers interlacing in various ways; and living motion in man is action, which is produced through these forces by the will united to the understanding.  For the interior things pertaining to the will and understanding make the first degree; the interior things pertaining to the body make the second degree; and the whole body, which is the complex of these, makes the third degree.  That the interior things pertaining to the mind have no power except through forces in the body, also that forces have no power except through the action of the body itself, is well known.  These three do not act by what is continuous, but by what is discrete; and to act by what is discrete is to act by correspondences.  The interiors of the mind correspond to the interiors of the body, and the interiors of the body correspond to the exteriors, through which actions come forth; consequently the two prior degrees have power through the exteriors of the body.  It may seem as if conatus and forces in man have some power even when there is no action, as in sleep and in states of rest, but still at such times the determinations of conatus and forces are directed into the general motor organs of the body, which are the heart and the lungs; but when their action ceases the forces also cease, and, with the forces, the conatus.

220.  Since the powers of the whole, that is, of the body, are determined chiefly into the arms and hands, which are outmosts, “arms” and “hands,” in the Word, signify power, and the “right hand” signifies superior power.  And such being the evolution and putting forth of degrees into power, the angels that are with man and in correspondence with all things belonging to him, know merely from such action as is effected through the hands, what a man is in respect to his understanding and will, also his charity and faith, thus in respect to the internal life pertaining to his mind and the external life derived therefrom in the body.  I have often wondered that the angels have such knowledge from the mere action of the body through the hands; but that it is so has been shown to me repeatedly by living experience, and it has been said that it is from this that inductions into the ministry are performed by the laying on of the hands, and that “touching with the hand” signifies communicating, with other like things.  From all this the conclusion is formed, that the all of charity and faith is in works, and that charity and faith without works are like rainbows about the sun, which vanish away and are dispersed by a cloud.  On this account “works” and “doing works” are so often mentioned in the Word, and it is said that a man’s salvation depends upon these; moreover, he that doeth is called a wise man, and he that doeth not is called a foolish man.  But it should be remembered that by “works” here are meant uses actually done; for the all of charity and faith is in uses and according to uses.  There is this correspondence of works with uses, because the correspondence is spiritual, but it is carried out through substances and matters, which are subjects.