7.
The Divine does not exist in space. The Divine, or God, does not exist in space, even though He is omnipresent, and is with every person in the world, with every angel in heaven, and with every spirit
beneath heaven. This cannot be comprehended if a merely natural idea is formed of it, but it can be if a spiritual idea is formed. It cannot be comprehended if a natural idea is formed of it for
the reason that a natural idea has in it a notion of space. For it is formed on the basis of such things as exist in the world, and each and every element of them that the eyes behold involves space.
All magnitude there, great or small, is a matter of space. Every dimension there, of length, breadth and height, is a matter of space. In a word, every measure, figure or form there is a matter of space.
That is why we say that if a merely natural idea is formed of it, it cannot be comprehended that the Divine does not exist in space when we are told that He is everywhere. [2] Still, however, people
can comprehend this while thinking naturally of it provided that they admit into that thought some ray of spiritual light. Therefore we must first say something about spiritual ideas and the spiritual
thinking resulting from them. A spiritual idea derives none of its character from space, but draws all of its character from state. State is predicated of love, life, wisdom, affections, their
resulting joys-of good and truth in general. A truly spiritual idea of these has no characteristic in common with space. It is a higher idea, and it regards ideas of space as beneath it in the way that
heaven regards the earth. [3] Nevertheless, because angels and spirits see with their eyes just as people do in the world, and because objects can be seen only as being in space, therefore in the
spiritual world where spirits and angels are, intervals of space appear, like intervals of space on earth. But still they are not intervals of space, but appearances, for they are not fixed and constant
as they are on earth. Indeed, they may become longer or shorter; they may change or vary. And because their extents as a result cannot be ascertained by any measure, they cannot be comprehended there
by forming a natural idea of them, but only by forming a spiritual idea of them, which regards intervening intervals of space as intervening intervals of good or intervening intervals of truth, whose
affinities and similarities vary in accordance with people's states.