O U R N E W C H U RC H V O C A B U L A R Y
Part of a continuing series developed by the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, 1961-1966.
AFFLUX
This is a rare term, but one which marks an important distinction. Good and truth
cannot flow into those who are in a state of hell, but they do flow to them and thus
govern them from without. This flowing to, but not into, is what is meant in the
Writings by afflux; and the term is used to distinguish clearly between this operation
of good and truth and that other whereby they flow into the mind, which is called
“influx.”
The term is therefore used to describe the mode by which the Lord governs the hells;
and, under the same general principle, of the flow of evil to the minds of those who
are interiorly good but are undergoing vastation. There is another usage which also
comes under the same general principle: that which reaches the mind from the natural world is said to do so by an afflux, as distin