2217. Hence it may be manifest how gross still are the ideas of the angels in respect to the Lord's divine ideas, which inflow, and confer life and the faculty of thought. These may be likened to the fibers and arteries which are indefinite, for every composition thereof is only [made up] of fibers and vessels that are still purer and inflow from the Lord. These are the vital essences, to wit, those which flow through the fibers and vessels.