6359. 'And their wrath, for it is hard' means an aversion to the truth that is derived from good - a firm and determined aversion. This is clear from the meaning of 'wrath' as an aversion to truth - 'wrath' is used in reference to truth and 'anger' to good, see 3614; and from the meaning of 'hard' as firm and determined. For when a false idea has been accepted so firmly that a person is convinced it is right it is then hard and fast. I have been allowed from experience to know of such hardness, for among spirits and angels truth from good looks like and presents itself as something soft, whereas falsity from evil does so as something hard, becoming ever harder as such falsity from evil becomes more firmly accepted. Once firm proof based on much evidence has led to utter conviction that it is right, that hardness among them seems to be like the hardness of a bone. Such hardness is also like the hardness of an object in the world, in that rays of light rebound from it. In the same way when the light of heaven flowing from the Lord falls on the hardness that falsity from evil produces, it rebounds; but when on the other hand the light of heaven flowing from the Lord falls on the softness that truth from good produces, it is taken in.

3815. 'And Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my brother' means, because they are kindred, by virtue of good. This is clear from the representation of 'Laban' as a parallel good that springs from a common stock, and from the representation of 'Jacob' as the good of the natural, both dealt with above; and from the meaning of 'brother' as good, dealt with in 3803, in this case that which is kindred since these words are spoken by Laban to Jacob, and therefore by good to good. Furthermore every kinship has its origin in good, for good is related to love. It is the nearest degree of love in the line of descent that is called kindred, and is meant in the proper sense by 'brother'. In the spiritual world or in heaven no other kinships or relationships by marriage exist except those of love to the Lord and of love towards the neighbour, or what amounts to the same, those of good. This has been made clear to me by the fact that all the communities that constitute heaven, and that are countless, are quite distinct and separate from one another according to degrees and differences of love and of faith deriving from this, see 685, 917, 2739, 3612.

[2] This has also been made clear to me by the fact that in heaven they do not acknowledge one another because of any family relationship that had been theirs during their lifetime but solely on the basis of good and attendant truth. A father does not acknowledge a son or daughter, a brother does not acknowledge a brother or sister, and even a husband does not acknowledge his wife, unless they have been governed by similar good. They do, it is true, meet when they first enter the next life, but they part company after that; for good itself - that is, love and charity - determines whichever community a person is sent to. Kinship begins in the community in which each person belongs and spreads from there into all places round about.