6008. 'And Joseph will put his hand on your eyes means that the internal celestial will impart life to it. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph' as the internal celestial, dealt with in 5869, 5877; and from the meaning of 'putting a hand on the eyes' as imparting life. For 'putting a hand on the eyes' is used to mean that the external or bodily senses will be closed and the internal senses opened, thus that a raising up will be effected and life will thereby be imparted. A hand was placed on people's eyes when they were dying because 'death' meant an awakening into life, 3498, 3505, 4618, 4621. For when a person dies he does not really die; he merely lays aside the body that has served him for his use in the world and passes into the next life in a body which serves him for his use there.

328. By mankind to whom forms of use have relation we mean not only individuals, but also groups of people and smaller and larger associations of them, such as republics, kingdoms, and empires, as well as the greatest one, which is the entire world; for each of these is a human entity. The case is similar to that in heaven. The entire angelic heaven is in the Lord's sight as though a single person, and likewise every society of heaven. So it is that every angel is a person. (That such is the case may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 68-102.)

It is apparent from this what we mean by mankind in the following considerations.