8458. 'A tiny round thing' means the good of truth in its initial form. This is clear from the meaning of 'tiny' as a word having reference to truth; and from the meaning of 'round' as a word having reference to good. Consequently 'a tiny round thing' has reference to the good of truth. The expression 'good of truth' describes good as it exists with a member of the spiritual Church; such good not only begins in truth, but also is in essence truth. One sees it as truth, but one feels it as good; that being so, as truth it forms the understanding part of the mind, and as good it forms the new will part. For a person's understanding is distinguishable from the will in that the understanding presents things to itself in mental pictures, in order that it may see them as in light, whereas the will forms an affection for them, in order that it may simultaneously feel them as a delight, thus as good, doing so in conformity with the kind of picture that has been formed.
The use of 'tiny' to refer to truth and of 'round' to refer to good may be traced back to the visual presentations of truth and good that are made in the next life. When any truth or good is presented visually, which is done in the next life in a way clearly perceptible to the eyes of spirits and angels, truth is presented in a definite quantity, thus as something large or something tiny, depending on the nature of the truth. Truth is in addition presented as something angular-shaped; it is also presented as something white. But good there is presented in an indefinite quantity, thus not as something large or something tiny. Good is also presented as something rounded, as a shape that is uninterrupted, and in respect of colour as something blue, yellow, or red. Good and truth assume these different appearances when they are presented visually because each is different as to its essential nature; when the nature of either is made visual, they express and represent themselves in a natural form such as has just been described. So it is that things which in the world resemble such forms mean either truth or good; for nothing exists in creation that is unrelated, so far as its essential nature is concerned, either to good or to truth.
