10472. Thou knowest the people, that it is in evil. That this signifies that that nation is in an external separate from a holy internal, is evident from the signification of “evil,” and “sin,” as being disjunction, separation, and a turning away from the Divine (see n. 4997, 5746, 5841, 9346). It is said “separate from a holy internal,” because the external separate from the internal is also separate from what is holy, for what is holy of man is in his internal. That is called “holy” which flows into man out of heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord. Heaven flows into the internal of man, and through this into his external, because the internal of man has been formed according to the image of heaven, thus for the reception of the spiritual things which are there; and the external has been formed according to the image of the world, thus for the reception of the natural things which are there (n. 9279, 10156). From this it is evident what is the quality of the man with whom the external is separate from the internal, namely, that he is in worldly, earthly, and bodily things only. They who are in these only, do not apprehend what the internal is, thus neither what it is to be in things heavenly and Divine. They suppose that when they engage in those things which belong to the external worship of the church, they are also in things Divine. Nevertheless it is not so; for at such times they are either in a bodily delight to which they have been accustomed from infancy, or are acting for the sake of the world and appearances, or from the duty of their office for the sake of profit and honor; thus they are in worldly, earthly, and bodily things; and not in things heavenly and Divine. It is otherwise with those who are in things external from what is internal.