In the physical world, the places we inhabit and the distances between them are physical realities, and we have to get our physical bodies through the physical space between to get from one physical place to another physical place. In the spiritual world, however, the "places" we inhabit and the “distances” between them are spiritual realities, which means they are reflections of our thoughts and affections. "Going" from one place to another, then, is a change in spiritual state -- exploring different thoughts and embracing different feelings. Since the Bible is a spiritual book, "going" there also indicates a change or progression in spiritual state, from one mode of thinking and feeling to another mode of thinking and feeling. Obviously, this makes the precise meaning of "go" in the Bible highly dependent on context: Who is going? Where are they going? Why are they going there? Are they following someone or something? Those questions are crucial to the precise meaning. Used on its own, though, "going" represents the normal progression of life, moving through spiritual states as the Lord intends. This has its roots in early Biblical times, when people were nomadic and moved from place to place in a regular progression of life.

1098. What 'Shem' and 'Japheth' mean - that is, who the member of the internal Church is and who the member of the external - and from this what 'Canaan' means, becomes clear from the following considerations: The member of the internal Church ascribes to the Lord all the good he does and all the truth he thinks, whereas the member of the external Church has no knowledge of this but nevertheless does what is good. The member of the internal Church makes worship of the Lord from charity - and especially internal worship - the essential, and external worship not so essential. The member of the external Church makes external worship the essential. He does not know what internal worship is, even though he has it. Consequently the member of the internal Church believes that he is acting contrary to conscience if he does not worship the Lord from what is internal, whereas the member of the external Church believes he is acting contrary to conscience if he does not reverently observe external rites. The conscience of the member of the internal Church contains more things because he knows more things from the internal sense of the Word, whereas the conscience of the member of the external Church contains fewer because he knows few things from the internal sense of the Word. The former - the member of the internal Church - is called 'Shem', whereas the latter - the member of the external Church - is called 'Japheth'. The person however who makes worship consist solely in external things and who has no charity, and consequently no conscience, is called 'Canaan'.