9334. 'Lest perhaps the land becomes desolate' means a deficiency in that case, and little spiritual life, that is to say, if the removal were hurried. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church in general and also in particular, the Church in particular being a person who becomes an embodiment of the Church, since the Church exists within a person and comprises one who has been regenerated (for the meaning of 'the land' as the Church in general, see 9325, and for its meaning as the Church in particular, or a person who has been regenerated, 82, 620, 636, 913, 1411, 1733, 2117, 2118 (end), 2571, 3368, 3379; this person is also called 'the land' in Malachi,

All the nations will declare you blessed, and you will be a land of delight. Malachi 3:12.) and from the meaning of 'desolate' as a deficiency, and little spiritual life. For 'desolate', when used in reference to the Church within a person, means a deficiency of truth and good, thus also a deficiency of spiritual life since that life is provided by these. The implications of this, that there is a deficiency and little spiritual life if falsities and evils are removed hurriedly, are that when a person undergoes regeneration, which is accomplished by the implantation of spiritual truth and good, and at the same time by the removal of falsity and evil, the regeneration is not hurried but takes place slowly.

[2] The reason for this is that all the things the person has thought, intended, or done since early childhood have entered into the composition of his life. They have also formed themselves into a network which is such that one cannot be moved without all of them together being moved. For a wicked person is an image of hell, and a good person is an image of heaven; and also the evils and falsities with a wicked person are interconnected in the same way as the communities of hell are with one another, of which that person is a part, while the forms of good and the truths with a good person are interconnected in the same way as heavenly communities are with one another, of which this person is a part. From this it is evident that the evils and falsities with a wicked person cannot be removed suddenly from where they are. They can be removed only in the measure that forms of good and truths in their proper order have been implanted more deeply within the person; for heaven with a person removes hell. If the removal were done suddenly the person would pass out, for the whole network of things, every single one, would be thrown into confusion and deprive him of his life.

[3] The fact that regeneration or the implantation of the life of heaven with a person begins when he is a young child and continues right on to the final phase of his life in the world, and the fact that after life in the world his perfection continues for evermore, see 2679, 3203, 3584, 3665, 3690, 3701, 4377, 4551, 4552, 5126, 6751, 8772, 9103, 9296, 9297, and in particular 5122, 5398, 5912, 9258. Also, and this is an arcanum, a person's regeneration in the world is merely the foundation for the unending perfection of his life. The person who has led a good life undergoes perfection in the next life; see what has been shown regarding young children, in 2289-2309, and regarding the state and condition of gentiles there, in 2589-2604.

5125. 'And will restore you to your position' means that the impressions received through the senses subject to the understanding part were restored to order, to occupy the lowest position. This is clear from the representation of 'the cupbearer', regarding whom these words are said, as the powers of the senses subject to the understanding part, dealt with in 5077, 5082, and therefore the impressions received through the senses in the external natural (for it is not the actual powers of the senses that are restored to order but the impressions which have come through the senses into the person's false notions); and from the meaning of 'restoring to a position' as restoring to order. And because sensory impressions, that is, images which have come in from the world by way of the external sensory organs, occupy the lowest position, where they minister to or serve more interior things, those impressions too are meant. In the case of regenerate persons sensory impressions do occupy the lowest position, but in the case of those who are not regenerate they occupy the first, see 5077, 5081, 5084, 5089, 5094.

[2] A person can easily tell, if he pays the matter any attention, whether sensory impressions occupy the first or else the last and lowest position in him. If he says yes to everything his senses urge or desire and plays down all that his understanding tells him, then sensory impressions occupy the first position. When this is the case that person is carried along by natural desires and is ruled completely by his senses. The condition of a person like this is little different from that of animals, which are not endowed with reason; for animals are carried along by nothing else than their senses. Indeed that person's condition is worse than theirs if he misuses his power of understanding or reason to lend support to evils and falsities which the senses urge and tend towards. But if he does not say yes to these, but from within himself recognizes that they can mislead him into false beliefs and incite desires for evil in him, and he strives to discipline them - thereby bringing them into a position of subservience, that is, making them subject to the understanding part and the will part which belong to the interior man - sensory impressions are in that case restored to order, to occupy the last and lowest position. When sensory impressions occupy that position, happiness and bliss radiate from the interior man into the delights of the senses and make these delights a thousand times better than they were before. Having no understanding of this, one who is ruled by his senses has no belief in it either; and feeling no other delight than that of the senses, and so imagining that no higher kind of delight exists, he regards the happiness and bliss that can be inwardly present in the delights of the senses as worthless. For what a person has no knowledge of is not thought by him to have any real existence.