172. Of the Profane and Profanation, spoken of above at (n. 169).

Profanation is a commixture of good and evil, as also of truth and falsity in man (n. 6348). None can profane goods and truths, or the holy things of the church and the Word, except those who first acknowledge, believe, and still more live according to them, and afterwards recede from and do not believe, and who live to themselves and the world (n. 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 3398-3399, 3898, 4289, 4601, 8394, 10287). He who believes truths in his childhood, and afterwards does not believe them, profanes lightly; but he who confirms truths in himself and after that denies them, profanes grievously (n. 6959, 6963, 6971). They who believe truths, and live evilly, commit profanation; as also they who do not believe truths and live holily (n. 8882). If man, after repentance of heart, relapses to his former evils, he profanes, and then his latter state is worse than his former (n. 8394). Those in the Christian world who defile the holy things of the Word by unclean thoughts and discourses, profane (n. 4050, 5390). There are various kinds of profanation (n. 10287).

They who do not acknowledge holy things cannot profane them, still less they who do not know them (n. 1008, 1010, 1059, 9188, 10287). They who are within the church, can profane holy things, but not they who are out of it (n. 2051). The Gentiles, because out of the church, and who do not have the Word, cannot profane (n. 1327-1328, 2051, 9021). Neither can the Jews profane the holy interior things of the Word and the church, because they do not acknowledge them (n. 6963). Therefore interior truths were not revealed to the Jews, for if they had been revealed and acknowledged, they would have profaned them (n. 3398, 3479, 6963). Profanation is meant by the words of the Lord above quoted at n. 169:

When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, but finding none; then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I went out; and when he comes and finds it empty, and swept, and garnished, then he goes away, and takes to himself seven other spirits worse than himself, and entering in they dwell there, and the latter things of the man become worse than the first (Matt. 12:43-45).

"The unclean spirit going out of a man," signifies the repentance of him who is in evil; his "walking through dry places and not finding rest" signifies that to such a person, a life of good is of that quality; "the house" into which he returned, and which he found empty, swept, and garnished, signifies the man himself, and his will, as being without good. "The seven spirits" which he took to himself and with whom he returned, signify evil conjoined to good; "his state then being worse than his former," signifies profanation. This is the internal sense of these words, for the Lord spoke by correspondences. The same thing is meant by the words of the Lord to the man whom He healed in the Pool of Bethesda:

Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee (John 5:14).

Also by these words of the Lord:

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them (John 12:40).

"To be converted and healed," signifies to profane, which takes place when truth and good are acknowledged, and afterwards rejected, which would have been the case if the Jews had been converted and healed.

The lot of profaners in the other life is the worst of all, because the good and truth which they have acknowledged remain, and also the evil and falsity; and because they cohere, a tearing asunder of the life takes place (n. 571, 582, 6348). The greatest care is therefore taken by the Lord, to prevent profanation (n. 2426, 10287). Therefore man is withheld from acknowledgment and faith, if he cannot remain therein to the end of life (n. 3398, 3402). On this account also man is rather kept in ignorance, and in external worship (n. 301-303, 1327-1328). The Lord also stores up the goods and truths which man has received by acknowledgment, in his interiors (n. 6595).

Lest interior truths should be profaned, they are not revealed before the church is at its end (n. 3398-3399). Wherefore the Lord came into the world, and opened interior truths, when the church was wholly vastated (n. 3398). See what is adduced on this subject in the work on The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed (n. 73, 74).

In the Word "Babel" signifies the profanation of good, and "Chaldea," the profanation of truth (n. 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306-1308, 1321-1322, 1326). These profanations correspond to the prohibited degrees, or foul adulteries, spoken of in the Word (n. 6348). Profanation was represented in the Israelitish and Jewish church by eating blood, wherefore this was so severely prohibited (n. 1003).

6959. 'And Jehovah said further to him' means foresight of what those who belonged to the spiritual Church were going to be like if they were not in possession of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'Jehovah said' as foresight, as above in 6946. The reason it means that this future was foreseen - what those who belonged to the spiritual Church would be like if they were not in possession of faith - lies in the words that immediately follow. These deal with members of the spiritual Church, represented by 'the children of Israel', describing what they were going to be like if they did not possess faith, that they would become profaners of truth. For the first miracle in which the rod became a serpent means their state, a state in which they would become wholly sensory- and bodily-minded; the present miracle in which Moses' hand became leprous means profanation since this would come next if that Church continued to be devoid of faith.

[2] In childhood, and after that in adolescence, those who belong to the spiritual Church possess faith in the things taught by their Church. But during those years the faith they possess is obtained from parents and teachers, not by their own efforts. If therefore they subsequently give up that faith they can profane truth only to a small extent, and Divine means can be used to remove that profanation, thereby freeing a person from guilt on account of it. But if a person possesses faith in what the Church teaches and in the Word as a result of his own efforts, that is, he confirms for himself what he has been taught, but after that gives it up and refuses to accept what he has previously believed - and especially if he leads a life that goes against the truth he has confirmed for himself, and either explains it to suit himself or totally rejects it - he renders truth profane. The reason why is that within himself he mixes up and joins together truth and falsity. Because people like this have scarcely any remnants of what is true and good they come at length in the next life to be like skeletons, having as little life left as one's bones possess in comparison with the organic life of the flesh. A more direful lot however awaits those who render good profane than those who render truth profane. Those belonging to the spiritual Church are able to profane truth, but they are less able to do the same thing to good.

[3] Since 'leprosy' means the profanation of truth and is referred to in what follows next, please see first what has been stated and shown already about profanation:

Those within the Church are capable of profaning holy things, but not those outside it, 2051, 3399.

Holy things cannot be profaned except by those who first acknowledge them, 3398.

People who do not know holy things, and also those who do not acknowledge them, cannot profane them, 1008, 1010, 1059, 3398, 4289.

It is also profanation when one acknowledges and believes truths and forms of good and yet leads a life that goes against them, 4601.

A person is withheld as far as is possible from profanation, 301-303, 1327, 1328, 3398, 3402.

The lot awaiting profaners is the worst of all in the next life, 6348.