10644. And ye shall cut down their groves. That this signifies that their teachings must be utterly rejected, is evident from the signification of “groves,” as being the doctrinal things of the church, here of the religious persuasion among idolaters, which are the teachings of falsity from evil. That “groves” signify teachings is because “trees” signify the perceptions and knowledges of good and truth; perceptions, with those who are in the Lord’s celestial kingdom; and knowledges with those who are in His spiritual kingdom; and each species of tree signifies a species of perception and knowledge. From this it is that “paradises” and “gardens” signify heavenly intelligence and wisdom; and “forests,” the memory-knowledge of the natural man. From all this it can be seen whence it is that “groves” signify doctrine, and whence it is that the ancients held holy worship in groves. For the church among the ancients was representative, all the external things of which represented internal things such as are in heaven, concerning the Lord, concerning love and faith in Him, and concerning such things as are of love and faith. This signification of “groves,” and of “forests,” “gardens,” and “paradises,” and likewise of “trees” according to their species, originates in the representatives in the other life; for such things appear there in accordance with the intelligence and wisdom of the angels, the appearances there being from a celestial and spiritual origin. That “groves” signify doctrine, and that the ancients held holy worship in groves (see n. 2722, 4552): That “paradises” signify heavenly intelligence and wisdom (n. 3220, 4528, 4529); and “gardens” in like manner (n. 100, 108, 1588, 2722): That “forests” signify the memory-knowledge which is of the natural man (n. 9011): That “trees” signify perceptions and knowledges of good and truth (n. 103, 2163, 2682, 2972, 7692, 8326): That the Ancient Church held worship in groves, and in gardens under trees, according to the significations of these (n. 2722, 4552).

4529. A certain person who had been much talked of and celebrated in the learned world for his skill in the science of botany, after death heard in the other life, to his great surprise, that there also flowers and trees are presented to view; and as botany had been the delight of his life he was fired with a desire to see whether such was the case, and was therefore carried up into the paradisal regions, where he saw most beautiful plantations of trees and most charming flower gardens of immense extent. And as he then came into the ardor of his delight from affection, he was allowed to wander over the field, and not only to see the plants in detail, but also to gather them and bring them close to his eye, and to examine whether the case was really so.

[2] Speaking with me from thence he said that he could never have believed it, and that if such things had been heard of In the world, they would have been regarded as marvels. He said further that he saw an immense abundance of flowers there which are never seen in the world, and of which it would be almost impossible there to form any idea; and that they all glow with an inconceivable brightness, because they are from the light of heaven. That the glow was from a spiritual origin, he was not yet able to perceive, that is, that they glowed because there was in each one of them something of the intelligence and wisdom which are of truth and good. He went on to say that men on earth would never believe this, because few believe there is any heaven and hell, and they who believe only know that in heaven there is joy, and few among them believe that there are such things as eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and the mind has never conceived; and this although they know from the Word that amazing things were seen by the prophets, such as many things seen by John, as recorded in the Revelation, and yet these were nothing else than the representatives which are continually coming forth in heaven, and which appeared to John when his internal sight was opened.

[3] But these things are comparatively of little moment. They who are in the very intelligence and wisdom which are the source of these things, are in such a state of happiness that the things which have been related are to them of slight importance. Some spirits also who when in the paradisal regions said that these surpass every degree of happiness, were therefore carried up into a heaven more to the right, which sparkled with a still greater resplendence, and finally they were carried up into the heaven where there is also a perception of the blessedness of the intelligence and wisdom that exist in such things. And when they were there, they told me that what they had seen before was comparatively worthless. At last they were carried up into a heaven where on account of the bliss of interior affection, they could scarcely subsist, for the bliss penetrated to the very marrows, and these being as it were dissolved away with bliss, they began to fall into a holy swoon.