5247. “他就剃头, 刮胡子” 表就外层属世层的覆盖物而言的抛弃和所作的改变. 这从 “剃头, 刮胡子” 的含义清楚可知, “剃头, 刮胡子” 是指抛弃外层属世层的覆盖物; 因为所剃的 “头发” 表示外层属世层 (参看3301节). 毛发, 无论头上的, 还是胡须上的, 在大人中对应于外层属世层. 这解释了为何在天堂之光中, 感官人, 即那些除了属世之物外什么也不信, 也不想去明白除了他们能用感官觉知的东西外, 更内在或更纯粹的事物如何会存在的人在来世显得多毛. 他们看上去毛烘烘的, 以致他们的脸除了胡须外, 几乎什么都不是. 我经常看见这种满是毛发的脸. 但理性人, 也就是属灵人, 因属世层在他们里面处于恰当的从属地位, 故看似有整洁的头发. 事实上, 在来世, 凭头发就能知道灵人在属世层方面的品质或性质. 灵人头上之所以出现头发, 是因为在来世, 灵人看上去和世人一模一样. 正因如此, 圣言有时也描述人们所看见的天使的头发.

综上所述, 明显可知 “剃头, 刮胡子” 表示什么, 如以西结书:

祭司利未人撒督的子孙当脱下供职的衣服, 放在圣屋内, 穿上别的衣服, 免得因他们的衣服使民成圣. 不可剃头, 也不可留长发, 只可剪头发. (以西结书 44:15, 19-20)

这论及新殿和新祭司职分, 也就是新教会. “穿上别的衣服” 表示神圣真理; “不可剃头, 也不可留长发, 只可剪头发” 表示不抛弃属世层, 只采取措施使它变得和谐一致, 从而使它变得顺从. 凡相信圣言神圣的人都能看出, 先知所提到的描述新地, 新城, 新殿和新祭司职分的这些和其它所有细节都不可照字面来理解. 如祭司利未人撒督的子孙当脱下供职的衣服, 穿上别的衣服, 只可剪头发就不是字面上的意思; 相反, 先知所给出的每一个和一切细节都表示诸如属于一个新教会的那类事物.

在摩西五经中, 关于大祭司, 亚伦的子孙和利未人的条例若不包含神圣之物在里面, 也不会被制定:

在弟兄中作大祭司, 头上倒了膏油, 又承接圣职, 穿了圣衣的, 不可剃头, 也不可撕裂衣服. (利未记 21:10)

亚伦的子孙不可使头光秃, 不可剃除胡须的周围; 要归他们的神为圣, 不可亵渎他们神的名. (利未记 21:5-6)

你洁净利未人当这样行. 用除罪水弹在他们身上, 又叫他们用剃头刀刮全身, 洗衣服, 洁净自己. (民数记 8:7)

这些条例若非含有神圣观念在里面, 永远不会被赋予. 在这些条例中 (即大祭司不可剃头, 也不可撕裂衣服; 亚伦的子孙不可使头光秃, 不可剃除胡须的周围; 洁净利未人要叫他们用剃头刀刮全身) 能有什么神圣之物, 或教会之物呢? 确切地说, 拥有顺从内在人或属灵人的外在人或属世人, 进而拥有顺从神性的这二者, 就是这些条例里面的神圣观念; 也是当世人阅读这些圣言经文时, 天使所觉察到的.

这也适用于归耶和华为圣的拿细耳人:

若在他旁边忽然有人碰巧死了, 以致沾染了他离俗的头, 他要在得洁净的日子剃头, 就是在第七日剃头. 离俗的日子满了, 拿细耳人要在会幕门口剃离俗的头; 把头发放在平安祭下的火上. (民数记 6:9, 13, 18)

至于何为拿细耳人, 他代表哪方面的神圣, 可参看前文 (3301节). 若不藉着对应知道 “头发” 是什么意思, 因而知道拿细耳人的头发对应于哪方面的神圣, 没有人能理解为何神圣之物居于他的头发. 同样, 谁也不明白参孙力气的源头如何在他的头发中; 在以下描述中, 参孙将其告诉了大利拉:

剃头刀向来就没有上过我的头, 因为我自出母胎就归神作拿细耳人; 若我剃了, 我的力气就离开我, 我便软弱像别人一样. 大利拉叫了一个人来剃除他头上的七条发绺, 他的力气就离开他了. 后来他的头发被剃之后, 又开始渐渐长起来了, 力气便又回到他身上. (士师记 16:17, 19, 22)

若没有对应的任何知识, 谁能明白主的神性属世层由拿细耳人代表, 或 “离俗” 没有其它含义, 参孙的力气是由于这种代表?

不知道圣言拥有一个内义, 字义用来代表包含在内义中的真实事物之人, 尤其不相信的人, 几乎不承认这些事物有任何神圣之物; 而事实上, 最神圣之物就在它们里面. 人若不知道, 尤其不相信圣言拥有神圣的内义, 就不可能知道以下经文里面包含什么, 如耶利米书:

真理已经灭绝, 从他们的口中剪除. 要剪掉你离俗的头发, 把它扔掉! (耶利米书 7:28-29)

以赛亚书:

到那日, 主必用大河外赁的剃头刀, 就是亚述王, 剃头和脚上的毛, 并要剃净胡须. (以赛亚书 7:20)

弥迦书:

你使头光秃, 为你所喜爱的儿女剪除你的头发, 你要剃头, 要大大地光秃, 如同秃鹰, 因为他们都必流亡而离开你. (弥迦书 1:16)

他不知道有何神圣包含在有关以利亚的记载中, 因为以利亚是长满毛发的人, 腰束皮带 (列王纪下 1:8); 也不知道为何戏笑以利沙秃头的童子被林中出来的母熊撕裂 (列王纪下 2:23, 24).

以利亚和以利沙都代表圣言方面的主, 因而代表圣言本身, 尤其代表先知部分 (参看创世记 18章序言, 2762节). “长满毛发” 和 “皮带” 表示字义, “长满毛发的人” 表示就真理而言的字义, 腰间的 “皮带” 表示就良善而言的字义. 事实上, 圣言的字义就是它的属世意义, 因为它采用的观念是由世上的事物形成的; 而内义是属灵意义, 因为它采用的观念是由天上的事物形成的. 这两种意义就像人的内在与外在那样彼此关联. 不过, 由于内在离了外在无法存在, 因为外在是内在持续存在所在的次序最后和最低层级, 所以戏笑以利沙 “秃头” 是对圣言的毁谤, 暗示它缺乏外在, 因而圣言没有适合人理解的那层意义.

由此可见, 圣言的一切细节都是神圣的. 然而, 没有人能发现圣言里面的这种神圣, 除非他熟悉内义; 然而, 它的一点迹象会从天堂流入相信圣言为神圣的人. 这种流注通过天使所知的内义实现; 这内义虽然不能被人理解, 却仍在他里面激发一种情感, 因为知道内义的天使所感受到的情感会传给他. 由此也明显可知, 圣言已被赋予世人, 以便他能与天堂交流, 并且天堂里的神性真理能通过流入他而在他里面激发情感.

56. What the people from Babylon are like in the other life is something which can only be known to one who has been allowed by the Lord to mix with them in the spiritual world. Since this has been granted to me, I can speak from experience, having seen and heard them and talked with them. Each person has after death a life similar to that he had in the world. This can only be changed as regards the delights of his love, which are turned into corresponding forms; this can be seen in two chapters of HEAVEN AND HELL 470-484, 485-490.

The life led by the people now under discussion is likewise exactly as it was in the world, but with the difference that the secrets of their hearts are then disclosed. For they are then in the spirit, which is where the more inward levels, those of thoughts and intentions, reside; and these they kept hidden in the world, covering them over with an outward show of holiness.

[2] Since these then were revealed, one could perceive that more than half of them, those who had usurped the power of opening and closing heaven, are completely godless. But because their minds cling to the power they exercised in the world, and this is based upon the principle that the Lord had all power given to Him by the Father, and this was then handed on to Peter, and in due succession to the prelates of the church, they still keep alongside their ungodliness the practice of confessing the Lord with the lips. But this only lasts so long as they can keep some power by its means. The rest, however, who are not godless, are so vacuous that they know nothing whatever about people's spiritual life, the means of salvation, the Divine truths which point the way to heaven, nor anything about heavenly faith and love, believing that by the Pope's favour heaven can be granted to anyone, no matter what sort of person he is.

[3] Each person has the same sort of life in the spiritual world as he had in the natural world, with no difference so long as he is not in heaven or in hell; this may be seen in HEAVEN AND HELL 453-480. In external appearance the spiritual world is exactly like the natural world (170-176). As a result their moral and civil lives are similar, and in particular their worship is similar, since it is rooted and clings to the inmost levels of a person; and no one can be diverted from it after death, unless he has the good which comes from truths and the truths which come from good. It is, however, more difficult to divert the people under discussion than other peoples from their form of worship, because they lack the good which comes from truths, not to mention the truths which come from good. The truths they have do not come from the Word with few exceptions, and these they have falsified by employing them to establish their power. As a result they have no good either, except a spurious kind of good; for the nature of truths determines the nature of good. These remarks are intended to convey the idea that the worship this group practises in the spiritual world is exactly the same as it was in the natural world.

[4] After this introduction I should like to report something about their worship and their life in the spiritual world. They have a Council chamber to replace the Council chamber or Consistory in Rome, where their leaders meet to deliberate about various ecclesiastical matters, above all how to keep the common people subject to blind obedience, and how to enlarge their power over them. This Council chamber is situated in the southern quarter near the eastern border. But no one who had been Pope in the world, nor any who had been a cardinal, dares to enter it, because by claiming for themselves in the world the Lord's power they have implanted in their minds an image of Divine authority. So as soon as they present themselves there, they are taken away and cast out to join their peers in the desert. Those of them, however, who were of upright character and had not so convinced themselves of that belief as to usurp such power, are in a dimly-lit room behind the Council chamber.

[5] They have another meeting-place in the western quarter near the north, where their business is the admission of the credulous common people into heaven. There they arrange around them a number of communities devoted to various outward pleasures. In some they go in for gaming, in some for dancing, in some for all kinds of jokes and amusements to make people smile, in some for friendly conversation, in one place talking about politics, in another about religious affairs, in another about indecent subjects, and so on. They admit their clients to one of these communities in response to their desire, calling that heaven. But after a few hours spent there they all become bored and go away because these are merely outward, not inward pleasures. Many are also thus led away from believing their teaching about being admitted to heaven.

[6] In detail their worship is almost the same as in the world. It consists, as in the world, of masses, which are held not in the ordinary language used by spirits, but in a concoction of high-sounding phrases which strikes terror into them by its outward sanctity, but remains unintelligible. They adore saints in the same way and display their statues. But the Roman Catholic saints are themselves nowhere to be seen, for all of them whose ambition was to be worshipped as deities are in hell, and the rest who had no such ambition are among the spirits of the common people. Their dignitaries are aware of this, for they seek out the saints and find them, and therefore come to disparage them. But they conceal this from the people, so that the saints can go on being worshipped as guardian deities, and the prelates themselves, who are in charge of the people, as lords of heaven.

[7] As in the world they similarly build numbers of churches and monasteries. They similarly amass wealth, collecting heaps of precious objects and hiding them in cellars. The spiritual world has precious objects just as much as the natural world, but many more of them. Similarly there they send out monks to induce peoples to adopt their religion, and thus make them subject to their rule. It is a widespread practice to have look-out towers constructed in the middle of their group, so that they can watch all the surrounding areas. By various tricks and devices they get in touch with people both near and far, and bind them with treaties to get them on their side.

[8] That is their general condition. But in detail most of the prelates of that religion rob the Lord of all power and claim it for themselves; and because they do this, they do not acknowledge the Divine. In outward show they put on a counterfeit appearance of holiness, holiness which is essentially a profanity, because it contains no inward acknowledgment of the Divine. As a result their outward holiness allows them to make contact with some communities of the lowest heaven and their inward profanity to make contact with the hells, so that they are in both places at once. For this reason they attract simple good spirits, giving them dwellings close to their own, and groups of malicious spirits, whom they arrange around their own group. In this way they are linked through the simple good with heaven and through the malicious with hell. Thus they devise unspeakable crimes which they commit under guidance from hell. For the simple good in the lowest heavens do not see beyond their external holiness, and their most devout adoration of the Lord in outward show, and so they are favourably disposed to them because they fail to see their crimes. This is their best protection; but still they all in course of time drop their outward show of holiness, and are then cut off from heaven and cast into hell.

[9] This will give some idea of what the people from Babylon are like in the other life. I know people in the world will be surprised at such things happening there, since they have only a vague and vacuous idea of people's condition after death and of heaven and hell. But a person is just as much a person after death, he lives in society as in the world, dwells in houses, listens to sermons in churches, performs duties and sees sights in that world similar to those in the one he has just left. All this can be proved from the reports in HEAVEN AND HELL of things seen and heard.