681. And it became blood as though of a dead man, and every living creature in the sea died. This symbolizes the infernal falsity in those people by which every truth in the Word was extinguished, and so also every truth in the church and in faith.

Blood as though of a dead man, or blood oozing and mixed with pus, symbolizes infernal falsity. For blood symbolizes Divine truth, and in an opposite sense, that truth falsified (no. 379). But blood as though of a dead man symbolizes infernal falsity, inasmuch as death symbolizes the extinction of spiritual life, and so a dead man symbolizes something infernal (nos. 321, 525). That every living creature died means symbolically that every truth in the Word, in the church, and in faith was extinguished. For a living creature symbolizes the truth of faith; accordingly a living creature that has died symbolizes the truth of faith extinguished.

A living creature in the Word, or a soul when referring to a human being, symbolizes his spiritual life, which is also the life of his intellect; and because the intellect is formed by truths, and truths have to do with faith, therefore a living creature or soul symbolizes the truth of faith. That this is the symbolic meaning of a living creature or soul can be seen from many passages in the Word, and also from those that mention both soul and heart. The soul and heart plainly mean a person's life, but it is his life in consequence of his will and intellect, or spiritually speaking, in consequence of his love and wisdom, or of his charity and faith; and the life of the will springing from the goodness of love is meant by heart, while the life of the intellect springing from truths of wisdom or of faith is meant by soul. These are meant by soul and heart in Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, 33, Luke 10:27; Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 26:16; Jeremiah 32:41; and elsewhere. Also in passages which mention heart by itself and soul by itself.

The reason these terms are used comes from the correspondence of the heart with the will and love, and of the soul's action in the lungs with the intellect and wisdom, as may be seem in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, Section Five, where this correspondence is discussed.

320. So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. (6:8) This symbolizes an understanding of the Word destroyed as to both goodness and truth.

A horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word (no. 298), and paleness symbolizes a lack of vitality.

The Word lacks vitality for people who are without goods of life in accordance with doctrinal truths. For the Word in the sense of the letter is not understood apart from doctrine, and doctrine is not seen without a life in accordance with it. That is because a life in accordance with doctrine drawn from the Word opens the spiritual mind, and light from heaven flows into the mind, enlightening it and giving it the ability to see. The reality of this is not known by one who is acquainted with truths of doctrine, and yet does not live according to them.

It was the fourth living creature that displayed the pale horse because that living creature was like a flying eagle, and it therefore symbolized the Divine truth of the Word in respect to its concepts and the understanding they afford (no. 244). It showed, therefore, that the people now seen were without any concepts of goodness and truth from the Word, and without any understanding of them. And people of that character appear pale in the spiritual world, like people without life.