The heart means love. A good heart means love to the Lord and to the neighbor, while a hard or stony heart means the love of self or the world -- riches and things. When the psalmist asks the Lord to search his heart, he wants the Lord to see what it is that he loves. And we are what we love. What we eat may form our earthly body, but it's only temporary, what we love forms our spiritual body, beautiful or ugly as we have chosen. It's interesting to note that the first multi-cellular motion of our embryo is the pulsating that starts in a twist of blood vessel that is to become our heart, and the last motion of our natural body is our heartbeat. It is there for all of our natural life. And of course there is a beating heart in our spiritual bodies when we come to put them on.

In Genesis 3:16, this signifies conflict with resulting anxiety. (Arcana Coelestia 261)

In Genesis 42:38, this signifies with no hope of restoration of the church. (Arcana Coelestia 5551) Sorrow signifies the anxieties and combats attending the bringing forth of truths. (Arcana Coelestia 263)

In Exodus 3:7, this signifies immersion in falsities. (Arcana Coelestia 6853)

In Revelation 18:7, this signifies here the fear of evils from hell. (Apocalypse Revealed 884)

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 5887, 5888)