5259. 'And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph' means thought expressed by the natural but belonging to the celestial of the spiritual. This is clear from what has been stated above in 5151. Where the same words occur, except that there it says that Pharaoh said to Joseph, here that he spoke to him; for 'said' means perception, whereas 'spoke' means thought, 2271, 2287, 2619. The reason 'Pharaoh spoke to Joseph' means thought which is expressed by the natural but belongs to the celestial of the spiritual, and not the other way round, is that when thought is going on in what is exterior, the source of such thought does not lie there but in what is interior. Or what amounts to the same, when thought is going on in what is lower, nothing else than what is higher is the source of it. Even so, while the thought belonging to what is interior or higher is going on in what is exterior or lower, it does seem as though the exterior or lower is itself the source of the thought going on in it. But that is an illusion. It is like a person who sees some object in a mirror but does not know that the mirror is there. He supposes that the object exists where it appears to do so, but in reality it does not exist there.

[2] Now because the celestial of the spiritual is interior or higher, and the natural is exterior or lower, 'Pharaoh spoke to Joseph' therefore means in the internal sense thought expressed by the natural but belonging to the celestial of the spiritual. In short, nothing in a lower position possesses anything self-derived whatsoever. Any ability it possesses comes from what is higher, which being so it plainly follows that the Highest one of all, that is, the Divine, is the source of everything. Consequently the source of a person's thought proceeding from his understanding and of his activity proceeding from his will is the Highest one or the Divine. If however a person thinks false ideas and acts in evil ways, this is due to the form he has stamped on his own character; but if he thinks right ideas and acts in ways that are good, it is due to the form he has received from the Lord. For it is well known that one and the same power and force produces differing movements which are determined by the ways in which the intermediate and outermost parts are structured, so that in the human being life from the Divine produces differing thoughts and actions, determined by the forms existing there.

5195. 'That Pharaoh was dreaming' means provision ¹ made for the natural. This is clear from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the natural, dealt with in 5079, 5080, 5095, 5160, and from the meaning of 'dreaming' as a foretelling of things to come, and so in the highest sense as Foresight, dealt with in 3698, 4682, 5091, 5092, 5104. Now since Foresight or the foreseen is meant, Providence or provision is meant too, because Foresight and Providence cannot exist one without the other. For Providence has in view the state that is to last for ever; but unless it foresees what this state is, it cannot make any provision towards it. A provision for present needs without at the same time any foresight of future ones, and so no simultaneous provision for future needs within present ones, would imply a lack of any end in view, or of any order, or of consequently any wisdom and intelligence, and so it would not be something having a Divine origin. But when reference is made to what is good the term Providence is used, whereas Foresight is used in reference to what is not good, 5155. One cannot use the term Foresight when speaking of what is good because good resides within the Divine, comes forth from the Divine Himself, and exists in accord with the Divine. Rather, this term is used when one refers to what is not good or to what is evil since this comes forth from outside the Divine, from others opposed to the Divine. Thus because Providence is used when reference is made to what is good, the term is also used to refer to the joining of the natural to the celestial of the spiritual. This is the reason why 'dreaming' at this point means provision that had been made.

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