199. And I will not blot his name out of the book of life, signifies that they will be in heaven because they are fitted for it. This is evident from the signification of "name," as being the quality of man's state of life (See above, n. 148); and from the signification of "the book of life," as being heaven (of which presently); therefore, "not to blot his name out of the book of life" signifies that they will be in heaven because their state in respect to love and faith is such, thus because they are fitted for heaven. "The book of life" signifies heaven, because a man who is in the love to the Lord and faith in Him is a heaven in least form, and this heaven of man corresponds to heaven in the greatest form; therefore he who has heaven in himself also comes into heaven, for he is fitted for it. (That there is such correspondence, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 51-58, 73-77, 87-102; and The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 230-236.) From this it is that "the book of life" is that with man that corresponds to the heaven with him. Because this remains with man to eternity, if he has become spiritual by means of the knowledges of truth and good applied to life in the world, it is said, "I will not blot his name out of the book of life." In the world indeed it may be blotted out if man does not remain spiritual to the end of life; but if he does so remain it cannot be blotted out, because he is conjoined to the Lord by love and faith, and such conjunction with the Lord as there has been in the world remains with man after death.

[2] From this it can be seen that "the book of life" means that from the Lord which has been written on man's spirit, that is, on his heart and soul, or what is the same, on his love and faith; and what is written by the Lord in man is heaven. From this it is clear what is meant by "the book of life" in the following passages. In Daniel:

The Ancient of Days sat, and the books were opened (Daniel 7:9-10).

In the same:

The people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book (Daniel 12:1).

In David:

Let them be blotted out of the book of lives, and not be written with the righteous (Psalms 69:28).

In Moses:

Moses said, Blot me, I pray, out of the book which Thou hast written. And Jehovah said, Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of the book (Exodus 32:32-33).

In Revelation:

All shall worship the beast whose names have not been written in the Lamb's book of life (Revelation 13:8; 17:8).

Again:

I saw that the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is that of life; and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. And if any was not found written in the book of life he was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:12-13, 15).

Again:

There shall enter into the New Jerusalem only they that are written in the Lamb's book of life (Revelation 21:27).

In David:

My bone was not hidden from Thee when I was made in secret. Upon Thy book all the days were written in which they were formed, and not one of them is wanting (Psalms 139:15-16).

"All the days were written" means all states of life. (That each and all things that man has thought, willed, spoken, and done, even all that he has seen and heard, are with him in his spirit as if written therein, so that nothing whatever is wanting, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 462, 463; and Arcana Coelestia 2469-2494, 7398; and that this is man's "book of life," see n. 2474, 9386, 9841, 10505, n. 5212, 8067, 9334, 9723, 9841.

7398. 'Survive only in the river?' means that they are destined to remain with falsities, in the place where these reside. This is clear from the meaning of 'the river,' here the river of Egypt, as falsity, dealt with in 6693, 7307; and from the meaning of 'surviving' as remaining. The situation is this: Everything without exception that enters a person's mind remains with him, especially what is received with affection. People think that what enters has been completely eradicated and cast out when a person no longer recollects it. But it has been neither eradicated nor cast out; rather, it remains infixed either in the interior memory or among those thing in the exterior memory which have become familiar to the person. For what has become familiar is so to speak instinctive; it flows spontaneously and is not stimulated by any conscious summoning from the memory. A person's speech is like this; the words he uses flow spontaneously from his thought, as do gestures and actions, and indeed his walk. The same applies also to thinking. These abilities enter in successive stages from infancy, and in time become familiar, when they flow spontaneously. These abilities, and others like them show that everything entering a person remains, and that things which become habitual, that is, familiar, cease to be recognized by him as being present in him, although they are present. The same applies to the falsities and evils entering a person, and also the truths and forms of good. Such things are what fashion him and make him the kind of person he is. Everything a person has seen, heard, thought, spoken, or done is recorded within him, see 2474, 2489. From all this one may now see how one should understand the idea that reasonings are destined to remain with falsities, in the place where these reside. For after falsities have been removed they are allotted places of their own elsewhere in the natural, and with the falsities go the endeavour and desire to use reasonings. But they are not, as they were before, the central and immediate object of mental attention. This explains why, as described in what follows, the frogs were gathered into heaps, and caused the land to stink, meaning that those false reasonings were arranged in the natural into bundles, producing what was foul and repulsive, see below in 7408, 7409.