'The six days' represent the various consecutive states in a person's regeneration. They are, in general, as follows: The first state is the state which precedes both the state from earliest childhood onwards and which existed immediately before regeneration. This state is called 'a void, emptiness, and thick darkness.' And the first motion, which is the Lord's mercy, is 'the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters.' The second state is when a distinction is made between the things that belong to the Lord and those that are a person's own. The things which are the Lord's are called in the Word 'remnants,' and here they are mainly the thoughts about faith which a person has learned since he was a small child. These are stored away and do not come out into the open until he reaches this state. Nowadays, this state rarely occurs without temptation, misfortune, and sorrow, which lead to the inactivity and, so to speak, the death of bodily and worldly concerns -- the things which are a person's own. In this way, what belongs to the external self is segregated from what belongs to the internal. Within the internal are the remnants, stored away by the Lord until this time and for this purpose. The third state is one of repentance, a state in which he speaks piously and devoutly from the internal self and does good things, such as charitable acts which are still soulless because he imagines that they originate in himself. They are called 'a tender plant,' then 'a seed-bearing plant,' and finally 'a fruit tree.' The fourth state is when the person is moved by love and enlightened by faith. Prior to this, he would utter pious words and do good deeds, but he did so from a state of temptation and anguish, and not from faith and charity. However, these are now kindled in his internal self, and are called 'the two great lights.' The fifth state is when the person speaks from faith, and in so doing, he confirms himself in truth and good. What he does at this point have life and are called 'the fish of the sea and the birds of the air.' The sixth state is when the person speaks truth and performs good deeds from faith and so from love. What he does at this point are 'living creatures' and 'beasts.' At this point, he starts to act from faith and simultaneously from love, and he becomes a spiritual person, which is called 'an image.' The spiritual life of this person finds its delight in, and is sustained by the things which are associated with thoughts about faith and charitable acts, which are called 'his food.' His natural life finds its delight in, and is sustained by things which relate to the body and the senses. These things give rise to conflict until love rules and he becomes a celestial person. People who are regenerating do not all arrive at this final state, but some, and the most in the present day only to the first, some only to the second, some to the third, fourth, and fifth, few to the sixth, and hardly anyone to the seventh.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 6-13, Genesis 1)

6. Genesis 1

1. In the beginning God created heaven and earth.

2. And the earth was a void and an emptiness, and there was thick darkness over the face ¹ of the deep; and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face ¹ of the waters.

3. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.

4. And God saw that the light was good; and God made a distinction between the light and the darkness.

5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.

6. And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters.

7. And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expanse and the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so.

8. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening, and there was morning, a second day.

9. And God said, Let the waters under heaven be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so.

10. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas; and God saw that it was good.

11. And God said, Let the earth cause tender plants to spring up, seed-bearing plants, fruit trees bearing fruit, each according to its kind, in which is its seed, upon the earth; and it was so.

12. And the earth brought forth tender herbs, seed-bearing plants, each according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, each according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.

13. And there was evening, and there was morning, a third day.

14. And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to make a distinction between the day and the night; and they will be for signs, and for set times, and for days and years.

15. And they will be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth; and it was so.

16. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to have dominion over the day, and the lesser light to have dominion over the night; and the stars.

17. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth;

18. And to have dominion over the day and the night, and to make a distinction between the light and the darkness; and God saw that it was good.

19. And there was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.

20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth creeping things, living creatures; and let birds fly above the earth, upon the face ¹ of the expanse of the heavens.

21. And God created the great sea monsters, and every living creature that creeps, which the waters produced abundantly according to their kinds; and all winged birds according to their kinds; and God saw that it was good.

22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let birds be multiplied upon the earth.

23. And there was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.

24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, beasts and creeping things and wild animals of the earth according to their kinds; and it was so.

25. And God made wild animals of the earth according to their kinds, and beasts according to their kinds, and everything that creeps along the ground according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.

26. And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and they will have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, ² and over the beasts, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

27. And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

28. And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, ² and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.

29. And God said, Behold, I give you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face ¹ of the whole earth, and every tree in which there is fruit, the tree producing seed will be for you for food.

30. And to every wild animal of the earth and to every bird of the air, ² and to everything creeping over the earth in which there is a living soul, [I give] every green plant for food; and it was so.

31. And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, a sixth day.

CONTENTS

The six days or periods of time, which are so many consecutive states in man's regeneration, are in general as follows:

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