6389. 'Is a bony ass' means lowest-ranking service. This is clear from the meaning of 'an ass' as service, dealt with in 5958, 5959; and from the meaning of 'bone' as that which possesses little spiritual life, dealt with in 5560, 5561. Thus 'a bony ass' is the lowest-ranking service, for people who do good for the sake of recompense do, it is true, perform useful services and act as servants; nevertheless they belong among those in the Lord's kingdom who occupy the lowest position. For the good that is communicated to them they pass on to none but those who can repay them. They overlook all others who may be in the greatest need; or if they do help them out it is to the end that the Lord may recompense them. They look on what they do as that which earns them merit and so on the Lord's mercy as their due. Thus they depart from a state of humility, and to the extent that they depart from it they depart from a state in which blessing and happiness are received from the Lord through heaven. From all this it may be seen that in the next life such people are, it is true, engaged in the performance of useful services; but they are the lowest ranking servants.

5560. The communities of spirits to which the cartilages and bones correspond are very many. But they are the kind that have very little spiritual life within them, even as very little life is present in the bones when compared with the softer parts which they encompass, such as the skull and bones belonging to the head when compared with both parts of the brain, the medulla oblongata, and the substances within these that belong to the senses, or, for instance, the vertebrae and ribs when compared with the heart and lungs; and so on.