9061. 'He shall send him away free for the eye' means that it cannot serve the internal man any longer. This is clear from the meaning of 'sending away free' as releasing from service; and from the meaning of 'for the eye which he had destroyed in the slave' as because of the truth of faith that has been wiped out in the external or natural man. For 'the eye' means the understanding part of the mind and therefore the truth of faith, 9051, 9058; 'destroying' means wiping out, 9060; and 'male slave' means the external or natural man, 9058. The nature of all this cannot be known by anyone unless he knows about the nature of the internal man's relationship with the external man. The internal man cannot live a spiritual life unless the external man is in agreement, which being so a person cannot be regenerated unless the natural man also is regenerated. From this it follows that if the truth of faith in the natural or external man has been wiped out the latter cannot serve the internal man any longer.

[2] It is like the relationship between outward sight and inward sight. If outward sight has been impaired it can no longer serve inward sight; for if objects are distorted by outward sight, internal sight can gain only a distorted vision by means of it. Or it is like the situation with all other parts of the body that are controlled by the will, such as the arms, hands, fingers, and feet. If these are deformed, then the will can perform only clumsy actions by means of them. It is similar with the natural or external man's service to the internal man. If the factual truths in the external or natural man have been distorted or wiped out, the internal man cannot see the truth, and so cannot think about it and perceive it except in a distorted or false manner. From all this it is evident why the natural man must be regenerated if a person is to be regenerated. On these matters see also what has been shown previously in 3286, 3321, 3469, 3493, 3573, 3620, 3623, 3679, 4588, 4618, 4667, 5165, 5168, 5427, 5428, 5477, 6299, 6564, 8742-8747, 9043.

9058. 'And when a man strikes the eye of his male slave' means if the internal man injures the truth of faith in the external [or natural] man. This is clear from the meaning of 'striking' as injuring, as before; from the meaning of 'a man', here a man from among the children of Israel, as a member of the Church and therefore one in possession of spiritual truth - which is the truth of faith, dealt with above in 9034 - thus as the internal man, since the truth of faith resides in the internal man and composes its life, which is called spiritual life (the term 'internal man' is used by virtue of its relationship to the external, meant by 'male slave'); from the meaning of 'the eye' as the inner part of the understanding and therefore the truth of faith, dealt with in 9051; and from the meaning of 'male slave' as factual truth present in the external man, dealt with in 1895, 2567, 3835, 3849, 8993, 8994, thus also the external or natural man, 5305, 7998, 8974. The literal sense speaks of 'a man' and 'male slave', so that two people are meant; but in the internal sense, in which 'a man' is the internal man and 'male slave' is the external man, they exist in one person. The reason for this is that the internal sense does not focus its attention on persons, only on spiritual realities, 5225, 5287, 5434, 8343, 8985, 9007.