3159. 'And I will look to the right or to the left' means reciprocal freedom. This is clear without any explanation. The situation is that good from the Lord is constantly flowing in by way of the internal man into the external, and in earliest years takes shape in the external man as the affection for truth. To the extent a person looks to celestial and spiritual good as the end in view, truth is introduced and joined to good, or what amounts to the same, the affection for truth is introduced and joined to the affection for good. To the extent however that a person looks to his own good, and so to himself and the world, as the end in view, celestial and spiritual good depart. This is the reciprocal freedom which is meant by 'looking to the right or to the left'.

3101. 'So as to know whether Jehovah had prospered his way or not' means regarding Divine Truth, as to what sort it was. This is clear from the meaning of 'way' as truth, dealt with in 627, 2333. The Divine nature of that truth is meant by the words 'whether Jehovah had prospered' which amounts to the same as, whether it was from Jehovah, that is, from the Divine. Accordingly what sort of truth is meant, for the truths that are summoned from the natural man into the rational man are not all received, only those that accord with the good there, and on being sown and implanted in this way act as one with that good. The rest, even though they may have appeared as truths prior to being raised up, are nevertheless not received because they are not acknowledged. Good is that which acknowledges its own truth, and truth that which acknowledges its own good. That it was an acknowledgement of what sort of truth it was, and that thus this truth was received, is also evident from what follows next.