991. 'All fish of the sea' means facts. This is clear from the meaning of 'a fish'. In the Word fish mean facts that spring from sensory evidence, for there are three types of facts - intellectual, rational, and sensory. All are implanted in the memory - or rather, in the memories ¹ - and in someone who is regenerate are summoned from there by the Lord by way of the internal man. These facts which come from sensory evidence enter a person's consciousness or perception during his earthly life, for they are the basis of his thinking. The rest, which are more interior, do not do so until he has shed the body and enters the next life. On the point that fish or creeping things which the waters produce mean facts, see what has been said already in 40; and that sea-monsters or whales mean general sources of facts, see 42. These points become additionally clear from the following places in the Word:

In Zephaniah,

I will cause man and beast to cease, I will cause the birds of the air and the fish of the sea to cease. Zephaniah 1:3.

Here 'birds of the air' stands for rational concepts, 'fish of the sea' for rational concepts of a lower order, that is, for human thought from factual knowledge derived through the senses.

[2] In Habakkuk,

You will make man like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler. Habakkuk 1:14.

'Making man like the fish of the sea' stands for making him dependent solely on the senses.

In Hosea,

The land will mourn, and every inhabitant will languish, even the wild animal of the field, and the birds of the air, ² and even the fish of the sea will all be gathered together. Hosea 4:3.

Here 'fish of the sea' stands for factual knowledge derived through the senses.

In David,

You have put all things under His feet, the beasts of the fields, the flying things of the air, ³ and the fish of the sea, and that crossing the paths of the seas. Psalms 8:6-8.

This refers to the Lord's dominion over man. 'Fish of the sea' stands for facts. That 'seas' means a gathering of facts or cognitions, see what has appeared already in 28.

In Isaiah,

The fishermen will lament, and all who cast a hook into the river will mourn, and those who spread nets over the face' ⁴ of the waters will languish. Isaiah 19:8.

'Fishermen' stands for people who rely on sensory evidence alone and hatch falsities out of it, the subject being Egypt, or factual knowledge.

Poznámky pod čarou:

3219. When angels are engaged in discussion about thoughts and ideas, and about influx, birds are seen at the same time in the world of spirits - the forms which the birds take being determined by the subject under discussion. This explains why birds in the Word mean rational concepts or things comprising thought, 40, 745, 776, 991. On one occasion birds came into view, and I saw that one was dark and ugly, two fine and beautiful. When I saw them, behold! certain spirits were there who then descended on me so violently as to send a tremor into my sinews and bones. I supposed that then, as had happened several times before, evil spirits were assailing me in an attempt to destroy me; but that was not so. When the tremor ceased and the spirits who had descended on me stopped moving, I spoke to them asking what it was all about. They said that they had fallen from a certain angelic community in which discussion was taking place about thoughts and influx, and that they had been of the opinion that the things which comprise thought flow in from without, that is to say, by way of the external senses, as is the appearance. But the angelic community in which they were present were of the opinion that it flowed from within. And because they themselves had been governed by falsity they had fallen from there. No one had cast them down, for angels do not cast anyone down from among themselves. It was owing to the falsity reigning in them that they had fallen from there. This had been the reason why it had happened. From this I was given to know that discussion in heaven about thoughts and influx is represented by birds - the discussion of those in whom falsity reigns by dark and ugly birds, but that of those who are governed by truth by fine and beautiful birds. I was at the same time told that all the ideas comprising thought enter into it from within, not from without, even though those ideas seem to do so. I was also told that it is contrary to order for what is posterior to flow into what is prior, or what is grosser into what is purer, and so for body to flow into soul.