3843. 'To give the younger before the firstborn' means, that the affection for interior truth should precede the affection for external truth. This is clear from the representation of Rachel, to whom 'the younger' refers here, as the affection for interior truth, dealt with in 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819, and from the representation of Leah, to whom 'the firstborn' refers here, as the affection for external truth, dealt with in 3793, 3819. From this it is evident that 'giving the younger before the firstborn' means [that the state is not such] that the affection for interior truth should precede the affection for external truth. A brief explanation of these matters has been given above in 3834, and is further evident from the following: Anyone who does not know the state of man may believe that the joining together is effected not only with external truths but also with internal once he is acquainted with both kinds of truths, that is, once he has them in his memory. But no joining together is effected until he lives according to them; for the life reveals whether the joining together has been effected.

[2] The same applies to everything implanted in someone since childhood. It does not become his own until he acts according to it, and does so from affection. For when he acts from affection that which has been implanted in him passes into his will. Then it is no longer put into practice by him simply because he knows that he should or because he has been taught to do it, but because some delight unknown to himself and so to speak his own disposition or nature lead him to do so. For everyone acquires such a disposition or nature from frequent practice or habit, and that practice or habit from the things he has learned. This does not come about until the things he has absorbed through his being taught them have been passed through from the external man to the interior; for when they exist in the interior man he no longer acts from the sensory memory but from his acquired disposition, till at length they flow into action spontaneously. For in this case they have been inscribed on the person's interior memory, and the things that proceed from this give the appearance of being innate. This may be recognized from the languages a person has learned in childhood, also from the ability to reason, and from conscience too. From these considerations it is evident that the truths of doctrine, even those that are interior, are not joined to a person until they are matters of life. But further information on these points will in the Lord's Divine mercy appear elsewhere.