10276. And thou shalt sanctify them, and they shall be a holy of holies. That this signifies in this way the influx and presence of the Lord in the worship of the representative church, is evident from the signification of “to be sanctified,” as being to represent the Lord as to the Divine Human, and the reception of Divine good and Divine truth from Him; for the Lord alone is holy, and consequently that only is holy which proceeds from Him; from which it is plain that by “being sanctified” is also signified the influx and presence of the Lord in the worship of the representative church. (That “to be sanctified” denotes to represent the Lord as to the Divine Human, see n. 9956, 9988, 10069; and also the reception of Divine good and Divine truth from Him, n. 8806, 9820, 10128; that the Lord alone is holy, and only that is holy which proceeds from Him, n. 9229, 9479, 9680, 9818; thus that the holy things with the Israelitish and Jewish nation were representatively holy, n. 10149.) And from the signification of “a holy of holies,” as being Divine celestial good (n. 10129).

[2] From this it is evident that all those things which were anointed were called “holy of holies” from the influx and presence of the Divine Human of the Lord; and all influx and presence of the Lord takes place immediately, and in the lower heavens also mediately through celestial good, which is the good of the inmost heaven. Therefore insofar as the goods of the lower heavens contain and store up within them celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord, so far they are goods. From this it is that those things which were anointed were called “holy of holies.” (Concerning the immediate and mediate influx of the Lord, see the places cited in n. 9682, 9683.)

[3] But in order that it may be known how the case herein is, it is necessary to know what representation is, and what a representative church is. What these are has been abundantly shown in the places cited in n. 9229, 9280, 10030; but as at the present day few know what these are, the subject may be somewhat further illustrated. It is the affections of good and truth from the Lord which make the life and happiness of the angels in the inmost heavens. In the ultimate heaven these affections are presented with infinite variety in countless outward forms. Whatever they see there with their eyes is from this source. These are representatives of interior things, which are the affections of good and truth, and are called celestial and spiritual.

[4] The good spirits who as subjects perceive the holy things of heaven in these representatives, are interiorly affected. For example, they see paradises with trees and fruits of countless species, also beds of roses, lawns, fields with things sown in them, houses and palaces, and very many other things, all of which correspond to the affections of good and of truth that are from the Lord in the higher heavens. In these heavens also there are representatives, but such as immeasurably surpass in perfection, delight, and happiness those which are in the ultimate heaven. It is these representatives of which it is said that “no eye hath ever seen” such things; and if anything were told of them it would exceed human belief.

[5] From this it can be seen what representatives are. All the representatives instituted with the Israelitish nation were like those in the ultimate heaven; but were less perfect, because they were in the nature of this world. Such were the Tent with the ark, the table upon which were the breads of faces, the lampstand and its lamps, the altar of incense, the garments of Aaron and his sons, and afterward the temple with the adytum there containing the ark upon which were the propitiatory and the cherubs, also the brazen sea, the lavers, and other similar things. Yet countless more things appear in the ultimate heaven, and in greater excellence and perfection. It was from this heaven that the things to be instituted with the Israelitish nation were shown by the Lord to Moses on Mount Sinai. (See Exodus 25:40; 26:30; 27:8.) But these things were not seen by Moses with the eyes of his body, but with the eyes of his spirit.

[6] The nature of representatives can be seen further from the things seen by the prophets; as by Daniel, by John in Revelation, and by the rest; all of which store up within them Divine spiritual and celestial things that anyone can see are not intelligible without interpretation from the internal sense.

[7] From all this it is now further evident what a representative church is. This church was established in the land of Canaan chiefly for the sake of the Word, in order that this might be written by means of representatives and significatives, thus by means of such things as existed with that nation, in their church, and in their land. For from the most ancient times all the places in the land of Canaan, and all the mountains and rivers there, represented such things as are in the heavens (see n. 3686, 4240, 4447, 4454, 5136, 6516); as did afterward the inheritances, the tribes, and all other things there. Of such things was the literal sense of the Word of the Old Testament, in order that there might be some ultimate in which the interior things might close, and upon which they might stand, like a building on its foundation (see n. 9360, 9824, 10044).

[8] From all this an intelligent person is able to know that the Word is most holy, and that its literal sense is holy from its internal sense, but that apart from this it is not holy. For apart from the internal sense the literal sense is like the external of man separated from his internal, which is a mock appearance devoid of life, and is like the peel of a tree, flower, fruit, or seed, without anything inside; and is also like a foundation without a house. Therefore they who lay stress on the sense of the letter of the Word alone, and neither have, nor procure for themselves from the Word, doctrine that is in agreement with its internal sense, can be drawn into any heresies whatever. It is from this that the Word is called by such the Book of Heresies. The very doctrine from the Word must by all means give light and guidance. This very doctrine is taught by the internal sense, and he who knows this doctrine, has the internal sense of the Word.

[9] As the Jewish nation did not acknowledge anything holy in the Word except in the mere sense of its letter, which they completely separated from the internal sense, they fell into such darkness that they did not recognize the Lord when He came into the world. At the present day that nation is of the same character, and therefore although they live among Christians they nevertheless still do not acknowledge the Lord from the Word. (That from the earliest time that nation was in external things without internal, see what has been shown in the places cited in n. 9320, 9380.) Therefore unless the Lord had come into the world and opened the interior things of the Word, the communication with the heavens by means of the Word would have been broken; and then the human race on this earth would have perished, for man can think no truth and do no good except from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord; and the Word is that which opens heaven.

4622. CONTINUATION CONCERNING CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE GRAND MAN, HERE CONCERNING THE CORRESPONDENCE OF ODOR AND OF THE NOSTRILS THEREWITH.

The dwellings of the blessed in the other life are of many kinds, and are constructed with such art as to be as it were embodiments of the very art of architecture, or to come straight from the art itself. (On this subject see what has already been related from experience, n. 1116, 1626-1630.) These dwellings appear not only to the sight, but also to the touch, for all things there are adapted to the sensations of spirits and angels, and hence are such as do not come to bodily sense like that of man, but to that possessed by those who are there. I know that this is incredible to many, but this is because nothing is believed which cannot be seen by the bodily eyes and felt with the hands of flesh. For this reason the man of this day, whose interiors are closed, knows nothing of the things which exist in the spiritual world or in heaven. He does indeed say from the Word and from doctrine that there is a heaven, and that the angels who are there are in joy and in glory, but he knows no more about the matter. How the case is there he would indeed like to know, but when told he still believes nothing, because at heart he denies the existence of such things, and his desire to know about them is prompted solely by his curiosity from doctrine, and not by any delight grounded in faith. They who are not in faith also deny at heart; but they who believe get ideas from various sources about heaven and its joy and glory, each person from such things as are of his own knowledge and intelligence, and the simple from the things of bodily sensation.

[2] Nevertheless most people do not apprehend that spirits and angels enjoy sensations much more exquisite than those of men in this world, namely, sight, hearing, smell, something analogous to taste, and touch; and especially the delights of the affections. If men would only believe that their interior essence is the spirit, and that the body and its sensations and members are adapted to uses in this world merely, and that the spirit and its sensations and organs are adapted to uses in the other life, then from themselves and almost of their own accord they would come into ideas about the state of their spirit after death; for they would reflect that the spirit must be the man himself who thinks, and who desires, longs for things, and is affected with them; and further that all the power of sensation which appears in the body belongs properly to the spirit, and to the body merely by influx; and they would afterwards confirm themselves in this idea by many considerations, and in this way would at last take more delight in the things of their spirit than in those of their body.

[3] It is also a real fact that it is not man’s body which sees, hears, smells, and feels, but his spirit; and therefore when the spirit is divested of the body, it is in its own sensations, the same as when it was in the body, only now far more exquisite; for the things of the body, being comparatively gross, had rendered the sensations obtuse, and this the more because the man had immersed them in earthly and worldly things. This I can aver-that a spirit has much more exquisite sight than a man in the body, and also much more exquisite hearing, and, astonishing to say, the sense of smell, and especially the sense of touch; for spirits see one another, hear one another, and touch one another. Moreover, anyone who believes in the life after death might infer that this is the case from the fact that no life is possible without sensation, and that the quality of the life is according to the quality of the sensation, nay, that the intellectual faculty is nothing but an exquisite sense of interior things, and the higher intellectual of spiritual things; and it is from this that the things of the intellectual and its perceptions are called internal senses.

[4] As regards man’s power of sensation immediately after death the case is this: As soon as a man dies and all things of his body grow cold, he is raised up into life, and at the same time into a state of all sensations; insomuch that at first he scarcely knows but that he is still in the body, for the sensations he then enjoys lead him so to believe. But when he observes that he has more exquisite sensations, and especially when he begins to speak with other spirits, it dawns upon him that he is in the other life, and that the death of his body has been the continuation of the life of his spirit. I have spoken with two of my acquaintances on the day of their burial, and with one who through my eyes saw his coffin and his bier; and as this man enjoyed all the sensation he had in this world, he spoke to me about the burial rites while I was following in his funeral procession, and also about his body, saying that they should throw that away because he himself was alive.

[5] Be it known, however, that they who are in the other life can see nothing whatever in this world through the eyes of any man; but that their being able to do so through mine was because I am in the spirit with them and at the same time in the body with those who are in the world (see also n. 1880). And be it further known that I did not see with my bodily eyes those with whom I have spoken in the other life, but with the eyes of my spirit; and yet I saw them as clearly, and sometimes more clearly, than with the eyes of the body; for of the Lord’s Divine mercy the senses of my spirit have been opened.

[6] But I am aware that what I have so far said will not be believed by those who are immersed in bodily, earthly, and worldly things (that is, by those of them who have such things as their end), for such people apprehend no other things than those which are dissipated by death. I am also well aware that those will not believe who have thought much and investigated much about the soul, and who have not at the same time comprehended that the soul of man is his spirit, and that his spirit is the man himself who is living in the body; for such persons could have no other notion about the soul than as of a thinking principle, whether of flame or of ether, that acts solely into the organic forms of the body, and not into those purer forms which are of the spirit in the body; thus that the soul is such a thing as must be dissipated together with the body. And this is especially the case with those who have confirmed themselves in such things by views that are inflated with a persuasion of their own preeminent wisdom.