9011. 'I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee' means a state of blamelessness and so of freedom from punishment. This is clear from the meaning of 'a place' as a state, dealt with in 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 3404, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381; and from the meaning of refuge, or a place to which one who killed another without premeditation or by chance might flee, as a state of blamelessness and so of freedom from punishment. For those who struck another by chance, that is, not from set purpose, thus not because of any previous contemplation of the deed or of an evil desire in the will, were not at all culpable. Therefore when they came to the place of refuge they were freed from punishment. By them were represented those who injure, but not from set purpose, someone's truths and forms of the good of faith and as a result wipe out his spiritual life; for their state is one of blamelessness and freedom from punishment. This is true of those who have thorough trust in their religion, which however is full of falsity, and who use what it teaches to reason against the truth and good of faith, and to do this convincingly, as conscientious and consequently zealous heretics are sometimes accustomed to do.

[2] The fact that they were represented [by those] who fled to places of refuge is clear in Moses,

You shall select suitable cities, which are to be cities of refuge for yourselves, so that one who strikes and kills a soul accidentally may flee there. If without premeditation, without enmity, he pushes him; or throws at him some implement without forethought; or [strikes him] with any stone from which he may die, while not seeing him, so that he causes it to fall onto him and he dies, though he was not his enemy and did not seek to harm him ... Numbers 35:11-12, 22-23.

And in the same author,

This is the case ¹ with one who kills, who shall flee there so that he may live, when he has struck his companion unwittingly, when he did not hate him previously ² - as when he goes with his companion into a forest to cut down timber, but when his hand with the axe in it is swung to cut down wood, the iron flies off the handle and hits his companion so that he dies, ³ he shall flee to one of these cities so that he may live. Deuteronomy 19:4-5.

[3] This describes the state of one blameless and freed from punishment, who through the falsities of faith which he had believed to be truths, or through factual knowledge based on the illusions of the senses, has injured someone, and so has done harm to his internal or spiritual life. To convey this meaning such an accident or chance is described by an implement of some kind, and by a stone which he causes to fall onto his companion so that he dies, and also by the axe or iron coming off its handle, while both were cutting down timber in the forest. The reason why such details are used to describe the matter is that 'an implement' means some known fact, and 'a stone' a truth of faith or in the contrary sense a falsity; and in like manner 'the iron of an axe' and 'cutting down timber' means to argue about what is good, using what one's religion teaches.

[4] Anyone may see that but for some hidden reason a killing that occurred accidentally would not have been described by the iron of an axe coming off its handle in a forest, for such an accident happens rarely, scarcely once in many years. But that accident has been described in such a way for the sake of the internal sense, which describes the harm done to a soul by another through the falsities of faith which, because his religion teaches them, he has believed to be truths. For anyone who causes harm through falsities which he believes to be truths does not do harm from set purpose or in spite of knowing better, because he acts in accord with his religious faith and therefore out of zeal. So that these things might be meant in the internal sense they are described, as has been stated, by those who kill companions accidentally, and by 'a stone', by 'cutting down wood in a forest', and by 'the iron of the axe coming off its handle onto a companion during the process'. For 'a stone' is a truth of faith in the natural man, and in the contrary sense a falsity, see 643, 1298, 3720, 6426, 8609, 8941, and so is 'iron', 425, 426. 'The iron of the axe coming away from its handle' is truth separated from good, good being meant by 'handle' or 'wood', 643, 2812, 3720, 8354; 'cutting down wood' means placing merit in works, 1110, 4943, 8740; but 'cutting down timber in a forest' means discussing these and like matters, and also calling them into question; for 'a forest' means a religious system.

[5] Like matters are meant by 'cutting down timber in a forest with axes' in Jeremiah,

The mercenaries will go with strength, and they will come to her with axes, like those who cut down timber. They will cut down her forest, said Jehovah. Jeremiah 46:22-23.

Here 'cutting down timber in a forest' stands for acting in accord with false religious practices and destroying such things as constitute the Church. For the Church is called 'a forest', 'a garden', and 'a paradise'; it is called 'a forest' by virtue of its knowledge, 'a garden' by virtue of its intelligence, and 'a paradise' by virtue of its wisdom, 3220, 'trees' being perceptions of goodness and truth, and also cognitions or knowledge of them, 103, 2163, 2722, 2972, 4552, 7690, 7692. And since 'a forest' means the Church in respect of its knowledge, thus of its external aspects, it also means religious practices.

[6] The Church in respect of its knowledge or external aspects is also meant by 'a forest', or 'a wood', in David,

The field will be exultant and everything in it; then all the trees of the wood will sing. Psalms 96:12.

In the same author,

Behold, we heard of Him in Ephrathah; we found Him in the fields of the wood. Psalms 132:6.

These words refer to the Lord. In Isaiah,

The light of Israel will be a fire, and his Holy (One a flame. It will burn the glory of his forest, and his Carmel; it will consume from the soul even to the flesh. As a consequence the remaining trees of the wood will be [so small] a number that a child may write them down. He will cut down the entangled boughs of the forest with an axe, ⁴ and Lebanon will fall by a majestic one. Isaiah 10:17-20, 34.

'The forest' stands for the Church in respect of its cognitions of truth, and 'Carmel' for the Church in respect of its cognitions of good, in the same way as 'Lebanon' and 'Hermon' do. 'The trees of the wood' stands, as above, for cognitions, and 'being a number that a child may write down' stands for the fewness of them, 'entangled boughs of the forest' standing for factual knowledge, 2831.

[7] In the same prophet,

You said, By the multitude of my chariots I will go up [to] the height of the mountains, the sides of Lebanon, where I will cut down the tallness of its cedars, the choice of its fir trees, After that I will come to its remotest height, ⁵ the forest of its Carmel. Isaiah 37:24.

In Jeremiah,

I will visit on you according to the fruit of your works, and I will kindle a fire in its forest. Jeremiah 21:14.

In Ezekiel,

Prophesy against the forest of the field towards the south, and say to the forest of the south, Behold, I will kindle in you a fire, and it will devour every tree. Ezekiel 20:46-47.

In Micah,

Guide ⁶ Your people with Your staff, the flock of Your inheritance inhabiting alone a forest in the midst of Carmel. Micah 7:14.

Does anyone fail to see that in these places a forest is not meant by 'a forest', nor Lebanon and Carmel, which were forests, by 'Lebanon' and 'Carmel', but that some aspect of the Church is meant? What aspect of the Church it is however has lain hidden up to now because the internal sense has lain hidden. But how astonishing that in a world so learned as Europe - more learned than all the other continents - where the Word exists, in every detail of which the internal sense is present, there is no awareness of that sense! Yet it was known to the ancients in Chaldea, Assyria, Egypt, and Arabia, and from them in Greece, in whose books, symbols, and hieroglyphics such matters are still met with. The reason why awareness of that matter has perished is lack of belief that what is spiritual has any real existence.

Poznámky pod čarou:

4882. 'And went' means life. This is clear from the meaning of 'going' as living, dealt with in 3335, 3690. This meaning of 'going' in the internal sense as living does indeed seem quite remote from or unrelated to ideas man has which constitute his thought. The reason for this is that man dwells within space and time, and with these has formed the ideas comprising his thought, such as the idea of going, advancing, setting out, sojourning, or moving on. Now because these actions occur within both space and time, and as a consequence space and time have become embedded in ideas of those actions, man therefore finds it difficult to grasp that states of life are meant. But when his idea of those actions is relieved or divested of spatial and temporal elements the spiritual reality that is meant leaps out. For in the spiritual world or heaven nothing at all spatial or temporal enters the ideas they have, but instead aspects of a state of life, 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837, 3356, 3404, 3827, 4814. It does indeed appear to spirits and angels that they too move about, going from one place to another, and indeed exactly in the same way as it appears so to men. All the same, it is the changes taking place in their state of life that are responsible for this appearance. To them also, no less than to men, the appearance is that they live self-dependently, when in fact they do not live self-dependently but are dependent on the Lord's Divine, the source of every spark of life. Among angels these appearances are called real ones, because they seem in all reality to exist.

[2] I have on occasions spoken to spirits about these appearances, but those who are not governed by good, nor consequently by truth, do not wish to listen when told it is but an appearance that they live self-dependently; for their wish is to live self-dependently. But in addition to showing them from actual experience that they do not lead self-dependent lives and that every advance made from one place to another is a change to, and an advance made in, their state of life, I have also told them that for them it may be sufficient for them to know no other than that they live self-dependently, and that their life would be life no more if they did not live self-dependency. It would nevertheless be better for them to know what the situation really is, for in that case they would have the truth; and if they have the truth they also dwell in the light of heaven, since the light of heaven is the truth itself which flows from the Lord's Divine. Furthermore, if the truth existed with them in this way they would not claim that good was their own, nor would evil cling to them. Angels possessing that truth do not merely know it; they also have a perception of it.

[3] Intervals of time and space in the spiritual world are states of life, and every spark of life has its origin in the Lord, as the following experience may show. Each spirit and angel sees on his right those who are good and on his left those who are evil; this is so in whatever direction he turns himself. If he turns and looks eastwards he sees the good to the right and the evil to the left. The same happens if he turns and looks to the west, and likewise to the south or the north. This is the case with every spirit or angel, so that if there were two, and one of these turned and looked to the east and the other did so to the west, each would still see the good on his right and the evil on his left. Those far removed from, even behind the backs of, those who behold them are seen in those unchanging positions. From these considerations one may deduce clearly that every spark of life has its origin in the Lord, that is, that the Lord is within the life of everyone; for in the spiritual world the Lord is seen as the Sun, the good or sheep being on His right, and the evil or goats on His left. The same is therefore the case with each spirit or angel, for the reason, as stated, that the Lord exists in every spark of life. This is bound to look like a paradox to man, for as long as he is in the world man has ideas that are formed from worldly things, and therefore from what is spatial and temporal. But as stated above, in the spiritual world no ideas are formed from what is spatial and temporal but from the state belonging to affections and the thoughts flowing from these. It is for this reason also that the intervals of space and time in the Word mean states.