9553. And its flowers. That this signifies the memory-knowledges of truth, is evident from the signification of “flowers,” as being the memory-knowledges of truth. “Flowers” have this signification, because flowers are growths which precede, and in their manner produce, the fruits and seeds; for, as is known, trees and plants blossom before they bear fruit. The case is the same with man in respect to intelligence and wisdom. The memory-knowledges of truth precede, and in their manner produce with man, the things of wisdom; for they serve as objects to his rational, and thus as means for growing wise. It is for this reason that the memory-knowledges of truth are as flowers; and the good of life, which is the good of wisdom, is as fruit. As all things in the spiritual world bear relation to such things as are in man, for the reason that heaven bears relation to a man, and corresponds to each and all things with man, therefore also all things in the natural world have a correspondence, a representation, and a signification in accordance with their agreement with such things as are in man (see n. 9496). From this it can now be seen why “flowers” signify the memory-knowledges of truth, and in general truths; and why “fruits,” and likewise “seeds,” signify goods.

[2] That “flowers” denote the memory-knowledges of truth, and in general truths, is evident from Isaiah:

Their root shall be as rottenness, and their flower as dust; because they have rejected the law of Jehovah Zebaoth, and despised the discourse of the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 5:24).

Jacob shall cause those to come to take root; Israel shall blossom and flower; so that the faces of the world shall be filled with produce (Isaiah 27:6).

Woe to the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glory and comeliness (Isaiah 28:1).

“Drunkards” denote those who reason from falsities (see n. 1072); “Ephraim” denotes the intellectual of the church, here perverted (n. 5354, 6222, 6234, 6238, 6267); “glory,” truth Divine (n. 4809, 5922, 8267, 8427, 9429); from which it is plain that a “flower” denotes the memory-knowledge through which is truth. Again:

The grass is withered, the flower faded, the people is grass; but the word of our God abideth forever (Isaiah 40:7-8).

The flower of Lebanon languisheth (Nah. 1:4); where also “the flower” denotes memory-knowledges as means for growing wise.

[3] In Daniel:

Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, the height thereof great, the leaf thereof beautiful, and the flower thereof much; the beast of the field had shade under it, and the birds of heaven dwelt in the branches thereof, and all flesh was fed. But the Holy One from heaven, crying aloud, said, Hew down the tree, cut off his branches, shake off his leaf, scatter his flower; let the beast of the field flee from under it, and the birds from its branches (Daniel 4:10, 12-14).

By “the tree” and “the height thereof” is signified the increase of the religiosity signified by “Babel,” which is holy in externals, but profane in internals (n. 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304-1308, 1321, 1322, 1326); “the leaf” denotes memory-truth in general (n. 885); “the flower,” the memory-knowledge of truth insofar as it serves as a means for growing wise, but here insofar as it serves as a means for growing insane, because it is said that “the flower shall be scattered;” “the beast of the field” denotes those who are in affections of good; and in the opposite sense, those who are in affections of evil (n. 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 719, 776, 1823, 2179, 2180, 3218, 3519, 5198, 7523, 9090, 9280); but “the birds of heaven” denotes those who are in affections of truth, and in the opposite sense those who are in affections of falsity (n. 3219, 5149, 7441); therefore it is said that “under the shade of that tree dwelt the beast of the field,” and that “in its branches dwelt the birds of heaven,” and that “all flesh was fed;” and afterward that “the beast of the field should flee from under it, and the birds from its branches.”

1321. And there confound their lip. That this signifies that not anyone has the truth of doctrine, may be seen from the signification of “lip,” as being doctrine, concerning which see above (at verse 1). Hence it follows that to “confound the lips” is to confound the things that are of doctrine, that is, the truths of doctrine. In the internal sense, “to confound” signifies not only to darken, but also to blot out and dissipate, so that there is not any truth. When the worship of self succeeds in the place of the worship of the Lord, then all truth is not only perverted, but is even abolished, and at last falsity is acknowledged in the place of truth, and evil in the place of good. For all the light of truth is from the Lord, and all darkness is from man; and when man takes the place of the Lord in worship, the light of truth becomes thick darkness; and then the light is seen by men as thick darkness, and thick darkness is seen as the light.

[2] Such moreover is precisely the life of such persons after death; the life of falsity is to them as if it were light, but the life of truth is to them as thick darkness. But when they approach toward heaven, the light of such a life is changed into total darkness. So long as they are in the world, they can indeed speak truth, even with eloquence and apparent zeal; and as there is with all such persons a constant reflection upon self, they seem to themselves to think as they speak; but as their very end is the worship of self, their thoughts derive from the end that they do not acknowledge truth except insofar as self is in the truth. When a man in whose mouth is the truth is of such a character, it is evident that he does not possess the truth; and in the other life this is plainly evident, for there such men not only do not acknowledge the truth which they had professed in the life of the body, but hold it in hatred, and persecute it; and this just in proportion as their arrogance or their worship of self is not taken away.