177. As earthen vessels shall they be shivered, signifies the total dispersion of falsities. This is evident from the signification of "earthen vessels," as being such things in the natural man as are from self-intelligence; and all things in the natural man that have respect to the things of heaven and the church and which are from self-intelligence are falsities (of which presently). It is evident also from the signification of being "shivered," as being to be dispersed; "to disperse" is said of falsities, as "to shiver" is said of earthen vessels. That "earthen vessels" signify the things in the natural man that are from self-intelligence in matters of heaven and the church, and that these things are falsities, will be shown in what follows; something must first be said to show that the things that have respect to heaven and the church that gain entrance by self-intelligence are falsities.

Those who think from self-intelligence think from the world; for man, from his proprium [what is his own] loves only the things of the world and of self, and what he loves he also sees and perceives; the things he loves he calls goods, and the things he sees and perceives therefrom he calls truths; but these goods, which from love he so calls, are evils, and the truths which he sees from that love are falsities, since they spring forth from the loves of self and of the world, which loves are contrary to the loves of heaven, which are love to the Lord and love to the neighbor; and the things that pour forth from contraries are contraries.

[2] Those, therefore, who read the Word solely for repute of erudition, or to acquire fame that they may be exalted to honors or may gain wealth, never see and perceive truths, but falsities instead; and the truths that stand out before the eyes in the Word they either pass by as if not seen or they falsify them. The reason is, that to read the Word solely for the repute of erudition or for fame, that they may be exalted to honors and gain wealth, is to read it for the sake of self and the world as ends, thus from the loves of self and the world. And as these loves are of man's proprium [man's self] so the things that man sees and perceives from them are from self-intelligence.

[3] But those who read the Word from the spiritual affection of truth, which affection is a love of knowing truth because it is truth, see truths in the Word, and rejoice in heart when they see them; and this because they are in illustration from the Lord. Illustration descends from the Lord through heaven from the light there, which light is Divine truth. It is therefore given to them to see truths from the light of truth, and this in the Word, because the Word is Divine truth, and in it are stored up all the truths of heaven. But those only are in this illustration who are in the two loves of heaven, which are love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; for these loves open the inner or higher mind, which is formed to receive the light of heaven, and through that mind in them the light of heaven flows in and illustrates. But so long as they live in the world they do not perceive truths in that mind, but they see them in the lower mind, the mind of the external or natural man. Such as these do not think from self-intelligence when they read the Word. The especial reason why these do not think from their self-intelligence when they read the Word is, that their interior or spiritual mind looks to the Lord, and the Lord then elevates it up to Himself, and with it the lower or natural mind, thus withdrawing it from man's proprium [man's self] which cannot be done with those who have regard first and foremost to themselves and the world.

[4] From this it can be seen that man from self-intelligence perceives nothing but evils and sees nothing but falsities; but that goods and truths that are of heaven and the church he perceives and sees from the Lord. When the internal or spiritual man, in which is the inner or higher mind of which we have just spoken, is opened, then the Lord subdues the evils and disperses the falsities which are in the external or natural man. These things, then, are what are meant in the spiritual sense by this, that the Son of man is to "give them power over the nations, and He shall rule them with an iron rod, and as earthen vessels they shall be shivered."

[5] That "earthen vessels" signify such things as are from self-intelligence, thus the falsities that are in the natural man, is evident from various passages in the Word, of which I will cite the following as confirmation. In David:

Thou shalt bruise the nations with an iron scepter; as a potter's vessel Thou shall dash them in pieces (Psalms 2:9).

In this passage also "to bruise the nations with an iron scepter" is to chastise and subdue the evils that are in the natural man. "Scepter" here has the same signification as "staff" or "rod." It is added "as a potter's vessel," because that signifies falsity from self-intelligence. In the sense of the letter this is a comparison, for it is said "as a potter's vessel," and "as earthen vessels;" but in the internal sense comparisons are not perceived as comparisons, since comparisons are equally from things significative (See Arcana Coelestia 3579, 8989.)

"A potter's vessel," or "earthen vessel," signifies what is false, because a potter is one who forms, and a vessel is what is formed; and when man forms the vessel it is a falsity, but when the Lord forms it with man it is a truth; consequently in the Word "a potter's vessel" signifies either what is false or what is true, and "a potter" signifies one who forms.

[6] The Lord Himself is called in the Word a "Potter," from His forming man by means of truths; as in Isaiah:

Jehovah our Father; we are the clay, and Thou art our Potter, and we all are the work of Thy hands (Isaiah 64:8).

In the same:

Woe unto him that striveth with the Former! a potsherd with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to its potter, What makest thou? (Isaiah 45:9).

In the same :

Shall the potter be counted as clay? Shall the work say to its Former, He made me not, and shall the thing formed say of its potter, He understandeth not? (Isaiah 29:16).

[7] As the Jews and Israelites falsified all the truths of the Word by applying them to themselves and to their own exaltation above all nations and peoples in the universal world, so their falsities are called "marred vessels" of a potter, as in Isaiah:

Who have said to the seers, See not; and to those that have vision, See not for us right things, speak unto us smooth things, see illusions; depart from the way; therefore iniquity shall break them as the breaking of the potter's bottle; in beating it shall not spare, so that there shall not be found in the fragment thereof a sherd to take fire from the hearth or to draw waters from the cistern (Isaiah 30:10-11, 13-14).

That they wholly deprived themselves of truths, and immersed themselves in falsities, is described by this, "They said to the seers, See not; and to those that have vision, See not for us right things, speak unto us smooth things, see illusions; depart from the way." That they had so immersed themselves in falsities that no more truth remained, is described by "the breaking of the potter's bottle, so that there should not be found in the fragment a sherd to take fire from the hearth or to draw waters out of the cistern." By this is signified that not enough of truth should be left to enable them to perceive any good and truth from the Word; for "fire" signifies good, and "water" truth; "hearth" the Word in respect to good; "cistern" and "fountain" the Word in respect to truth.

[8] In Jeremiah:

The word came to Jeremiah, Arise, and go down to the potter's house. Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold he wrought a work on the table. But the vessel that he was making was marred; and he turned back and made it another vessel as was right in the potter's eyes to make (Jeremiah 18:1-4).

This also means that with the Jewish nation there was nothing but falsity; and "the vessel that was marred in the potter's house" is that falsity; "the potter's house" is the state in which they were. That the truth of the church should be taken away from them and given to others, is meant by this, that "the potter turned back and made it another vessel, as was right in his eyes."

[9] In the same:

Jehovah said, Go buy a potter's earthen bottle of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests; and go forth into the valley of the son of Hinnom. Then shalt thou break the bottle before the eyes of the men that go with thee; and shalt say, I will break this people, and this city as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again; and they shall bury in Tophet, because there is no more a place to bury in (Jeremiah 19:1-2, 19:10-11).

"The potter's earthen bottle, or vessel, from the elders of the people and of the priests" is here also the falsity in which all of that nation were. That this falsity was such that it could not be dispersed by means of truths is described by this, that "he should break the vessel before the eyes of the men that went with him, that it could not be made whole again;" that they should "bury in Tophet, because there was no more a place," signifies where all truths and goods have been destroyed.

[10] In Nahum:

Draw thee waters for the siege; strengthen thy fortresses; go into the mire and tread the clay, repair the brick-kiln. There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off (Nahum 3:14-15).

"To draw waters for the siege and to strengthen the fortresses" is to fortify falsities by various means against truths; "to go into the mire and tread the clay" is to confirm falsities by fictions and fallacies; doctrine thence derived is called "a brick kiln," because infernal love is strengthened by falsifications; it is therefore said that "the fire shall devour, and the sword cut off;" "fire" is infernal love, and a "sword" is falsity combating and destroying truth. "A potter's vessel" or "earthen vessel" signifies falsity, because it corresponds to something fabricated, and what is fabricated is a product of man's self-intelligence; it was from this correspondence that the prophets were commanded to do such things as are mentioned above.