8408. 'When we sat by a pot of flesh' means a life according to their own pleasure, and such as they craved for. This is clear from the meaning of 'a pot' as a container of good, and in the contrary sense a container of evil, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'flesh' as the heavenly proprium, thus good, and in the contrary sense as the proprium that is man's own, thus evil, also dealt with below. ¹ And since 'flesh' means the proprium, 'sitting by a pot of flesh' means a life according to one's own pleasure, and such as one craves for; for that is the life of the proprium. The reason why 'a pot' means a container of good, and in the contrary sense a container of evil, is that 'the flesh' cooked in it means good and in the contrary sense evil. And having these meanings 'a pot' also means the bodily level or the natural level of the human mind, since these are containers of good or of evil. This being so, it is used in a general sense to mean a person, and in an even more general sense to mean a people or a city; and when 'a pot' is used to mean these, 'flesh' means the good or the evil that is in them, as in Ezekiel,

... the men who think iniquity and give wicked counsel in this city, saying, [The time] is not near; [the city] itself is the pot, we are the flesh. Therefore thus said the Lord Jehovih, Your slain whom you have placed in the midst of it, ² they are the flesh, but it is the pot. Ezekiel 11:2-3, 7.

Here 'the pot' stands for the city or the people there, and 'the flesh' for evil, since 'the slain', who are called 'the flesh', are those among whom goodness and truth have been wiped out, 4503.

[2] In the same prophet,

Tell a parable against the house of rebellion, and say to them, Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Put on the pot, put it on, and also pour [water into it gather] the pieces into it - every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder. Fill it with the choice of the bones. The Lord Jehovih said, Woe to the city of blood, ³ to the pot whose scum is in it, and whose scum has not gone out of it! Ezekiel 24:3-6.

Here 'the pot' stands for the city or the people there, among whom there exists the evil that results when good is profaned. The good or flesh there is 'the thigh and the shoulder'; the evil is 'the scum' coming from it, and good when profaned is the scum remaining, which also accounts for the city's being called 'the city of blood'.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Jehovah said to Jeremiah, What do you see? I said, A puffed out pot do I see, its face towards the north. Then Jehovah said, From the north evil will be opened over all the inhabitants of the land. Jeremiah 1:11-14.

'A puffed-out pot' stands for a people whom falsities have taken possession of, and 'the north' for the sensory and bodily levels of the human mind, from which evil pours out. The subject here is the end of the Church, when what belongs to the external and therefore to sensory and bodily levels, together with falsity and evil, has dominion; for the Lord's Church moves in a series of stages from what is internal to what is external, at which point it breathes its last.

[4] In Zechariah,

On that day there will be on the horses' bells, Holiness to Jehovah. And the pots in the house of Jehovah will be as the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holiness to Jehovah Zebaoth; and all offering sacrifice will come, and take from them, and cook in them. Zechariah 14:20-21.

The subject here is the salvation of faithful believers, faithful believers being 'the pots', which they are called because they receive good from the Lord; and because they receive that good every 'pot' is said to be 'holiness to Jehovah'. 'The bells of the horses, with Holiness on them' are truths in agreement with good. Since 'pots' are recipients and containers of good, they like all the other vessels for the altar were made of bronze, Exodus 38:3; for 'bronze' means the good of the natural, 425, 1551.

[5] In addition to this 'the pot' may mean religious teachings because these hold the Church's good and truth within them. Such teachings are meant by 'the pot' in which at Elisha's command a soup was boiled for the sons of the prophets, described as follows in the second Book of Kings,

Elisha came again to Gilgal, when there was a famine in the land. When the sons of the prophets were sitting before him he said to his servant, Put on a great pot, and boil a soup for the sons of the prophets. One of them went out into the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine, and gathered from it wild gourds, and cut them up into the pot of soup. While they were eating of the soup they cried out, There is death in the pot, O man of God! But he said that they should bring flour, which he threw into the pot, and said, Pour out for the people and let them eat. Then there was not anything bad in the pot. 2 Kings 4:38-41.

It should be recognized that all Divine miracles have to do with things connected with the Lord's kingdom and the Church, 7337, 8364, and that 'Elisha' represents the Word of the Lord, 2762, and 'prophets' teachings derived from it, 2534, 7269. From this one may see what thing connected with the Church was represented by this miracle, which was that if the Church's good has been falsified it is made good again by means of truth from the Word. 'A famine' is a lack of cognitions or knowledge of truth and good; 'the pot' is religious teachings; 'soup' is the good of the Jewish Church's outward religious observances; 'gourds from a wild vine' is falsification; and 'flour' is truth from the Word, 2177, used to make good again that which has been falsified, meant by 'death in the pot'. The reason why 'pots' means containers of good is that they were included among the utensils in which food was prepared, and 'food', every kind of it, means such things as nourish the soul, that is, affections for good and truth, 681, 1480, 3114, 4792, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5576, 5410, 5915.

Poznámky pod čarou:

3938. 'And Leah said, In my blessedness! for the daughters will call me blessed' in the highest sense means eternity, in the internal sense the happiness of eternal life, in the external sense the delight that belongs to the affections. This is clear from the meaning of 'blessedness', and from the meaning of 'the daughters will bless me'. That 'blessedness' in the highest sense means eternity cannot be seen except from its correspondence with the things which exist with man, for the mind cannot have any grasp of things that are Divine or infinite except through those that are finite, of which man is able to have mental images. Without mental images formed from finite things, and especially images formed from things that exist within space and time, man cannot begin to comprehend Divine things, let alone the Infinite. Without mental images formed from space and time man is not even capable of thinking anything, 3404, for as to the body, and so as to thoughts which are formed from external sensory impressions, he dwells within the confines of time. But angels, since they are not bounded by time or space, have mental images formed from states of being. This is why spatial or temporal references in the Word mean states, see 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356, 3827.

[2] But there are two states - a state which corresponds to space and a state which corresponds to time. The state which corresponds to space is a state in regard to being, while the state which corresponds to time is a state in regard to manifestation, 2625. There are two entities which constitute man, namely being (esse) and manifestation (existere). Man's being is nothing else than a recipient of the eternal which proceeds from the Lord. Indeed men, spirits, or angels are nothing else than recipients - that is, recipient forms - of life from the Lord. The actual reception of life is what the term manifestation refers to. Man imagines that he has being, and indeed that he is self-existent, when in fact he is not a self-existent being but, as has been stated, one who manifests being. Self-existent BEING occurs solely in the Lord, and that BEING is called JEHOVAH. This BEING which is JEHOVAH is the source from which all things that seem to be self-existent derive their being. But the Lord's or Jehovah's actual BEING cannot possibly be imparted to any, except to the Lord's Human. This Human was made the Divine Being, that is, it was made Jehovah. On the point that the Lord is Jehovah as to both Essences, see 1736, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2156, 2329, 2921, 3023, 3035.

[3] Manifestation too is used of the Lord, but only of the time when He was in the world and there assumed the Divine Being. But ever since He was made the Divine Being the term Manifestation could no longer be used of Him except to refer to whatever proceeds from Him. That which proceeds from Him seems like a Manifestation within Him, but it is not. Rather it is that which goes forth from Him and causes men, spirits, and angels to be forms manifesting His Being, that is, to have life. In so manifesting His Being man, spirit, or angel has life, and the life he has is eternal happiness. The happiness of eternal life is what eternity, the source of which is the Lord's Divine Being, corresponds to in the highest sense. The fact that the happiness of eternal life is what is meant in the internal sense by 'blessedness' is evident from this, as also is the fact that the delight which belongs to the affections is meant in the external sense, and so is evident without explanation.

[4] But it is the delight belonging to the affections for truth and good, a delight which corresponds to the happiness of eternal life, that is meant. All affections have their own delights, but the nature of the affections determines that of the delights. The affections for evil and falsity have their own delights as well, and before a person is regenerated and receives from the Lord the affections for truth and good those delights seem to be the only delights, so much so that people believe that no other delights are possible, and consequently that if these were taken away from them they would perish completely. But people who do receive from the Lord the delights which belong to the affections for truth and good gradually see and perceive the true nature of the delights of that life which they had believed to be the only possible delights - that they are by comparison worthless, indeed foul. But the more he enters into the delights that belong to the affections for truth and good the more a person begins to despise those delights in evil and falsity, and at length to loathe them.

[5] I have on occasions spoken to spirits in the next life whose delights have been those of evil and falsity, and I have been allowed to tell them that they do not have life until these delights are taken away from them. But as with people like them in the world those spirits have said that if they were deprived of such delights they would no longer have any life at all. I have been allowed to reply however that that is just when that life begins, and with that life happiness such as exists in heaven, which compared with any other happiness defies description. But this they have been unable to grasp because of unbelief in anything which they do not actually know. They are like all those in the world who are governed by self-love and love of the world and who do not therefore have any charity. They know the delight that belongs to self-love and love of the world, but not the delight that belongs to charity. Consequently they have no knowledge at all of what charity is, and have less idea still of any delight residing within charity, when in fact the delight belonging to charity is the delight which fills the whole of heaven and is the producer of the blessedness and happiness there. And if you are willing to believe it, it is also the producer of intelligence and wisdom together with the delights that go with them, for the Lord enters with the light of truth and with the flame of good, and therefore with intelligence and wisdom, into the delights belonging to charity. But falsities and evils reject, stifle, and pervert those delights, and thereby cause stupidity and madness. These considerations show the identity and the nature of the delight which belongs to the affections and corresponds to the happiness of eternal life.

[6] People of the present day and age imagine that if only a person has the confidence received through faith even in his final hour before death, then regardless of whatever affection has been pre-eminent throughout the whole course of his life, he can enter heaven. I have on occasions spoken to spirits who have lived and believed as these people do. When they enter the next life they at first think of nothing else than of being able to enter heaven, irrespective of their previous life, that is to say, irrespective of the fact that by means of that life they have acquired the delight that belongs to the affection for evil and falsity arising out of self-love and love of the world, which loves constituted the ends they had in view. I have been allowed to tell them that everyone is able to be admitted into heaven, for the Lord denies heaven to none. But whether they have the ability to live in that place they will be able to know if admitted. Some who were resolute in the belief were admitted. But because the life that belongs to love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour reigns in heaven, which life enters into the whole sphere of life and the happiness there, when they arrived they began to feel a pain, for they were unable to breathe in such a sphere and began to become aware of the foulness of their own affections, and so to suffer hellish torment. As a consequence they hurried away from there, saying that they wanted to get right away from it, amazed that heaven should be what to them was hell. This shows the essential nature of the two different delights, and that people whose delight has been that of the affection for evil and falsity cannot in any way be among those whose delight has been that belonging to the affection for good and truth, and that the two delights are opposites, like heaven and hell, see 537-539, 541, 547, 1397, 1398, 2130, 2401.

[7] Furthermore as regards the happiness of eternal life, no one who is moved by the affection for good and truth is able when he is living in the world to perceive that happiness, but only a certain delight instead. The reason why he is unable to do so is that he is confined to the body, and when confined in the body he is subject to worldly cares and as a consequence to anxieties. These prevent the happiness of eternal life, which is inwardly present in him, being manifested in any other way, for when that happiness passes from the inward parts of his being into cares and anxieties which reside in his outward parts, it sinks into the cares there and the anxieties, and becomes a kind of obscure delight. Nevertheless it is a delight that holds blessedness within it, and happiness within that. Being content in God constitutes such happiness. But once a person casts aside the body, and at the same time those worldly cares and anxieties, the happiness which has been so lying hidden in obscurity within his more internal man comes forward and reveals itself.

[8] As the term affection is used so often, let a definition of what that term means be given here. Affection is nothing else than love, yet it is an extension branching out of it. For the affection anyone has, whether for evil and falsity or for good and truth, stems from love. And as this love is present with and exists in every single part of a person it, is not perceived as love but is varied according to circumstances and according to the states, and the changes of these states, through which that person is passing. And this is unceasingly the case in everything he wills, thinks and does. This extension from love is what is called affection, and it is this extension which reigns in a person's life and which produces every delight residing with him. And in producing his every delight it produces his actual life, for a person's life is nothing else than the delight which belongs to his affection, and so is nothing else than the affection which belongs to his love. Love constitutes man's willing, and from this his thinking, and thereby his acting.