24. Verse 6 And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters.

After the Spirit of God, which is the Lord's mercy, has brought out into the daylight cognitions of truth and good, and has shed the light of dawn to reveal that the Lord does exist, and that He is good itself and truth itself, and that no good or truth exists except from the Lord, a distinction is at that point made between the internal man and the external man, and so between cognitions which reside with the internal man and the facts which belong to the external man. The internal man is called 'an expanse, and the cognitions residing with the internal man are called 'the waters above the expanse', while the facts belonging to the external man are called 'the waters below the expanse'.

[2] Until his regeneration starts a person is not aware of even the existence of the internal man, let alone the identity of the internal man. Submerged in bodily and worldly concerns he imagines there is no difference between the two. Furthermore he has submerged in those same concerns the things that belong to the internal man and has made one thorough obscurity out of things that are distinct and separate. For this reason it is first said, 'Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters', and then, 'Let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters', and not a distinguishing of the waters. But this is followed immediately by the statement, Verses 7-8, And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expanse and the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven.

[3] The second thing therefore that a person notices when being regenerated is that he is starting to become aware of the existence of the internal man, or that what reside in the internal man are goods and truths which are the Lord's alone. And since the external man during regeneration is such as still imagines that he is the source of the good deeds he performs, or of the truth he utters, and since such a person, by means of them, is led by the Lord to do good and to speak truth as if they were his own, therefore the identification of those under the expanse comes first, and the identification of those above the expanse follows. It is also a heavenly arcanum that the Lord uses those things that are man's own - both his illusions of the senses and his desires - to lead and direct him towards the things that are goods and truths. Every single movement of regeneration is accordingly a progression from evening to morning - from external man to internal, that is, from earth to heaven. This is why the expanse, or internal man, is now called 'heaven'.

803. 'Birds, beasts, wild animals, and every creeping thing that creeps over the earth' means their persuasions, among which 'birds' means affections for falsity, 'beasts' evil desires, wild animals' pleasures, 'creeping thing that creeps' bodily and earthly interests. This becomes clear from what has been shown already about the meaning of birds and beasts - about birds in 40, and above at verses 14-15, of this chapter, and about beasts as well in those same verses, and also in 45, 46, 142, 143, 246. Since birds mean intellectual concepts, rational concepts, and factual knowledge, they also mean things that are the contrary, such as perverted rational concepts, falsities, and affections for falsity. The persuasions of the people before the Flood are described fully here, that is to say, they had within them affections for falsity, evil desires, pleasures, and bodily and earthly interests. All of these things are present in persuasions, though a person is not directly conscious of this, for he imagines that a false assumption, or persuasion of falsity, is some uncomplicated or quite general entity. He is much mistaken however, for the situation is altogether different. Every one of a person's affections derives its existence and character from the things of his understanding and at the same time from those of his will. As a result the whole person as regards all things of his understanding and all those of his will is present in every one of his affections, indeed in the most individual or least parts of them.

[2] This has been made quite clear to me from many experiences. For example, to mention but one, a spirit in the next life is able to recognize a person's character from merely one idea in that person's thinking. Indeed angels have the ability from the Lord to know anyone's character in an instant by merely looking at him; and they never make a mistake. From this it is clear that every one of a person's ideas, every affection, indeed every least part of his affection, is an image and replica of himself. That is, it contains something, closely or remotely, of the whole of his understanding and of the whole of his will. This then is how the dreadful persuasions of the people before the Flood are described: They had within them affections for falsity, also affections for evil (which are evil desires), as well as pleasures, and last of all bodily and earthly interests. All of these are present within such persuasions; and not only within persuasions in general but also within the most individual or least parts of persuasions, in which bodily and earthly interests are predominant. If anyone knew how much one false assumption or one persuasion of falsity contained he would be horrified. It is in a way an image of hell. But if they are the product of innocence or of ignorance, those falsities in him are easily dispersed.