2930. 'If you are willing' means if on account of an affection for truth coming from the heart. This is clear from the meaning of 'soul' in the internal sense. The expression 'with heart and soul' or 'with all the heart and with all the soul' occurs in various places in the Word where with all the will and all the understanding is meant. The fact that man possesses the dual powers of will and understanding, and also that the will is separated from the understanding may be well known to everyone, for we are all able to understand what is good and true but nevertheless will what is evil and false. From the beginning the human being was created in such a way that will and understanding with him were to make one, so that he would not think anything other than what he willed, nor will anything other than what he thought. Such is the state with celestial people and such it was in the celestial Church which was called Man or Adam. But with spiritual people, that is, in the spiritual Church, the first ability is separated from the second, that is to say, that of the understanding is separated from that of the will. A spiritual person is reformed by the Lord as to the former, namely the understanding part of his mind, and then within this there is formed a new will and a new understanding, 863, 875, 895, 897, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256.

[2] The new will there, which is received from the Lord, is what is called 'the heart', while the new understanding is what is called 'the soul'. And when the expression 'with all the heart and with all the soul' is used, with all the will and with all the understanding is meant. This is what is meant by 'heart and soul' in Moses,

This day Jehovah your God is commanding you to observe these statutes and judgements - that you may keep and observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. Deuteronomy 26:16.

You shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5.

In the same author,

Now Israel, what does Jehovah your God require of you except to fear Jehovah your God, to go in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul? Deuteronomy 10:12; 11:13.

In the same author,

In the Book of Kings,

David said to Solomon, Jehovah will establish His Word which He spoke concerning me, saying, If [your] sons take heed to their way to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there will not fail you a man on the throne of Israel. 1 Kings 2:4.

In Matthew,

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:29-30.

[3] The same is also said of Jehovah or the Lord because with the member of the Church He is the source of affection for good, which belongs to the will, and of the affection for truth, which belongs to the understanding; as in Samuel,

I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, [who will do] according to what is in My heart and in My soul. 1 Samuel 2:35.

And in Jeremiah,

I will rejoice over them to do good to them, and I will plant them in this land in truth, with all My heart, and with all My soul. Jeremiah 32:41.

And there are still other places in the Word where 'soul' means the affection for truth, as in Isaiah,

With my soul I desired You in the night; even with my spirit within me I sought You early. For insofar as Your judgements are in the earth the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Isaiah 26:9.

Here 'soul' stands for an affection for truth, 'spirit' for an affection for good. 'Judgements' has reference to truths, and 'righteousness' to good, see 2235.

[4] In the same prophet,

The fool speaks folly, to make empty the hungry soul, and causes the [soul] thirsting for drink to fail. Isaiah 32:6.

'The hungry soul', which 'the fool makes empty', stands for the desire for good, while 'the soul thirsting for drink', which 'the fool causes to fail', stands for the desire for truth. In Jeremiah,

Their soul will become like a watered garden, and I will water the weary soul, and every sorrowful soul I will replenish. Jeremiah 31:12, 25.

'The soul' stands for the affection for truth and good. In the same prophet,

All its people groan as they search for bread. They have given their desirable things for food, to revive the soul. A comforter is far from me, one to revive my soul; my sons have been made desolate. They sought food for themselves to revive their soul. Lamentations 1:11, 16, 19.

'The soul' stands for the life of the affection for good and truth, 'food' stands for wisdom and intelligence.

[5] It has been said that 'the soul' means the affection for truth coming from the heart, because some affections for truth exist which do not come from the heart, such as those which come from self-love, which is the desire to be above others; from love of the world, which is the love of gain; and from love of merit. Affections for truth spring in a similar way from these loves, but they are not genuine affections. They come from the will of the flesh, not from the heart. That which comes from the heart comes from the Lord. Furthermore 'the soul' in the Word means in the universal sense all life, see 1000, 1005, 1040, 1742. Indeed in the universal sense the soul constitutes that from which another thing has its being and life. Thus the soul of the body is its spirit, since it is from this that the body has life. The soul of the spirit however is its still more interior life from which it derives its wisdom and intelligence.

895. 'The waters dried up from over the earth' means that falsities were not at that time apparent. This is clear from what has been stated. In particular these words mean that falsities had been separated from things of the will belonging to the member of this Church. The statement 'the waters dried up from over the earth' occurs at this point because here 'earth' means the person's will, which is nothing but evil desire. As stated already, the ground is situated in the understanding part of man's mind, in which part truths are sown. No sowing ever takes place in the will part, which in the spiritual man has been separated from the understanding part. This is why in the last part of this verse it is said that 'the face ¹ of the ground was dry'. With the member of the Most Ancient Church there was ground in the will part of his mind, where the Lord implanted goods. It was from goods therefore that he was able to know and perceive truth, that is, it was from love that he was able to possess faith. If the same thing were to happen today however, a person would inevitably and eternally perish, for his will is utterly corrupted. What implantation in the will part entails and what in the understanding part becomes clear from the consideration that the member of the Most Ancient Church had in fact enjoyed revelations through which from early childhood onwards he was led into a perception of goods and truths. But since they used to be implanted in the will part of his mind he perceived without any further instruction the countless aspects of any one general matter. He knew from the Lord the details and the finer points which nowadays men must learn before knowing about them. And even then they can know scarcely one thousandth of them. For the member of the spiritual Church knows nothing unless he acquires it by learning; and what he gets to know in this fashion he retains and believes to be true. Indeed if he learns something false and this is impressed on him as though it were true, he believes that as well, for he has no other perception than that a thing is true because he has in that way been persuaded of it. People who possess conscience derive from conscience a certain dictate. Yet with them a thing is true only because they have heard and learned that it is. This is what constitutes their conscience, as becomes clear from people who have a conscience of what is false.

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