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.

1040. 'And every living soul that is with you' means all things with a person that have been regenerated. This is clear from the meaning of 'a living soul', dealt with above at verse 10. In the Word, as has been stated, soul' means all life - man's internal life as well as external, and also that in living creatures since these mean the things that exist in man. But strictly speaking 'living soul' is that which receives life from the Lord, that is, which has been regenerated, for this alone is living. And because 'soul' means the life, internal as well as external, with man, 'living soul' embraces in meaning all things with a person that have been regenerated. Residing with man there are things of the will and things of the understanding, the former entirely distinct and separate from the latter; and with a living man every single one of those things is living. For the implications are that as is a person's character so is every single thing residing with him. The life itself that is general to the whole is present in every individual part, for the whole has its origins in the individual parts, as its own particulars. If this were not so no general whole could possibly arise, for it is called general because it arises out of particulars.

[2] As is a person's life in general therefore, so is his life in every individual part, indeed in the smallest individual parts of his motives and intentions - that is, of his will - and in the smallest individual parts of his thinking; so that not the least part of an idea can exist in which the same life is not present. Take someone who is arrogant: arrogance is present in every individual endeavour of his will and in every individual idea of his thought. With someone who is avaricious avarice is in a similar way present, as is hatred with one who hates the neighbour. Or take someone who is stupid: stupidity is present in every individual part of his will and also of his thought, as is insanity with one who is insane. Such being the nature of man, his character is recognized in the next life from one single idea of his thought.

[3] Once a person has been regenerated every single thing with him has been regenerated. That is, everything has life, the amount of life depending on the degree to which his own will, which is filthy and dead, could be separated from the new will and understanding which he has received from the Lord. Consequently as the person who is regenerate is the subject here 'a living soul' means all things with him that have been regenerated. These, in general, constitute the things of his understanding and of his will, interior as well as exterior. They have been expressed in verse 10 above as 'birds and beasts, and wild animals of the earth', for it is said, 'I am establishing My covenant with every living soul - with birds, with beasts, and with wild animals of the earth'.