9128. 'If the sun has risen on him' means if he sees it clearly - the theft that is being committed - from a more internal level. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sun rising' as its being seen in light, thus its being seen clearly, at this point that good or truth is being taken away, meant by 'the theft', 9125. The reason why 'if the sun has risen' has this meaning is that 'the thief caught digging through', spoken of in the previous verse, means good or truth being taken away secretly, thus without its being seen, 9125. The reason for saying seen from a more internal level is that such an action is seen by the internal man.

[2] Since it is an important matter, something must be stated about what seeing from a more internal level implies. A person sees within himself whether what he thinks and intends, and consequently what he speaks and does, is good or bad, and therefore whether it is true or false. This is not at all possible unless the person sees from a more internal level. Seeing from a more internal level takes place when things are seen by the internal man within the external. This is like the sight of the eye; the eye cannot see things within itself, only those outside it. This then is how a person sees the good and the bad he has within himself. Nevertheless one person's sight of this is better than another's, and some have no sight of it whatever. The ones with sight of it are those who have received from the Lord the life of faith and charity; for this life is internal life or the life of the internal man. Because truth resides with these people by virtue of their faith, and good by virtue of their charity, they can see the evils and falsities present in themselves; for evil can be seen from good, and falsity can be seen from truth, but not the other way round. The reason for this is that good and truth are in heaven and the light of heaven, whereas evil and falsity are in hell and the darkness of hell. From this it is evident that those immersed in evil and as a result in falsity cannot see good or truth; they cannot even see the evil and falsity present within themselves. Nor consequently can they see from a more internal level.

[3] But it should be recognized that seeing from a more internal level is seeing from the Lord; for the situation with sight is the same as it is with everything that comes into being. Nothing brings itself into being; rather it springs from what is prior to or higher than itself, and so finally from the First and Highest. The First and Highest is the Lord. Anyone who understands this can also understand that all of the life present in a person comes from the Lord; and, since charity and faith constitute that most real life a person can have, that all of the charity and all of the faith come from the Lord. A person endowed with greater power of thought and perception than others can also understand from all this that the Lord sees every single thing, even the smallest things present in a person. Evil and falsity however do not spring into being from what is higher than themselves but from what is lower; consequently they do not spring from the Lord but from the world, since the Lord is above whereas the world is below. Therefore the internal man with those immersed in evil and as a result in falsity is closed above and open below. This is why they see all things in an upside down manner - the world as everything and heaven as nothing. They are also for this reason seen by angels to be upside down, feet upwards and head downwards. This is what all in hell look like.