10330. 'And I have filled him with the spirit of God' means influx and enlightenment received from Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord's Divine Good. This is clear from the meaning of 'filling with the spirit of God' as influx and enlightenment received from Divine Truth. In respect of what Jehovah does 'filling' is influx, while on man's side it is enlightenment; and 'the spirit of God' is Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord's Divine Good. The reason why 'filling', in respect of what Jehovah or the Lord does, is influx, while on man's side it is enlightenment, is that 'influx' is a term which serves to describe all the good and all the truth that come from heaven and originate in the Lord; and since that influx causes a person to be enlightened the term 'enlightenment' serves to describe what happens on man's side. Regarding 'the spirit of God', that it is this Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, see 9818.

[2] Since few know what the influx of Divine Truth and what the resulting enlightenment in a person are like, let something about these matters be stated here. The Church recognizes that all the good of love and truth of faith has its source not in a person himself but in heaven - in what is Divine there - as it resides with him. It is also recognized that those who receive that truth and good have enlightenment. Such influx and enlightenment however are brought about in the following manner. The nature of a person is such that he is able to use his inner powers of thought and will to look downwards or to look upwards. Looking downwards consists in looking away to the world and to self; and looking upwards consists in looking towards heaven and towards God. The person looking outwards is self-directed; this is called looking downwards because when a person is self-directed he looks towards hell. But a person looking in an inward direction is not self-directed but is directed by the Lord; this is called looking upwards because as to his inner powers of will and understanding he is then raised by the Lord towards heaven, and so towards the Lord. Those inner powers themselves are literally raised up, and at the same time are literally drawn away from the body and the world. When this happens the person's inner powers do literally pass into heaven, and into its warmth and light. As a result he receives influx and enlightenment. The light of heaven shines in his understanding, for the Divine Truth which radiates from the Lord as the sun constitutes that light; and the warmth of heaven heats his will, for the good of love which radiates at the same time from the Lord as the sun composes this warmth. Since the person is then among angels they impart an understanding of truth and an affection for good to him, that is, the Lord does so through them.

This imparting is what the terms 'influx and enlightenment' serve to describe.

[3] But it should be recognized that the extent to which influx and enlightenment are brought about depends on the person's ability to receive what is imparted; and this ability depends on his love of truth and good. People therefore who have a love of truth and good because they see truth and good as the end in view are raised up; but those who have a love of truth and good because they see self and the world, not truth and good, as the end in view are constantly looking and gravitating downwards. These as a consequence cannot be raised, and so cannot receive Divine influx from heaven and become enlightened. Their intelligence or understanding, which to them seems to be an understanding of truth, is the product of a light in which a fool sees things - a light shining before their mind's eye which radiates from notions which they have proved to themselves and gone on to convince themselves of. Whether true or false however, it still provides a brightness, which however turns into total darkness when light from heaven flows in. I have been shown vividly that this is so. From all this it may be seen what the origin is of the great number of heresies that arise in the world. That is to say, they arise because their founders and leaders have looked towards themselves, having their own glory as their end in view, and have regarded those things which belong to the Lord and to heaven as means to that end.

1616. That 'Abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt in the oak groves of Mamre which are in Hebron' means that the Lord arrived at a perception more interior still is clear from the meaning of 'moving one's tent', that is, moving it and pitching it once again, as the process of being joined together; for 'a tent' is the holiness of worship, as shown already in 414, 1452, by which the external man is joined to the internal. It is also clear from the meaning of 'an oak-grove' as perception, dealt with already in 1442, 1443, where the phrase that occurred was 'the oak-grove of Moreh', meaning a first perception, whereas here the plural 'the oak-groves of Mamre' is used, which means a fuller, that is, more interior perception. This perception is called 'the oak-groves of Mamre which are in Hebron'. Mamre is also mentioned elsewhere in the Word, as in Genesis 14:13; 18:1; 23:17-19; 35:27; and Hebron too, in Genesis 35:27; 37:14; Joshua 10:36, 39; 14:13-15; 15:13, 54; 20:7; 21:11, 13; Judges 1:10, 20; and elsewhere. But what Mamre and Hebron mean where they are so mentioned will in the Lord's Divine mercy be seen when these other parts of the Word are explained.

[2] The implications of 'the oak-groves of Mamre which are in Hebron' meaning perception more interior still are as follows: To the extent that those things belonging to the external man are joined to celestial things belonging to the internal man perception grows and becomes more interior. Conjunction with celestial things confers perception, for within the celestial things that belong to love to Jehovah dwells the life itself of the internal man, or what amounts to the same, within celestial things which belong to love, that is, within celestial love, Jehovah is present. This presence is not perceived in the external man however until the conjunction has taken place. All perception is the result of conjunction.

[3] From the internal sense here it is clear what the situation was in the Lord's case: His External Man, or Human Essence, was joined step by step to the Divine Essence as cognitions multiplied and became fruitful. No one can ever, insofar as he is human, be joined to Jehovah, or the Lord, except by means of cognitions, for it is by means of cognitions that a person is made human. This applied to the Lord too since He was born as any other is born, and received instruction as any other does. Yet in the cognitions He had as receptacles celestial things were being instilled continually, with the result that His cognitions were constantly being made into the recipient vessels of celestial things; and these vessels also were themselves made celestial.

[4] Constantly the Lord advanced in this manner towards the celestial things of infancy, for, as stated already, the celestial things which belong to love are being instilled in a person from earliest infancy to childhood and on into adolescence as well. Since he is a human being, at that time and later on he is endowed with knowledge and cognitions. If a person is such that he can be regenerated, that knowledge and those cognitions are filled with celestial things that belong to love and charity, and are accordingly implanted within the celestial things he was endowed with from infancy through to childhood and adolescence, and in this way his external man is joined to his internal. First of all they are implanted in the celestial things he was endowed with in adolescence, then in those he was endowed with in childhood, and finally in those he was endowed with in infancy. At that point he is 'the little child' regarding whom the Lord said 'of such is the kingdom of God'. This implanting is done by the Lord alone, and therefore nothing celestial with man either does or can exist with man that does not come from, and belong to, the Lord.

[5] The Lord however from His own power joined His External Man to His Internal Man and filled His cognitions with celestial things, and He implanted them in celestial things, doing so according to Divine Order. First of all He implanted them in the celestial things of childhood, then in the celestial things of the age of childhood and back to infancy, and finally in the celestial things of His infancy. In this way He at the same time became as regards the Human Essence Innocence itself and Love itself, from which derive all innocence and all love in heaven and on earth. Such Innocence is true Infancy because it is simultaneously Wisdom. But the innocence of infancy is of no use at all unless by means of cognitions it becomes the innocence of wisdom, and this is why little children in the next life are endowed with cognitions. As the Lord implanted cognitions in celestial things, so He had perception, for, as stated, all perception is the result of conjunction. He had His first perception when He implanted the facts acquired in childhood, a perception meant by 'the oak-grove of Moreh'; and He had His second, which is the subject here, and which is more interior, when He implanted cognitions, a perception meant by 'the oak-groves of Mamre which are in Hebron'.