8396. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Verse 1. (Exodus 16:1) And they journeyed from Elim, and all the assemblage of the sons of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, in the fifteenth day of the second month of their going out of the land of Egypt. “And they journeyed from Elim,” signifies what is successive; “and all the assemblage of the sons of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin,” signifies unto another state of temptation; “which is between Elim and Sinai,” signifies what is continuous and its quality; “In the fifteenth day of the second month,” signifies the state relatively; “of their going out of the land of Egypt,” signifies to their state when they were first liberated from infestations.

3356. The reason a “quaking” or “motion” denotes a change of state, is that it takes place in space and in time; and in the other life there is no idea of space and of time; but in their stead there is state. It is indeed true that in the other life all things appear as in space, and follow one another as if in time; but in themselves the space and time are changes of state, for they come from this source. This is perfectly well known to every spirit, even to the wicked, who by changes of state induced on others cause them to appear in another place, when yet they are not there. Men may know the same from the fact that insofar as a man is in a state of the affections and of the derivative joy; and insofar as he is in a state of the thoughts and of a consequent absence from the body, so far he is not in time; for many hours then appear to him scarcely as one; and this because his internal man or spirit has states to which the spaces and times in the external man correspond. “Motion,” therefore, being a successive progression in space and time, is in the internal sense a change of state.