5215. And parched with the east wind. That this signifies full of cupidities, is evident from the signification of “parched with the east wind,” as being to be consumed by the fire of cupidities. For the “east wind” and the “east,” in the genuine sense, are love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor (see n. 101, 1250, 3249, 3708, 3762); hence in the opposite sense they are love of self and love of the world, consequently evil desires and cupidities; for these belong to the loves referred to. “Fire” is predicated of these things for the reason spoken of above (see n. 5071), and consequently “to be parched” is predicated of them.

[2] For there are two sources of heat, as also of light; one source of heat is the sun of the world, and the other source is the sun of heaven, which is the Lord. It is known that the sun of the world pours forth heat into its world, and into all the things therein; but that the sun of heaven pours heat into the whole heaven is not so well known. And yet this may be known, if anyone will reflect upon the heat that is within man, and that has nothing in common with the heat of this world, that is, the heat called vital heat. From this it might be known that this heat is of a different nature from that of the heat of this world; and this true heat is living, while that of this world is not living; and that because spiritual heat is living, it kindles man’s interiors, of his will and understanding, and gives him to desire and to love and also to be affected. For this reason also desires, loves, and affections are spiritual heat, and are so called. That they are heat is very manifest, for heat is exhaled on all sides from living bodies, even in the greatest cold; and also when the desires and affections, that is, the loves, grow warmer, the body also grows warm in the same degree. This is the heat that is meant in the Word by “burning,” “fire,” and “flame”; and in the genuine sense it is heavenly and spiritual love, but in the opposite sense bodily and earthly love. From this it is evident that here by being “parched with the east wind” is signified being consumed by the fire of cupidities, and when predicated of memory-knowledges, which are the “thin ears” of corn, there is signified that they are full of cupidities.

[3] That by the “east wind” is signified what is of cupidites and the derivative phantasies is evident from the passages in the Word where it is mentioned, as in David:

He made the east wind to go forth in the heavens, and by His power He brought forth the south wind, and He made it rain down flesh upon them as dust, and winged fowl as the sand of the sea (Psalms 78:26-27).

That by the “flesh” which that wind brought are signified evil desires, and by the “winged fowl” the derivative phantasies, is plain in Moses (Numbers 11:31-35), where it is said that the name of the place in which the people were smitten with a plague because of their eating flesh was called “The graves of lust, because there they buried the people that lusted.”

[4] In Ezekiel:

Behold the vine that has been planted, shall it prosper? Shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? Upon the beds of its shoots it shall wither (Ezekiel 17:10).

The vine was plucked up in anger, it hath been cast forth to the earth, and the east wind hath withered its fruit; all the rods of its strength have been plucked off and withered; the fire hath devoured everyone, for fire hath gone forth from a rod of its branches, it hath devoured its fruit, so that there is not in it a rod of strength, a scepter for ruling (Ezekiel 19:12, 14); where the “east wind” denotes what belongs to cupidities.

In Isaiah:

He meditated upon His rough wind, in the day of the east wind (Isaiah 27:8).

[5] In Hosea:

The east wind shall come, the wind of Jehovah coming up from the wilderness; and its spring shall become dry, and its fountain shall be dried up; it shall make a prey of the treasure of all vessels of desire (Hos. 13:15); where also the “east wind” denotes what belongs to cupidities. Likewise in Jeremiah:

As the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy (Jeremiah 18:17).

[6] In David:

With the east wind thou wilt break the ships of Tarshish (Psalms 48:7).

In Isaiah:

Thou hast forsaken Thy people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with the east wind, and the soothsayers are Philistines (Isaiah 2:6).

In Hosea:

Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind; every day he multiplieth a lie and a wasting (Hos. 12:1);

“wind” here denotes phantasies, and the “east wind,” cupidities. Similar also is the meaning in the internal sense of the “east wind” by which locusts were produced, and by which they were driven into the sea (Exodus 10:13, 19); and also by which the waters of the sea Suph were divided (Exodus 14:21).

5212. And behold seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk. That this signifies memory-knowledges of the natural joined together, is evident from the signification of “ears,” or spikes, of corn, as being memory-knowledges belonging to the natural (of which in what follows); and from the signification of “upon one stalk,” as being joined together; for in respect to their origin things on one stalk are joined together. The reason why “ears” or spikes of corn signify memory-knowledges, is that “corn” signifies the good of the natural (see n. 3580), because memory-knowledges are the containants of the good of the natural, as the ears are of the corn; for in general all truths are vessels of good, and so also are memory-knowledges, for these are lowest truths.

Lowest truths, or truths of the exterior natural, are called memory-knowledges, because they are in man’s natural or external memory, and because they partake for the most part of the light of the world, and hence can be presented and represented to others by forms of words, or by ideas formed into words by means of such things as are of the world and its light. The things in the inner memory, however, insofar as they partake of the light of heaven, are not called memory-knowledges, but truths; nor can they be understood except by means of this light, or expressed except by forms of words, or ideas formed into words, by means of such things as are of heaven and its light. The memory-knowledges here signified by “ears,” or spikes, are memory-knowledges of the church, in regard to which see above (n. 4749, 4844, 4964, 4965).

[2] The reason why there were two dreams, one of the seven kine and the other of the seven ears of corn, is that in the internal sense both naturals, the interior and the exterior, are treated of, and in what follows, the rebirth of both. By the “seven kine” are signified the things of the interior natural called truths of the natural (see n. 5198); and by the “seven ears of corn,” the truths of the exterior natural called memory-knowledges.

[3] Interior and exterior memory-knowledges are signified by “ears of the river Euphrates even to the river of Egypt,” in Isaiah:

It shall be in that day that Jehovah will shake off from the ear of the river even unto the river of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one to another, ye sons of Israel. And it shall be in that day that a great trumpet shall be sounded, and they shall come that are perishing in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt; and they shall bow themselves to Jehovah in the mountain of holiness at Jerusalem (Isaiah 27:12-13);

“the perishing in the land of Assyria” denote interior truths, and the “outcasts in the land of Egypt,” exterior truths or memory-knowledges.

[4] So also in Mark the comparison with the blade, the ear, and the corn, involves the rebirth of man by means of memory-knowledges, truths of faith, and goods of charity:

Jesus said, So is the kingdom of God, as when a man casteth seed upon the earth; then sleepeth and riseth night and day, but the seed germinates and grows while he knoweth not. For the earth beareth fruit of itself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come (Mark 4:26-29).

The “kingdom of God,” which is compared to the blade, the ear, and the corn, is heaven in man through regeneration; for one who has been regenerated has the kingdom of God within him, and becomes in image the kingdom of God or heaven. The “blade” is the first memory-knowledge; the “ear” is the memory-knowledge of truth thence derived; the “corn” is the derivative good. Moreover, the laws enacted in regard to gleanings (Leviticus 19:9; 23:22), and in regard to the liberty of plucking the ears from the standing corn of the neighbor (Deuteronomy 23:25), and also in regard to eating no bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the offering of God was brought (Leviticus 23:14), represented such things as are signified by “ears.”