In the Book of Daniel, Chapter Four is narrated, after the events of the chapter, by a much-changed Nebuchadnezzar. In the internal sense, the story shows both the Lord's mercy in leading us, and also the depths of despair to which we sink before we willingly open our minds to the Lord and pray for His leadership.

At the beginning of the story, Nebuchadnezzar's idleness imitates the sense of complacency when things seem to be going right, when no temptations darken our skies, and essential selfishness asserts itself once again. Our mind is its house, its palace. We come into this state after a temptation or battle against our sense of selfishness, when we put the struggle aside and rest on our laurels. We are oblivious to the fact that regeneration is an ongoing state, that one temptation succeeds another, and that once conscience has been established in our thought processes, it will not be too long before the lethargy of selfishness is challenged.

While Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in his house, he had a disturbing dream, one unknown to him. As before when he did not understand his dreams, he called the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldeans and the soothsayers, who, once again, could not interpret the dream.

Often we feel that we face the same temptations over and over again. We might wonder if we will ever regenerate. This is because we fall into a state of selfishness, represented by the king at rest. But when we encounter resistance to that selfishness, we turn back to all our old thought patterns to help us.

Eventually, Nebuchadnezzar called Daniel to tell him his dream. As he recounts the story after the seven years of illness, he uses the words he had spoken before. He addresses Daniel as Belteshazzar, because that is how he saw him before the temptation. Even so, he recognized the presence of the Spirit of the Holy God within him, acknowledging Daniel's power to explain dreams and give interpretations.

The king's second dream took the image of a great tree, planted in the earth, so high it could be seen from the ends of the earth. This parallels the image of the great statue, whose head was gold. As we saw earlier, this image represents the initial state of perfection, followed by a decline as a person turns away from this ideal. The statue shows how self love takes dominance in our lives if unchecked, and brings us into a final state of spiritual destruction.

In this new dream, the tree in the midst of the earth is a reference to the Tree of Life in the midst of the Garden of Eden. Both trees symbolize wisdom. The Tree of Life represented the perception the Most Ancient people had from love (Arcana Coelestia 103), but Nebuchadnezzar's tree is from the love of self and the different perceptions people have when motivated by that love (Apocalypse Explained 1029:6).

But when Nebuchadnezzar saw the tree in his dream, it was lovely. Everything in the dream which normally has a good and beautiful significance, instead takes on a negative meaning. The leaves and flowers, which should have been a picture of guiding truths (Arcana Coelestia 9553), represent the opposite, as the falsities which mislead us. We saw how the king called his false guides: the magicians, soothsayers, astrologers, and Chaldeans.

The birds represent the false thoughts from selfishness (Arcana Coelestia 5149). These give credence to selfishness, to justify it and find new ways to express it. So the tree takes on an intellectual picture of the selfish mind. But the mind is made up of both intellect and emotion. There were also beasts sheltering under the tree representing the things we care about.

When selfishness rules in us, just as Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon, all the lesser loves take their cue from this leading love. Thus the beasts of the field, were drawn to the tree for food and shelter.

After this scene is set, Nebuchadnezzar sees "a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven." The introduction of the indescribable watcher is the turning point in the dream, marking the beginning of the end for this marvel reaching up to heaven.

In a state of selfishness, we are spiritually asleep, just as Nebuchadnezzar was asleep when he dreamed. But the Lord never sleeps. Truth in our minds is always vigilant, looking for ways of bringing itself to our consciousness to lead us out of our selfish state. Just as everything seemed right in Nebuchadnezzar's world, he became aware of a watcher—the truth.

In an instant, the king's serenity was changed: a force greater than himself commanded the destruction of the tree, and there was nothing he could do about it. These words make it clear just how vulnerable our selfish states are. At their height, they seem so powerful, but in the face of truth they are shown for the sordid little nothings they are. Truth has the power to expose evil, and we should not be afraid to allow it to do so in our own lives. To stand indicted of selfishness is not the end of life, as it may feel, but the beginning of a new life of liberation.

But we still need some sense of self. There is nothing wrong with being concerned with our own well-being; it is vital to our lives. Selfishness is a part of us, but it needs to be kept under control, subordinated to the higher loves of serving the Lord and our neighbor.

This is why the watcher did not order the complete destruction of the tree: the stump is all that is left of a rampant selfishness, the bands of iron and brass represent thoughts and feelings which originate in selfishness, which can be used to keep it under control (Apocalypse Explained 650:32).

Finally, with the tree destroyed, Nebuchadnezzar himself had to be changed. The watcher commanded that the king is given the heart of an animal for seven years. In substance abuse recovery programs, it is said that an addict cannot change until they hit rock-bottom—when they realize the full necessity of change. In spiritual life, this rock bottom is a point at which we almost lose our humanity, we are so dominated by selfishness, greed and the lust of dominion that we lose our ability to think rationally. We become animals. The difference between humans and animals is our ability to think and act in freedom. Self-love destroys that freedom, thus destroying all humanity within us.

In this prophesy, we see a descent: from man, to beast, to ox. People are human because they are created in the image and likeness of the Lord. Thus human beings have the ability to think and act according to reason. This is the essence of our humanity (Arcana Coelestia 477, 2305, 4051, 585, 1555). When these are in tune with truth and goodness from the Lord, then we are truly human, because the image of the Lord is in us.

So again, we see this slide from an ideal to a lesser state: from man, the king became a beast. From rationality and freedom, he entered slavery. This fall appears earlier in the Word: when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they were cast out.

Finally he was told that he would eat grass like oxen. In a positive sense, oxen represent our affections (Arcana Coelestia 5198, 5642, 6357), or our love of the things of this world. But the opposite meaning of 'ox' is the perversion of goodness (Arcana Coelestia 9083), and the affection for injuring others (Arcana Coelestia 9094).

This humbling of the king represents the proper use of the love of self, and shows that the Lord does not eradicate it, because it is the foundation of true relationships with other people and the Lord Himself. But before it can become useful, selfishness needs to be converted into a humbled love of self, and we must return from the ox state.

As Daniel explained the meaning of the dream, he offered the king counsel: 'break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor.' This is the next step in spiritual awareness. Seeing our selfishness, coupled with an increased awareness of the Lord, we reach the point where thoughts must become actions. At first glance, the concept of 'sins and iniquities' may seem redundant. But in the Word, pairs of synonymous words reflect two internal senses: the celestial and the spiritual (Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 80). The celestial relates broadly to goodness, and the spiritual to truth. Together they make one.

Daniel's advice to Nebuchadnezzar is to repent. Repentance is the only way out of the quicksand of selfishness. The Lord taught that we should love one another as He loves us (John 13:34, John 15:12). To love ourselves alone, and to wish to control others is not in keeping with the Lord's teachings. The only solution is to listen to the voice of our conscience and allow ourselves to be guided by the truth.

In spite of everything, Nebuchadnezzar's pride was not reduced. As he walked around his palace, his heart was filled with pride: 'is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?'

A selfish person believes that everything they own or have accomplished is by their own power. There is no place for God or anyone else. When people do not listen to the Lord's teachings and reject His counsel, there is nothing the Lord can do but allow the person to reap the consequences of their choice.

The king remained in this ox-state until seven times passed over him, which illustrates that the Lord leaves us in this state until it runs its course. Sometimes it takes us a lifetime to see how our selfishness hurts others, and ourselves. Yet the Lord never leaves us. The promise of the root of the tree, bound with bands of iron and bronze is always there. The Lord works unceasingly to bring our selfishness under control until it can serve the higher loves of our neighbor and the Lord Himself.

Forgiveness begins in the recognition that we are in sin. In his ox-like state, Nebuchadnezzar lifted his eyes to heaven. Eyes represent understanding (Arcana Coelestia 2975, 3863), and to lift them to heaven is to lift our understanding to the truths the Lord has given us. The king had been given some truths in his dreams and in the interpretation of them. He knew from Daniel's advice that he needed to repent and change his ways. As he did so, his understanding and appreciation of the Lord grew. He realized how small he was in the grand scheme of things. The inflated ego of selfishness was deflated by the recognition that all things had been given to him by the Lord.

His story is our story. We each build our empires in one way or another. We hold the power of life and death over others in a figurative sense—do we not decide who we like and dislike, who is admitted out our 'inner circle' and who is beyond the pale? The warnings the Lord gave to Nebuchadnezzar apply to us, and like the king, we can also ignore them. The consequences in our lives are the same, as we are reduced to a merely animal-being, wet with the dew of heaven.

Yet can we hear the Lord's voice calling, for unless we do, we will remain in that state. Can we lift our eyes to heaven and search for the truth leading to the greatest declaration one can make, provided it is done with the heart and not with the lips:

Now I … praise and extol and honor the king of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and his ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to abase.

539. And there went up a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, signifies dense falsities therefrom out of the evils of earthly and corporeal loves. This is evident from the signification of "smoke," as being the falsity of evil (of which presently); from the signification of "the pit of the abyss," as being the hell where those are who have falsified the Word (respecting which see above, n. 537; and from the signification of "a great furnace," as being the evils of earthly and corporeal loves out of which such falsities break forth (of which in the following article). "Smoke" signifies the falsity of evil, because it proceeds from fire, and "fire" signifies the loves of self and the world and thence all evils; consequently the hells that are in falsities from the evils of those loves, and still more the hells where those are who have falsified the Word by adapting it to favor those loves, appear in a fire like that of a great furnace, from which a dense smoke mingled with fire goes up. I have also seen those hells, and it was evident that it was the loves with those who were in them that presented the appearance of such a fire, and the falsities flowing forth from those loves that presented the appearance of the fiery smoke. But there is no such appearance to those who are therein, for they are in these loves and in the falsities therefrom, their life is in them, and it is by these that they are tormented in many ways, and not by such fire and smoke as are in our natural world. (This can be seen better in the chapter in the work on Heaven and Hell 566-575, which treats of Infernal Fire and the Gnashing of Teeth.)

[2] That "smoke" signifies the dense falsity that flows forth from evil can be seen from the following passages. In Moses:

Abraham looked upon the faces of Sodom and Gomorrah, and upon all the faces of the land of the plain, and he saw, and lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace (Genesis 19:28).

"Sodom and Gomorrah" in the spiritual sense mean those who are altogether in the loves of self; therefore the smoke that Abraham saw rising from their land after the burning, signifies the dense falsity pertaining to those who are altogether in the love of self; for those who love themselves supremely are in the thickest darkness in respect to things spiritual and celestial, for they are merely natural and sensual, and are wholly separated from heaven; and then they not only deny Divine things, but they think out falsities by which to destroy them. These falsities are what are signified by the "smoke" seen rising from Sodom and Gomorrah.

[3] In the same:

And the sun went down, and there was dense darkness, and behold a furnace of smoke, and a torch of fire that passed through between those pieces (Genesis 15:17).

This was said of Abraham's posterity from Jacob, as can be seen from what precedes in that chapter; "the sun went down" signifies the last time, when consummation takes place; "and there was dense darkness" signifies when evil takes the place of good and falsity the place of truth; "behold a furnace of smoke" signifies the densest falsity from evils; "a torch of fire" signifies the heat of cupidities; "it passed through between the pieces" signifies that these separated them from the Lord. (But this may be seen more fully explained in Arcana Coelestia 1858-1862.)

[4] In the same:

Moses made the people to go forth from the camp to meet God; and they stood in the lower parts of the mount. And Mount Sinai smoked, the whole of it, because Jehovah descended upon it in fire; and the smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked exceedingly (Exodus 19:17, 18);

And all the people saw the voices and the torches, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and the people saw, and they were moved and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die (Exodus 20:18, 19).

This represented the quality of that people; for Jehovah, that is, the Lord, appears to everyone according to his quality; to those who are in truths from good He appears as a serene light, but to those who are in falsities from evil as smoke from fire. And because that people was in earthly and corporeal loves, and in falsities of evil therefrom, the Lord appeared to them from Mount Sinai as a devouring fire, and as the smoke of a furnace. (That the sons of Jacob were such has been shown in many places in the Arcana Coelestia, as may be seen from what is brought together in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 248; and that the Lord appears to everyone according to his quality, as a vivifying and recreating fire to those who are in good, and as a consuming fire to those who are in evil, see Arcana Coelestia 934, 1861, 6832, 8814, 8819, 9434, 10551; what the other particulars in the passages cited signify may be seen in the same work where the book of Exodus is explained.)

[5] "Smoke and fire" have a like signification in David:

Because He was wroth there went up a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured, coals burned from Him; He bowed heaven also and came down; and gross darkness was under His feet (Psalms 18:7-9; 2 Samuel 22:8, 9).

This does not mean that smoke and a devouring fire went up from Jehovah, for there is no anger in Him; but it is so said because the Lord so appears to those who are in falsities and evils, for they regard Him from their falsities and evils.

[6] The like is signified by the following in the same:

He looketh on the earth and it trembleth; He toucheth the mountains and they smoke (Psalms 104:32).

In the same:

Bow Thy heavens, O Jehovah, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke (Psalms 144:5).

In Isaiah:

Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou whole Philistia art dissolved; for from the north cometh a smoke (14 Isaiah 14:31).

"Gate" signifies truth introducing into the church, "city" doctrine, "Philistia" faith; therefore "Howl, O gate, cry, O city, thou whole Philistia art dissolved," signifies the vastation of the church in respect to the truth of doctrine, and thence in respect to faith. The "north" signifies the hell where and from which are the falsities of doctrine and the falsities of faith, and "smoke" such falsities; therefore "from the north cometh smoke" signifies devastating falsity out of the hells.

[7] In Nahum:

Behold, I will burn her chariot with smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions (Nahum 2:13).

This, too, treats of the devastation of the church; and "to burn a chariot with smoke" signifies to pervert all truths of doctrine into falsities, "smoke" meaning falsities, and "chariot" doctrine; and "the sword shall devour thy young lions" signifies that falsities will destroy the chief truths of the church, "young lions" meaning the chief and protecting truths of the church, and "sword" meaning falsity destroying truth.

[8] In Joel:

I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth; blood and fire and columns of smoke (Joel 2:30).

This is said of the Last Judgment; and "blood, fire, and columns of smoke," signify the truth of the Word falsified, its good adulterated, and mere falsities resulting therefrom, "blood" meaning the truth of the Word falsified, "fire" its good adulterated, and "columns of smoke" mere and dense falsities therefrom.

[9] In David:

The wicked shall perish, and the enemies of Jehovah as the glory of lambs shall be consumed, in smoke shall they be consumed (Psalms 37:20).

"The wicked and the enemies of Jehovah shall be consumed in smoke" signifies that they shall be destroyed by the falsities of evil; those are called "wicked" who are in falsities, and "enemies" who are in evils, and "smoke" means the falsity of evil.

[10] In the same:

As smoke is driven away Thou wilt drive away; as wax melteth before the fire the wicked shall perish before God (Psalms 68:2).

The destruction of the wicked is compared to smoke driven away by the wind, and to wax that melts before the fire, because "smoke" signifies falsities, and "fire" evils.

[11] In Isaiah:

The heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment (Isaiah 51:6).

"Smoke" here signifies falsity, by which those who were in the former heaven would be destroyed; and "the garment waxing old" signifies truth destroyed by the falsities of evil. Comparison is made with smoke vanishing away, and with a garment waxing old, because comparisons in the Word are also correspondences, and in like manner significative.

[12] In Hosea:

They sin more and more, and make them a molten image of their silver, idols in their understanding, all of it the work of the artificers; therefore they shall be as a morning cloud, and as the dew falling early and going away, it is driven by a whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and like smoke out of a chimney (Hosea 13:2, 3).

This describes the doctrinals that are from self-intelligence, in which are the evils of falsity and the falsities of evil. Such doctrinals are signified by "molten images of silver," and by "idols;" their "silver" signifies what is from self-intelligence, and the "work of the artificers" that intelligence; it is therefore added "in their understanding they have made them idols, all of it the work of the artificers." That such doctrinals, being falsities, would pass away, is signified by "they shall pass away like smoke out of a chimney." It is also said "as a morning cloud, and as the dew falling early, and as [chaff] out of the threshing-floor," because the church in its beginning is like a morning cloud, like dew falling early, and like corn in the threshing-floor, by which are signified the truths of good and the goods of truths, which nevertheless successively pass away and are changed into the falsities of evil and into the evils of falsity.

[13] "Smoke" also signifies falsity in other passages in Revelation, as in the following:

Out of the mouth of the horses went forth fire and smoke and brimstone; and by these was the third part of men slain, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone (Revelation 9:17, 18).

The smoke of their torment goeth up unto the ages of the ages (Revelation 14:11).

And again:

The smoke of Babylon goeth up unto the ages of the ages (Revelation 19:3).

[14] Because "fire" signifies love in both senses, both celestial love and infernal love, and therefore "smoke" signifies that which flows forth from love-falsity, which is from infernal love, and truth, which is from heavenly love-therefore "smoke" signifies in a good sense holy truth. This is what "smoke from the fire of the incense-offerings" signifies, as may be seen above (n. 494), as also in the following passages. In Isaiah:

Jehovah will create over every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and over her convocations, a cloud by day and a smoke and the brightness of a flame of fire by night; for over all the glory shall be a veiling (Isaiah 4:5).

(This may be seen explained above, n. 294, 504.) In the same:

The posts of the thresholds were moved at the voice of the crying seraphim, and the house was filled with smoke (Isaiah 6:4).

In Revelation:

The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power (Revelation 15:8).

And again:

The smoke of the incense-offerings with the prayers of the saints ascended out of the angel's hand before God (Revelation 8:4).