6128. 'And he provided them with bread in exchange for [all] their livestock' means the sustainment by means of an influx of good from the internal. This is clear from the meaning of 'providing with bread', or giving them bread, as the sustainment of spiritual life, dealt with above in 6118; from the meaning of 'livestock' as the good of truth, dealt with just above in 6126; and from the representation of 'Joseph' who provided them with it, as the internal, dealt with already. From this it follows that what is supplied comes through an influx of good from the internal, for the reason that the entire sustainment of spiritual life in the natural is effected by an influx from the internal, that is, from the Lord through the internal.

[2] Since the word 'influx' is used so frequently, and yet few perhaps know what it means, something therefore needs to be said about it. What influx is may become evident by comparing it with the kinds of things in the natural world that inflow. It may become evident for example from the flow of heat from the sun into all earthly objects, which gives rise to plant-life, and from the flow of light into the same objects, which assists plant-life and thereby in addition produces different colours and beautiful sights. What influx is evident in a similar way from the flow of heat into the surface-area of our bodies, and also of light into the eye. It is likewise evident from the flow of sound into the ear; and so on. These comparisons enable one to understand what the influx of life from the Lord is; the Lord is the Sun of heaven, the Source of [spiritual] heat, which is love, and of spiritual light, which is faith. One can also plainly feel the actual inflow, for heavenly heat, which is love, produces the vital heat that exists in a person, while heavenly light, which is faith, produces the light of understanding that exists in him. Yet such heat and light vary according to the different ways they are received.