10179. 'A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth' means consisting equally of good and of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'length' as good, and of 'breadth' as truth, dealt with in 1613, 3433, 3434, 4482, 9487. Consisting of the two equally is meant by the fact that the length was a cubit and the breadth a cubit, thus by the fact that they were of equal measure; for in the Word measures are used to specify the amount and essential nature of a reality, and numbers are used in the specification. The reality specified by the measure here - a cubit - is good and truth, the former being meant by 'length' and the latter by 'breadth'. The reason why good is meant by 'length' is that the length is measured from east to west, and good from one boundary to the other is meant by 'east and west', whereas the breadth is measured from south to north, and truth from one boundary to the other is meant by 'south and north'. The same holds true in heaven. There the Lord is the Sun and also the East, the point from which every position there is determined. Those who live before the face of the sun enjoy a perception of good in the measure that they are near or far from it. Those with a clear perception of good are in the east, 3708, 9668, while those with a dim perception of good are in the west, 3708, 9653. Those however who see things in the clear light of truth are in the south, 9642, whereas those who see them in the dim light of truth are in the north, 3708. So it is that such things are meant in the Word by those four quarters, and that good is meant by 'length', and truth by 'breadth'.

7078. It should be recognized that spirits belonging to other planets do not appear within the sphere where spirits belonging to our planet are but outside, some quite a distance away, others less far, and also in different directions. One reason for this is that the spirits belonging to one planet do not have the same disposition and life as spirits belonging to another; and another reason is that they constitute different provinces in the Grand Man. Unlikeness in their states of life is responsible for this appearance of separateness; but in the inmost heaven they do not appear separated from one another. The spirits belonging to Mercury however do not appear in any particular direction or at any particular distance but are seen at one time in a forward position, at another over on the left, or at another slightly behind the back. The reason for this is that they are allowed to wander everywhere to acquire items of knowledge and thereby enrich their memory. Their planet is presented to spirits as being behind the back, in the same way as the sun of the world is when they think about it; for nothing at all of it is visible. The reason why it is presented behind the back is that to those who are in the next life the sun of the world is in complete obscurity and is itself thick darkness, whereas the sun of heaven, which is the Lord, appears in front, before the right eye, because it is the source of all the light they have. For the right eye corresponds to the ability to see with the understanding not only in the measure that the understanding is enlightened by truth but also in the measure that it is [affected] by good, 4410, so that the Lord views a person [with the eye of] good, and enlightens him by means of good.