8194. 'And he went behind them' means protection to prevent the inflow of the falsity of evil into the will. This is clear from the meaning of 'going behind the children of Israel' as protection to prevent them from being attacked by the Egyptians, in the internal sense to prevent the inflow of falsities arising from evil, which are meant by 'the Egyptians', 8132, 8135, 8148. The prevention of their flowing into the will is meant because in the Grand Man, or spiritual world, things of the will are located at the back or behind and those of the understanding before the face or in front.

[2] With regard to what flows into a person's will and into his understanding, it should be recognized that the Lord takes the utmost care to prevent those in hell from flowing into a person's will. For if they were to enter his will after he has been regenerated or become an embodiment of the Church he would be done for, since his own will is nothing but evil. This explains why a person belonging to the spiritual Church undergoes regeneration of the understanding part of his mind, and why the new will is formed in the understanding part, in complete isolation from the person's hereditary will; regarding this subject, see 863, 875, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113. From all this one may now see why it is that 'he went behind them' means protection to prevent the inflow of the falsity of evil into the will.

875. 'The dove found no rest for the sole of its foot' means that no good and truth of faith at all had as yet been able to take root. This is clear from the meaning of 'a dove' as the truth of faith, and also from the meaning of 'rest for the sole of the foot' as taking root. The reason why they cannot take root is stated further on, namely that falsities were still there to overflowing. But nobody can begin to understand what all this means unless he knows how the regeneration of the spiritual man is accomplished.

[2] With this man the cognitions of faith drawn from the Word of the Lord - that is, matters of doctrine drawn from that source, which the Ancient Church had from what had been revealed to the Most Ancient Church - had to be planted in his memory, and in this way the understanding part of his mind received instruction. But as long as falsities dwell there to overflowing, truths of faith cannot take root, even though they have been planted there. They remain solely on the surface, or in the memory. Nor, as stated already, does the ground become suitable until falsities have been so dispersed that they do not reappear.

[3] The ground itself with this person is made ready in the understanding part of his mind, and when it has been made ready good that stems from charity is planted in it by the Lord, and through charity conscience from which he then acts, that is, by means of which the Lord produces in him the good and truth of faith. Thus the Lord separates in this man things belonging to his understanding from those belonging to his will in such a manner that they are in no way united. For if they were united he would inevitably and eternally perish.

[4] With the member of the Most Ancient Church things of the will had been united to those of the understanding, as they are with celestial angels too. But with the member of this Church they were not united, nor are they united with the spiritual man. It still seems as though the good of charity which he does is the product of his will, but that is solely an appearance and illusion. All the good of charity which he does is the Lord's alone, coming not by way of the will but of conscience. If the Lord were to let up only slightly and allow a person to act from his own will, he would, from hatred, revenge, and cruelty, perform evil instead of good.

[5] The same applies to the truth which a spiritual man thinks and speaks. Unless he thought and spoke from conscience, and so from good that is the Lord's, he could no more think and speak what is true than the devil's crew when impersonating angels of light. This is perfectly obvious in the next life. From these considerations it is clear how regeneration is accomplished and what the regeneration of a spiritual man is. It is the separation of the understanding part of his mind from the will part by means of conscience, which is formed by the Lord in that understanding part. What is performed in this manner seemingly springs from his own will, but in fact it does so from the Lord.