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1 Mosebok 47:8

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8 Men Farao frågade Jakob: »Huru hög är din ålder?»

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Four

  
Four Mandalas

The number "four" in the Bible represents things being linked together or joined. This is partly because four is two times two, and two represents the ultimate linking between our desire to be good and our understanding of truth. We can also see this in the fact that most buildings are rectangular, with the four sides linking together to make a whole. We also divide directions into four -- north, east, south and west -- and talk about the "four corners" of something meaning all of it. So our special thinking naturally looks at four sides as linking together into a whole.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Explained 417; Arcana Coelestia 1686, 9103, 9601, 9767, 9864)

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Arcana Coelestia # 6032

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6032. 'And was seen towards him' means perception. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' as understanding and discerning, dealt with in 2150, 3764, 4567, 4723, 5400, and as having faith, 1315, 1807, 3863, 3869, 4403-4421, 5400. As regards the meaning of 'seeing' as understanding and therefore perceiving, and also as having faith, it should be recognized that a person has two components constituting his life - SPIRITUAL LIGHT and SPIRITUAL HEAT. Spiritual light constitutes the life of his understanding, and spiritual heat the life of his will. By virtue of its very own origin spiritual light is Divine Truth flowing from the Lord's Divine Good and is therefore the truth of faith flowing from the good of charity, while spiritual heat by virtue of its very own origin is the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love and is therefore the good of celestial love or love to the Lord and the good of spiritual love or love towards the neighbour. As has been stated, these two constitute the entire life in a person.

[2] As regards spiritual light, this is related to a person's understanding in the way that natural light is related to his external sight. That is to say, so that the eye can function, light must exist which enables it to do so. When it exists the eye beholds in that light everything all round outside itself. The same is true of the intellectual power of the mind, which is a person's inner eye. So that this eye can function the light of heaven flowing from the Lord must exist, enabling it to do so. And when this eye functions with the aid of that light it too beholds things all round outside itself. But the objects it sees are spiritual ones - facts and truths. When however it does not have the aid of that light, a person's intellectual power of the mind or inner eye is like his external or physical eye when this is in darkness and cannot see anything. That is, it does not from factual knowledge behold any truth, or from truth behold any good. The light which enables the intellectual power of the mind to function is light indeed, a kind of light which is a thousand times brighter than midday light in the world, as I can testify since I have beheld it. In that light all the angels in heaven see things all round outside themselves, and in that same light they also behold and perceive the truths of faith and the essential nature of them. This now explains why in the spiritual sense 'seeing' means not only the understanding but also any of its activities, such as cogitation, reflection, observation, circumspection, and many others, as well as meaning not only faith but also anything constituting faith, such as truth, teaching drawn from the Word, and the like.

[3] As regards spiritual heat however, this is related to a person's will in the way natural heat is related to his body, in that the one imparts life to the other. But by virtue of its very origin - an origin that can be traced back to the Lord - spiritual heat is nothing other than Divine Love towards the entire human race and the reciprocation of that love by man, to Him and also towards the neighbour. And that heat is heat indeed; it blesses angels' bodies with warmth and at the same time blesses their inmost beings with love. This is the reason why 'heat', 'flame', and 'fire', when used in the genuine sense in the Word, mean things connected with love, such as affections for goodness and truth, and also goodness itself.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.