5340. 'And he gathered all the food of the seven years' means the preservation of truth linked to good, multiplied in the initial phases. This is clear from the meaning of 'gathering' here as preserving (for it says that he gathered it and laid it up in the cities, in the midst of them, which means that he stored it in the interior parts and thereby preserved it; for it was put to use in the years of famine); from the meaning of 'the food' as everything by which the internal man is nourished, namely good and truth, as may be recognized from the correspondence of earthly food which nourishes the external man with spiritual food which nourishes the internal man. Here therefore truth linked to good is meant, because this is what is preserved and stored away in a person's interior parts. 'Seven years' means the initial phases, when truths become multiplied, 5339. From all this it is evident that 'he gathered all the food of the seven years' means the preservation of truth linked to good, multiplied in the initial phases.

[2] The expression 'the preservation of truth linked to good' is used, but because few are aware of what truth linked to good is, let alone of how and when truth becomes linked to good, let something therefore be said about this. Truth comes to be joined to good when a person finds joy in doing good to his neighbour for truth and goodness' own sake, and not for any selfish or worldly reason. When that affection moves a person the truths he hears or reads or thinks about become joined to good; and this can usually be seen in an affection for truth which has that end in view.

3114. 'There is both straw' means factual truths, 'and also much fodder with us' means the goods that go with these. This is clear from the meaning of 'straw' and 'fodder'. The reason 'straw' means factual truths is that it has reference to camels, whose food is such; for when 'camels' means the natural man as regards the general facts there, the food of the natural man - 'straw' - cannot have any other meaning, since no other food exists to sustain his life. The nourishment of the natural man is received from this, for if deprived of that food, that is to say, of knowledge, the natural man would cease to exist. The truth of this is evident from the life after death, for in that life spirits receive such things in place of food, see 56-58, 680, 681, 1480, 1695, 1973, 1974.

[2] Within the natural man, as within the rational man, there exist in general two kinds of things which constitute its essence - those that make up the understanding and those that make up the will. Truths belong to the things constituting the understanding, goods belong to those constituting the will. The truths present in the natural man are factual truths - that is to say, all the things housed in his external memory - and it is these that are meant by 'straw' when camels, and also horses, mules and asses are the subject. But the goods present in the natural man are chiefly the delights that go with an affection for those truths, and it is these goods that are meant by 'fodder'.