8496. 'Bake what you will bake' means preparing good to be joined; 'and boil what you will boil' means preparing truth to be joined. This is clear from the meaning of 'baking', since it was done by means of fire, as preparing good to be joined; and from the meaning of 'boiling', since it was done by means of water, as preparing truth to be joined - 'water' meaning the truth of faith, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, and 'fire' meaning the good of love, 934, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 7852. The fact that preparing them to be joined is meant is self-evident, for what was being baked and boiled was being prepared for the following sabbath day, by which a joining together is meant, as shown immediately above. They were forbidden to kindle fire on the sabbath day, Exodus 35:3, so they could not bake or boil anything then. The word 'bake' is used in connection with bread and the minchah, which was made by means of fire, see Isaiah 44:15, 19; 1 Samuel 28:24; Ezekiel 46:20; Leviticus 6:17; while 'boil' is used in connection with flesh, which was cooked in water, Exodus 29:31; Leviticus 6:28; 1 Samuel 2:13, 15.

2886. With regard to man's affections and to his thoughts, the position is that no one at all, whether man, spirit, or angel, is able to will or to think from himself, but does so from others. Nor are those others themselves the source of anything they will or think, but others again, and so on with these. Thus each individual wills and thinks from the First Source of life, who is the Lord. Anything that is not connected to a prior source cannot occur. Evils and falsities have a connection with the hells, and so the hells are the source of the thinking and willing of people immersed in evils and falsities, and also the source of their love, affection, and delight, and consequently of their freedom. But goods and truths have a connection with heaven, and so heaven is the source of the thinking and willing of people with whom goods and truths are present, and also the source of their love, affection, and delight, and consequently of their freedom. From this it becomes clear where the first type of freedom originates and where the second. The truth of this is very well known in the next life, but it is totally unknown at the present time in the world.