6224. 'And said, Behold, your son Joseph has come to you' means the presence of the internal. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph' as the internal, 6177; and from the meaning of 'coming to someone' as presence, dealt with in 5934, 5941, 5947, 6063, 6089. 'Joseph' is the internal and in some other places the internal celestial, which one depending on the things with which it is connected in the natural below. The term 'the internal' is used when the connection is with the lower parts of the natural, which are represented by 'Jacob', and similarly when the connection is with Pharaoh. But the terms 'the internal celestial' and 'internal good' are used when the connection is with the interior parts of the natural, which are represented by 'Israel' and also by 'his ten sons' each connection existing because one flows into the other.

5934. 'Saying, Joseph's brothers have come' means [a perception] that the truths of the Church within the natural were present. This is clear from the meaning of 'having come as being present; and from the representation of the sons of Jacob or 'Joseph's brothers' as the truths of the Church within the natural, dealt with in 5403, 5419, 5458, 5512. Existing within the natural there is factual knowledge of various kinds. There is factual knowledge which has to do with earthly, bodily, and worldly matters; this occupies the lowest position since it consists of impressions received directly from the external or bodily senses. There is also factual knowledge which has to do with one's country, its system of government, and laws and statutes, which occupies a slightly more internal position. There is factual knowledge which has to do with matters of right conduct, which occupies a position still more internal. And there is knowledge which has to do with spiritual life occupying positions interior to them all; this consists of the truths known to the Church. To the extent that these truths exist with a person solely as a result of religious teaching they are no more than factual knowledge; but once they stem from the good of love in him they go onto a level above factual knowledge, for they now dwell in spiritual light, from which they can look at factual knowledge arrayed in proper order beneath them. By means of such rising degrees of factual knowledge a person attains intelligence; for factual knowledge at each level opens the mind so that light from the spiritual world may flow in. From all this one may now see what is meant by the truths of the Church within the natural being present.