854. 'The mountains of Ararat' means light. ¹ This becomes clear from the meaning of 'a mountain' as the good that stems from love and charity, 795, and from the meaning of 'Ararat', which is light, indeed the light of someone who has been regenerated. The new light, or dawn, of a regenerate person in no way flows from cognitions of the truths of faith but from charity; for the truths of faith are like rays of light, and love or charity like the flame. The light in someone who is being regenerated derives not from the truths of faith but from charity. The truths of faith themselves are rays of light flowing from charity. It is clear therefore that 'the mountains of Ararat' means that kind of light. This is the first light following temptation, and being the first it is obscure and is called lumen, not lux.

Poznámky pod čarou:

In the physical world, the places we inhabit and the distances between them are physical realities, and we have to get our physical bodies through the physical space between to get from one physical place to another physical place. In the spiritual world, however, the "places" we inhabit and the “distances” between them are spiritual realities, which means they are reflections of our thoughts and affections. "Going" from one place to another, then, is a change in spiritual state -- exploring different thoughts and embracing different feelings. Since the Bible is a spiritual book, "going" there also indicates a change or progression in spiritual state, from one mode of thinking and feeling to another mode of thinking and feeling. Obviously, this makes the precise meaning of "go" in the Bible highly dependent on context: Who is going? Where are they going? Why are they going there? Are they following someone or something? Those questions are crucial to the precise meaning. Used on its own, though, "going" represents the normal progression of life, moving through spiritual states as the Lord intends. This has its roots in early Biblical times, when people were nomadic and moved from place to place in a regular progression of life.