7024. 'And caused them to ride on an ass' means the ideas which would be of service to the new kind of intelligence. This is clear from the meaning of 'riding' as ideas that belong to the understanding, here the ideas which would be of service to the new kind of intelligence which will enhance the life of those who belong to the spiritual Church, 7016 (the reason why 'riding' (equitare) means those ideas is that 'a horse' (equus) means the power of understanding - see the matters dealt with in 2761, 2762, 3217, 5321, 6534); and from the meaning of 'an ass' as truth that is of service, in this instance to the new kind of intelligence, dealt with in 2781, 5741, and also as factual knowledge, 5492.

5492. 'And they loaded their corn onto their asses' means the truths gathered into factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of corn' as truth, dealt with in 5276, 5280, 5292, 5402; and from the meaning of 'ass' as factual knowledge, dealt with in 2781. From these meanings it follows that 'they loaded their corn onto their asses' means that truths were gathered into factual knowledge. Such a meaning of these words will seem strange to someone who fixes his mind on the historical sense of the letter. It will seem even stranger to him if he does not believe in the existence of any internal sense other than the one which lies in close proximity to and shines out of the letter. For that person will say to himself, How can 'loading corn onto their asses' mean truths gathered into factual knowledge? But let him know that in the Word the sense of the letter passes into a sense of a spiritual kind when it passes from man to the angels, that is, into heaven. Indeed it passes into a sense stranger still when it passes into the third heaven, where every single detail in the Word passes into affections belonging to love and charity, which the internal sense serves as the foundation for it to rest upon.

[2] The fact that the historical descriptions in the Word move away into another sense when they are raised into heaven may become clear to anyone who uses his reason to draw conclusions and who knows something about the natural and the spiritual. He can see that 'loading corn onto their asses' is a purely natural action and has absolutely nothing spiritual about it. He can also see that angels in heaven, that is, in a spiritual world, cannot grasp those words in any but a spiritual manner and that they do grasp them in a spiritual manner when corresponding entities are understood in place of them, that is to say, when they understand truth known to the Church in place of 'corn' and facts present in the natural in place of 'asses'. It has been shown previously that in the Word 'asses' means objects of service and so known facts, for in relation to spiritual ideas and also to rational concepts such facts are objects of service, see 2781. From all this one may also see what the thought and speech of angels are like compared with men's thought and speech. That is to say, one may see that angels' thought and speech are spiritual whereas men's are natural, and that when angels' thought and speech move downwards they pass into men's, and that men's are converted into angels' when they move upwards. If this were not so there would not be any communication at all between mankind and the angels, that is, between the world and heaven.