10286. 'The man who makes an ointment like it' means imitations of Divine things produced by [human] cunning. This is clear from the meaning of 'making that which is like it' as imitating it; and from the meaning of 'ointment' as Divine Truths which are the Lord's alone and come from the Lord alone, dealt with above in 10264. The reason why imitations produced by [human] cunning is meant is that all imitation of Divine things by a person is a product of that cunning. The nature of all this may be recognized from what has been stated and shown above in 10284; but further light may be shed on it by certain things that go on among spirits. Those of them who attribute everything to fortune and their own prudence and nothing to the Divine, as they did in the world, know how to employ various methods to imitate Divine things. They can produce palaces almost like those in the heavens; they can produce views containing plantations of trees and open countryside very similar to those the Lord provides for good spirits; they can adorn themselves with brilliant garments, indeed sirens can make themselves appear in almost angelic beauty. But all this is the product of a cunning that involves the use of delusions. Yet all those things which they can do, however much they may seem to outward appearance to be similar, are inwardly foul. This is also revealed instantly by the Lord to good spirits, for unless it were revealed they would be led astray. The outward appearance is taken away, and when this has been taken away the devilish interior is exposed. It is taken away by the shedding of light from heaven, which disperses the feeble light that accompanies delusions and that those spirits rely on to produce such imitations. From all this one may recognize what the imitation of Divine things that is a product of [human] cunning is like. But things done in reliance on the Lord are inwardly heavenly; and the more interior they are, the more heavenly they are; for Divine things increase in perfection the more and more internal they are, so much so that finally they possess perfection and beauty that are beyond description.

[2] The situation is similar with the imitation of what is good and true by those who lead an evil life. Those of them who know how to make a pretence of good affections and of some form of charity towards the neighbour and love to God, and together with those affections talk about and proclaim the truths of faith seemingly from the heart, dwell in a similar feeble and delusive light. When therefore the outward appearance which makes a pretence of those inner things is taken away, the hellish nature lying within, which is nothing but evil and the falsity of evil, is revealed. And at the same time the fact that such evil constitutes their love, and the falsity of that evil their faith, is in like manner presented to view. From all this it is again evident what imitating Divine things by means of human endeavour is, dealt with above in 10284.

6971. 'And do not hear the voice of the former sign' means that if they did not obey what was declared by the Word, then instead of being spiritual and rational they would become people who were not spiritual or rational. This is clear from the meaning of 'hearing' as obeying, dealt with in 2542, 3869, 5017; from the meaning of 'the voice' as what is declared by the Word, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the former sign' as an indication that instead of being spiritual and rational they would become people who were not spiritual or rational. The truth of this may be seen from the meaning of 'the serpent' that was made out of Moses' rod when it was thrown onto the earth - the event to which 'the first sign' refers here - as a person who thinks on a sensory and bodily level, 6949, and so is not spiritual or rational. For a person who is sensory- and bodily-minded is not rational, and so is not spiritual either, because he thinks things that are false and desires those that are evil. One who behaves like this is not rational, still less spiritual, for an acceptance of and belief in what is true, together with a life of goodness, since these two come from the Divine, constitute true spirituality within rationality, whereas an acceptance of and belief in what is false, together with a life of evil, are the opposite. For the fact that wholly sensory- and bodily-minded people are like this, see 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949.

[2] Those people become wholly sensory- and bodily-minded who have first had a knowledge of things that belong to the spiritual world but after that have rejected them, and then have adopted fundamental ideas of falsity that are contrary to truths and focused their lives solely on worldly, bodily, and earthly values. They have consequently come to believe that life is meant to be filled with pleasures of every kind, saying, 'What more does a person have while he is alive? When we die, we die; as for the possibility of life after death, has anyone ever come back to talk about it? We have no knowledge of anything that will go on living when the life goes out of a person.' If anyone using rational arguments induces those people to give any thought to eternal life, they think that nothing worse will happen to them than to anyone else, and they immediately go back to living in the way they had done previously. With such people the passageway for the light of heaven to flow in is closed, and at the natural level of their minds the light of heaven is turned into thick darkness, while the light of the world there becomes brightness, 6907, a brightness that shines ever more brilliantly, the more that the light of heaven is darkened. This is why such people do not see the evil in their lives as anything other than goodness, or consequently the false ideas as anything other than true. Here then is the reason why a person becomes sensory- and bodily-minded. In short, once the way is opened for the light of heaven to flow in and then closed, a person is impelled to look downwards, and not upwards. This is done in keeping with Divine order so as to prevent truths once accepted and remaining in a person's inner self from being contaminated by falsities and thereby rendered profane.

[3] The same applies to gentiles who fall away from their religion, though their lot is better than that of people within the Church since what they possess are not truths from the Word, not genuine truths therefore but truths coupled with many misconceptions, which cannot be profaned in the way genuine ones can.

As regards the meaning of 'the voice' as that which is declared by the Word, it should be recognized that frequent use is made of the expression 'the voice'. It is also linked to other things that have nothing to do with a voice, such as the linking of it here to 'the sign' - 'If they do not hear the voice of the former sign they will believe the voice of the latter sign' - and also elsewhere, for example in Nahum,

The voice of the whip and the voice of the sound of the wheel. Nahum 3:2.

And in David,

The rivers have lifted up their voice, more than the voices of many mighty waters. Psalms 93:3-4.

[4] The fact that 'the voice' means a declaration, in the good sense a declaration by the Word, when it is called 'the voice of Jehovah', is clear in David,

The voice of Jehovah is powerful; the voice of Jehovah is glorious; the voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars; the voice of Jehovah flashes forth flames of fire; the voice of Jehovah causes the wilderness to shake; the voice of Jehovah causes the hinds to calve, and strips the forests bare. Psalms 29:3-5; Psalms 7-9.

And elsewhere in the same author,

. . . to Him who rides above the heavens of heavens of old. Behold, He will put forth His voice, a mighty voice. Psalms 68:33.

Here 'voice' stands for Divine Truth, and so for the Word and a declaration made by it. For what more is meant by 'voice', see 219; and for its use in reference to truth, 3563.