1384. Wat de eerste soort betreft, die de engelen eigen is, en daarin bestaat, dat zij innerlijk gewaarworden, wat waar en goed is, en gewaarworden wat van de Heer komt, en wat van henzelf, en verder ook van waar en hoedanig datgene is wat zij denken, spreken en doen, wanneer het uit henzelf komt. Het werd mij gegeven met de zonen van de Oudste Kerk te spreken over hun innerlijke gewaarwording; zij zeiden dat zij niets uit zichzelf denken of denken kunnen, en niets uit zichzelf willen, maar dat zij bij alles, wat zij in het algemeen en in het bijzonder denken en willen en gewaarworden, wat van de Heer en wat van elders komt, en dat zij niet alleen gewaarworden, hoeveel van de Heer en hoeveel als van henzelf komt, maar ook, wanneer iets als van henzelf komt, waar het dan vandaan komt, van welke engelen, en verder van welke aard die engelen zijn, van welke aard hun gedachten, met alle verscheidenheid, en zo dus welke invloed het is, en ontelbare andere dingen meer. De innerlijke gewaarwording van deze soort zijn van een grote verscheidenheid; bij de hemelse engelen, die in de liefde tot de Heer zijn, bestaat een innerlijke gewaarwording van het goede en vandaar van al wat tot het ware behoort, en omdat zij uit het goede het ware gewaarworden, laten zij niet toe dat er gesproken, nog minder dat er geredeneerd wordt over het ware, maar zij zeggen: zo is het of zo is het niet. De geestelijke engelen echter, die ook innerlijke gewaarwording hebben, maar niet van dien aard als de hemelse engelen, spreken over het ware en het goede; niettemin worden zij het ware en het goede gewaar, maar met onderscheid, want de verscheidenheden van deze innerlijke gewaarwording zijn ontelbaar. De verscheidenheden rusten hierop, dat zij gewaarworden of iets komt van de wil van de Heer, of dat Hij het vergunt, of dat Hij het toelaat, waartussen een scherp onderscheid ligt.

5145. 'With holes in them were on my head' means without a termination anywhere at all in the middle. This is clear from the meaning of 'with holes in' as that which is open from top to bottom, thus that which is not closed and therefore has no termination anywhere at all in the middle; and from the meaning of 'the head' as interior degrees, in particular those that constitute the will. For the head is the primary location where all substances and forms exist, and is therefore the place to which all sensations travel and register themselves, and the place from which all actions spring and are derived. The powers of the mind too - the power of understanding and that of the will - are plainly located there, which is why interior degrees are meant by 'the head'. 'The baskets' [in the baker's dream] represented those powers within 'the head'.

[2] The subject at present is the sensory impressions subject to the will part of the mind, 'baskets on the head with holes in them' meaning that interior degrees existed without a termination anywhere at all in the middle. Therefore those sensory impressions, as follows from this, were cast aside and condemned. But some explanation must be given of what is meant by 'without a termination anywhere at all in the middle'. Interiorly the human being is divided into separate degrees, and each degree has its own termination that serves to separate it from the degree beneath it. This is so with every degree from the inmost one to the outermost. The interior rational constitutes the first degree, the degree in which celestial angels are, that is, where the inmost or third heaven is. The exterior rational makes up the second degree, the one in which spiritual angels are, that is, where the middle or second heaven is. The interior natural makes up the third degree, the one in which good spirits are, that is, where the last and lowest or first heaven is. And the exterior natural, the level of the senses, makes up the fourth degree, in which man is.

[3] These degrees also exist within man, each degree completely distinct and separate. Consequently, if he leads a good life, he is interiorly a miniature heaven; that is, his interiors correspond to the three heavens. Also, if he has led a life of charity and love he can be taken after death all the way up to the third heaven. But if he is to be someone like this, each degree within him must be furnished with its own specific termination that makes it separate from the next one. When those degrees do have those terminations, making them distinct and separate from one another, each degree has a floor on which good flowing in from the Lord can rest and where it is received. Without such terminations acting as floors that good is not received but passes straight through, as if through a sieve or through 'a basket with holes in it', down to the sensory level. There, because it has not received any direction on the way, this good is turned into something foul, though it is seen as good by the recipients of it at that lowest level. That is to say, the good is turned into the kind of delight that belongs to a selfish and worldly love, and consequently into the kind of delight that belongs to hatred, revenge, cruelty, adultery, and avarice, or into sheer self-gratification and personal extravagance. This is what happens if the degrees of a person's will exist without a termination anywhere at all in the middle, that is, if 'they have holes in them'.

[4] One can also actually know whether these terminations and therefore floors exist; people's abilities to perceive what is good and true point to the existence of them, as do their consciences. In the case of those who, like celestial angels, have the ability to perceive what is good and true, terminations exist in every degree, from the first to the last. Unless each degree has its own termination, no perceptive abilities such as these can exist. Regarding these abilities, see 125, 202, 495, 503, 511, 536, 597, 607, 784, 865, 895, 1121, 1383, 1384, 1387, 1919, 1144, 2145, 2171, 2515, 2831. In the case of those who, like spiritual angels, have conscience, terminations likewise exist, but only in the second degree or else in the third down to the last. For them the first degree is closed. One must say in the second degree or else in the third because conscience is twofold - interior and exterior. Interior conscience is one that concerns itself with what is spiritually good and true, exterior conscience one that concerns itself with what is just and fair. Conscience itself is an interior floor which provides inflowing Divine Good with a termination; but those who have no conscience do not have any interior floor to receive that influx. In their case good passes straight through to the exterior natural, or the natural level of the senses, where it is turned, as has been stated, into foul delights. These people sometimes feel pain like that of conscience, but this is not conscience. The pain is caused by the loss of what they delight in, such as the loss of position, gain, reputation, life, pleasures, or the friendship of others who are like themselves. They suffer pain because the terminations which they possess consist in those kinds of delights. From all this one may see what is meant in the spiritual sense by 'baskets with holes in them'.

[5] Particularly so in the next life one can discern whether or not the degrees of a person's will have been furnished with terminations. In the case of one who has been furnished with them, a zeal exists for what is spiritually good and true or for what is just and fair. For such persons had done what was good for the sake of what was good or for the sake of what was true, and had practised what was just for the sake of what was just or for the sake of what was fair, not for the sake of gain, position, and the like. All whose interior degrees of the will have been furnished with terminations are raised up to heaven, for the inflowing Divine is able to lead them there. But all whose interior degrees of the will have not been furnished with terminations make their way to hell, for what is Divine passes straight through and is turned into that which is hell-like, as when the heat of the sun falls on foul excrement and a disgusting stench is given off by it. Consequently all who have had conscience are saved, but those who have had none are incapable of being saved.

[6] Degrees of the will are said to have holes in them, or to have no terminations, when there is no affection for goodness and truth, or for justice and equity, and when these virtues are considered to be of little or no value at all compared with anything else, or are esteemed solely for the sake of acquiring gain or position. The affections are what supply terminations and serve to close off, which is also why they are called bonds or restraints - affections for what is good and true being internal bonds, and affections for what is evil and false external ones, 3835. Unless the affections for what is evil and false acted as bonds or restraints the person would be insane, 4217; for insanity is nothing else than the removal of such restraints, so that no terminations are present in such persons. Even so, though these people do not possess any internal restraints and are therefore inwardly insane, so far as their thoughts and affections are concerned, an eruption of these is held back by external restraints, which consist in affections for gain, position, or reputation for their own sake, and consequently in a fear of the law or of loss of life. This was represented in the Jewish Church by the law that in the house of one who had died every open vessel which had no covering [or] cord [to fasten it] was unclean, Numbers 19:15.

[7] Much the same is also meant by 'works full of holes' in Isaiah,

Those that make linen out of silk [threads], and those that weave works full of holes, will blush. And its foundations will be broken to pieces - all those making pools of the soul ¹ their wages. Isaiah 19:9-10.

And by 'holes' in Ezekiel,

The Spirit brought the prophet to the door of the court, where he looked, and behold, a hole in the wall. And He said to him, Son of man, bore a hole through the wall. He therefore bore a hole through the wall, and behold, a door. Then He said to him, Go in and see the abominations that they do here. When he went in and saw, behold, every likeness of creeping thing and of beast, an abomination; and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed on the wall round about, etc. Ezekiel 8:7-10.

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10582. 'That I will put you in a cleft of the rock' means obscurity and falsity of faith such as exists with those whose interest lies in external things and not in what is internal. This is clear from the meaning of 'a cleft of the rock' as obscurity and falsity of faith, for 'the rock' means faith, as just above in 10580, and 'a cleft' obscurity in it, and falsity as well, dealt with below. The words 'such as exists with those whose interest lies in external things and not in what is internal' are used because every truth of faith with them lies in obscurity, together with falsity as well. For those among them who believe the Word take every statement in it literally, and not according to its inner meaning. People with that kind of belief in it cannot have any light, because the light from heaven flows into the external by way of the internal; and also what they believe without the light from heaven looks like the truth, but is nevertheless falsity with them. For they have material and earthly ideas about what is true and not at the same time spiritual and heavenly ones; and all material and earthly ideas, if the light from heaven does not shine on them, swarm with illusions. Take James and John, for example. Because they had earthly ideas about the Lord's kingdom they asked to sit one on His right and the other on the left in His kingdom. But Jesus said,

You do not know what you ask. You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them. It shall not be so among you, but whoever has the wish to become great among you must be your minister, and whoever has the wish to be first must be your servant. Matthew 20:21-22, 25-27.

[2] No one with such earthly ideas as they entertained then can know what the heavenly kingdom is. People like this do not know what the glory there is, nor what love is, nor indeed what faith is; in general they do not know what good is. For their judgements are based on bodily and earthly things. Everything that delights the body and its senses is what they call good; pre-eminence over others is what they call glory; love of the world and self-love are what they call heavenly love; and belief which is based on factual knowledge but is no more than persuasion they call faith. When they think about God they do so in a materialistic way, as a consequence of which either they deny the existence of God and replace Him with nature, or they worship idols or people who have died. From this it is evident how much obscurity of faith exists with those whose interest lies in external things alone, and that falsity as well does so.

[3] Obscurity and falsity of faith such as this exists with those who believe only the literal sense of the Word, without the aid of religious teachings drawn from it in a state of enlightenment. Those who read the Word without the aid of those teachings are like people who walk in the dark without a lamp. All who think on no more than a sensory level are like this. It is evident that the Jewish nation is like this, for they explain everything in the Word literally, because their interest lies in external things separated from what is internal. In the next life people like them do not live on rocks, but either in caves among those rocks or in clefts.

[4] The fact that 'a cleft of the rock' means obscurity and falsity of faith is also clear from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

On that day Jehovah will whistle for the fly that is in the farthest parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Asshur. They will come and all of them will rest in the rivers of desolations, and in the clefts of the rocks. Isaiah 7:18-19.

This refers to the Lord's Coming and to the state of the Church at that time, when everything constituting spiritual truth and good has been desolated. For these words mean that people of the Church will by then have forsaken internal things and become altogether external, thus sensory-minded and no more than this. People become sensory-minded when they accept and believe nothing apart from what their outward senses tell them. 'The fly in the farthest parts of the rivers of Egypt' is falsity existing with a person who is altogether external, that is, who is sensory-minded and no more than this; 'the bee in the land of Asshur' is falsity that belongs to reasoning based on sensory evidence; 'the rivers of desolations' are the truths which belong to religious teachings but have been completely desolated; and 'the clefts of the rocks' are the falsities of faith that exist as a result. Who would ever guess that those words mean such things? And the things they mean would remain completely hidden if the internal sense was not used to uncover them.

[5] In the same prophet,

On that day a person will cast away the idols which they made for themselves to bow down to, to the moles and bats, to go into the splits of the rocks, and into the clefts of the crags. Isaiah 2:20-21.

'Bowing down to the moles and bats' means worshipping such things as exist in total darkness and in the shades of night, that is, external things without their inner substance. 'Going into the splits of the rocks and into the clefts of the crags' means entering into matters of faith that are full of obscurity and thick darkness, thus entering into falsities.

[6] In Jeremiah,

I will bring back the children of Israel over their land. And I am sending to many fishermen who will fish them, and to hunters who will hunt them from upon every mountain, upon every hill, and from the holes of the rocks. Jeremiah 16:15-16.

This refers to the re-establishment of the Church, meant by 'bringing back the children of Israel over their land'. 'Fishing them' means giving them instruction in the outward things of the Church, 'hunting them' doing so in the inward things. Those upon mountain and hill are those who live in love and charity, and those in the holes of the rocks are those who live in faith but are not as yet enlightened, thus those who dwell in obscurity of faith.

[7] In the same prophet,

I have made you least among the nations. The pride of your heart dwelling in the holes of the rock holds the height of the hill. Jeremiah 49:15-16.

In Obadiah,

The pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the splits of the rock, whose seat is high ¹ - he who says in his heart, Who will bring me down to earth? If you raise yourself up like the eagle, and if you place your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there. Obad. verses 3-4.

'Dwelling in the holes of the rock' means living in falsities of faith. The subject is those who raise themselves above others, in the belief that they are better informed than everyone else, when in fact they are immersed in falsities and cannot even see truths. In the next life they dwell in the holes of rocks. Sometimes they force their way up on top of the rocks, but they are nevertheless cast down from there into their holes in the rocks or into caves beneath them. This is what is meant by 'holding the height of the hill', 'raising themselves up like the eagle, placing their nest among the stars, and nevertheless being brought down'.

From all this it now becomes clear that 'putting Moses in a cleft of the rock' means obscurity and falsity of faith such as exists with those whose interest lies in external things and not in what is internal. For here 'Moses' is used to mean the people, because here he represents the head of that nation, see 10556.

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