596. VII. When this happens, a struggle ensues between the internal and the external man, and the victor then controls the other.

The reason why a struggle then ensues is that the internal man is reformed by means of truths, which enable him to see what is evil and false; and these truths are still in his external or natural man. First, therefore, there is dissension between the new will, which is above, and the old will, which is below. Since it is dissension between wills, it is between the pleasures of either, for it is well known that the flesh opposes the spirit, and the spirit the flesh, and the flesh with its lusts must be tamed, before the spirit can act and the person can become a new man. Following this dissension of the wills, a struggle, known as spiritual temptation, takes place. But this temptation or struggle is not between good and evil, but between the truths that accompany good and the falsities that accompany evil. For good is unable to struggle of itself, but does so by means of truths. Nor can evil struggle of itself, but does so by means of its falsities. This is like the will being unable to struggle of itself, but doing so by means of the understanding, which is where its truths are.

[2] A person does not feel this struggle to be anywhere but in himself, and he feels it as the pangs of conscience. Yet it is the Lord and the devil (that is, hell) who struggle in man; their struggle is to gain control of the person, to see which is to possess him. The devil, or hell, attacks the person and calls forth the evil in him, while the Lord protects him and calls forth the good in him. But although that struggle takes place in the spiritual world, at the same time it takes place in the person between the truths that accompany good and the falsities that accompany evil present within him. A person ought therefore to struggle exactly as if of himself, since he has the free will to act on the Lord's side or on the devil's. He is on the Lord's side if he holds to truths from good, on the devil's if he holds to falsities from evil. The consequence of this is that the victor, whether it is the internal or the external man who wins, controls the other. It is exactly like two enemies engaged in a struggle to determine which is to be master of the other's kingdom; the winner takes the kingdom and reduces all in it to subservience to him. In this case then, if the internal man wins, he imposes his rule and suppresses all the evils of the external man, thus continuing the process of regeneration. But if the external man wins, he imposes his rule and scatters all the good in the external ¹ man, thus putting an end to regeneration.

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220. (iv) TRUTHS AND DIFFERENT KINDS OF GOOD IN THEIR OUTERMOST FORMS, OF THE SORT FOUND IN THE LITERAL SENSE OF THE WORD, WERE REPRESENTED BY THE CURTAINS, VEILS AND POSTS OF THE TABERNACLE.

The tabernacle constructed by Moses in the desert was a representation of heaven and the church. That is why its description was revealed by Jehovah on Mount Sinai. Thus all its contents, the lampstand, the golden altar for incense and the table holding the bread of the Presence, represented and stood for the holy things of heaven and the church. The holy of holies, where the Ark of the Covenant stood, represented and so stood for the inmost of heaven and the church. The Law itself inscribed upon two tables stood for the Word, and the cherubim above it meant protection to prevent the holiness of the Word being violated.

Now since externals derive their essence from internals, and both of these derive theirs from the inmost, which in this case was the Law, therefore all the details of the tabernacle represented and stood for the holy things of the Word. Hence it follows that the outermost parts of the tabernacle, the curtains, veils and posts which covered, contained and supported it, meant the outermost form of the Word, which is the truths and forms of good contained in its literal sense. It was because that was their meaning that all the curtains and veils were made of lawn interwoven and violet and purple, and double-dyed red, with cherubim (Exodus 26:1, 31, 36). I explained in ARCANA CAELESTIA in the commentary on that chapter of Exodus the general and the specific representations and meanings of the tabernacle and all its contents. It was there shown that the curtains and veils represented the externals of heaven and the church, so also those of the Word; and that lawn or fine linen meant truth of spiritual origin, violet truth of celestial origin, purple celestial good, double-dyed red spiritual good, and the cherubim the protection of the interiors of the Word.