9858. 'With the work of a designer' means a product of the understanding. This is clear from the meaning of 'a designer' as the power of understanding, dealt with in 9598, 9688. The words 'a product of the understanding' are used because the Lord's spiritual kingdom, which is represented by Aaron's garments, is heaven's power of understanding, even as His celestial kingdom is its power of will. And the powers of understanding and will that a human being has correspond to those heavens, see 9835.

The heart means love. A good heart means love to the Lord and to the neighbor, while a hard or stony heart means the love of self or the world -- riches and things. When the psalmist asks the Lord to search his heart, he wants the Lord to see what it is that he loves. And we are what we love. What we eat may form our earthly body, but it's only temporary, what we love forms our spiritual body, beautiful or ugly as we have chosen. It's interesting to note that the first multi-cellular motion of our embryo is the pulsating that starts in a twist of blood vessel that is to become our heart, and the last motion of our natural body is our heartbeat. It is there for all of our natural life. And of course there is a beating heart in our spiritual bodies when we come to put them on.