9783. 'To cause a lamp to go up continually' means faith from there, and through that faith an intelligent understanding of truth and a wise discernment of good from the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'a lamp' as faith, and from this an intelligent understanding of truth and a wise discernment of good, dealt with in 9548. 'A lamp' means faith because Divine Truth emanating from the Lord composes the light in heaven. This light when received by the angels there, or by a person in the world, resembles a lamp; for it casts light into all parts of the mind and imparts intelligence and wisdom. This light so received is faith. But it should be remembered that faith is not a lamp or that which casts light into the mind unless it is fed by charity, and so unless it is charity. The situation with faith and charity is the same as it is with truth and good. Just as truth is the outward form of good, or good embodied in an outward form, enabling it to be seen in light, so faith is the outward form of charity, or charity embodied in an outward form. Faith furthermore is that to which truth belongs, and charity is that to which good belongs. For truth, when believed, passes into faith; and good, when loved, passes into charity. The good and truth themselves that are loved are the neighbour, and the love of the neighbour is charity.

1807. 'And he said, Look, now, towards heaven' means a representation of the Lord's kingdom in a mental view of the universe. This is clear from the meaning of 'heaven'. In the internal sense of the Word 'heaven' does not mean the sky that is seen with the eyes but the Lord's kingdom in general and in particular. When a person who regards internal things from external sees the sky he does not think at all of the starry sky but of the angelic heaven. And when he sees the sun, he does not think about the sun but about the Lord's being the Sun of heaven. The same applies when he sees the moon, and also the stars. And so when he sees the boundlessness of the sky he does not think about the boundlessness of this but about the Lord's boundless and infinite power. And the same goes for everything else he sees, for there is nothing that is not representative.

[2] It is the same with the things belonging to the earth. When, for example, such a person sees the dawning of the day he does not think of the dawn but of the rise of all things from the Lord, and of advancement into the daylight of wisdom. Similarly when he sees cultivated gardens, trees, and flowers, his eye is not fixed on any tree and on its blossom, leaf, and fruit, but on the heavenly things which these represent. Nor is it fixed on any flower and its beauty and loveliness but on those things which these represent in the next life. For not one thing of beauty and delight ever exists in the sky above or on earth beneath that is not in some respect representative of the Lord's kingdom; see what has been stated in 1632. Such is the 'looking towards heaven' which means a representation of the Lord's kingdom in a mental view of the universe.

[3] The reason why every single thing in the sky above and on the earth beneath is representative is that it has come into being, and is constantly coming into being, that is, is kept in being, from the influx of the Lord through heaven. It is as it is with the human body, which comes into being and is kept in being by means of its soul, for which reason every single thing in the body is representative of the soul. Inherent in the soul there are use and end in view, but in the body the accomplishment of these. All effects, without exception, are in the same way representatives of the uses which are the causes behind those effects, while the uses are representative of the ends which constitute first beginnings.

[4] People whose concern is for Divine ideas never dwell on the objects of external sight, but from and in those objects they are continually seeing internal things. The most internal things of all are those that constitute the Lord's kingdom, and thus are those which consist in the greatest of all ends. It is similar with the Word of the Lord. The person whose concern is for Divine ideas never regards the Word of the Lord from the letter, but regards the letter and the literal sense as that which represents and means the celestial and spiritual things of the Church and of the Lord's kingdom. To that person the literal sense exists solely as the means which enable him to think about these. Such was the nature of the Lord's sight.