1443. The implications of a first perception being meant by 'the oak-grove of Moreh' are as follows: Residing with man there are intellectual concepts, rational concepts, and factual knowledge. The intellectual concepts form the inmost parts of his mind, the rational concepts form the interior parts, and the factual knowledge forms the exterior parts. They are called his spiritual endowments, which occur in the order in which they have been mentioned. The intellectual concepts of the celestial man are compared to 'a garden consisting of trees of every kind'; rational concepts to 'a forest consisting of cedars and other trees like them', such as those that grow in Lebanon; while factual knowledge is compared to 'oak-groves' on account of the interlocking boughs that are a feature of oak trees. The trees themselves meant perceptions - 'the trees of the garden of Eden in the east' meant inmost perceptions, that is, those of intellectual concepts, as shown already in 99, 100, 103; 'the trees of the forest of Lebanon' meant interior perceptions, that is, those of rational concepts, whereas 'oak trees' meant exterior perceptions, that is, those of facts that belong to the external man. This explains why 'the oak-grove of Moreh' means the Lord's first perception, for He was still only a boy and His spiritual powers had not yet developed interiorly. In addition the oak-grove of Moreh was also the place which the children of Israel came to first when they crossed the Jordan and saw the land of Canaan. Of this it is said in Moses,

You shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal. Are not these across the Jordan, beyond the road towards the seeing of the sun, in the land of the Canaanite who dwells in the plain towards Gilgal, beside the oak-groves of Moreh? Deuteronomy 11:29-30.

These words as well mean the first experience of perception, for the entry of the children of Israel represents the entry of those who have faith into the Lord's kingdom.

99. The life - that is, the order of life - as it exists with the spiritual man is such that the Lord flows in by means of faith, into his intellectual concepts, his rational concepts, and his factual knowledge. But because his external man is at war with the internal, it seems as though intelligence were not flowing in from the Lord but from himself by way of facts and rational concepts. But life - that is, the order of life - as it exists with the celestial man is such that the Lord flows in by way of love and of faith included with love into his intellectual concepts, his rational concepts, and his factual knowledge. And since there is no resistance, he perceives that this is the case. In this way order which up to now has with the spiritual man been turned upside-down is restored with the celestial. This order, which is man, is called 'the garden in Eden, from the east'. In the highest sense 'the garden planted by Jehovah God in Eden, from the east' is the Lord Himself; in the inmost sense, which is also the universal sense, it is the Lord's kingdom and heaven, where a person is placed on becoming celestial. At this point his state enables him to be with angels in heaven, and to be virtually one among them. In fact, man has been so created that while living on earth he may at the same time be in heaven. In that situation all of his thoughts, all his mental images produced by thoughts, and even his words and deeds lie open, containing what is celestial and spiritual. They lie open all the way from the Lord. Indeed everyone has the Lord' s life within him, enabling him to have perception.