354. "Come and see," signifies attention and perception. This is evident from the signification of "coming" when anything is presented to be seen, as being to give attention; for in a spiritual sense, "to come" means to draw near with the sight, thus to give attention; all attention also is a presence of the sight in the object. It is evident also from the signification of "to see," as being perception, for "to see" in the Word signifies to understand (See above, n. 11, 260); here it signifies to perceive, because this was out of the inmost heaven, since what comes out of the inmost heaven is perceived, but what comes out of the middle heaven is understood, for the reason that the inmost heaven is in the good of love, but the middle heaven is in the truths therefrom, and all perception is from good, and all understanding is from truths. (On this see above, n. 307; what perception is, see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 140.)

6598. INFLUX AND THE INTERACTION OF SOUL AND BODY - continued

It is well known that one person is endowed with a greater ability than another to understand and perceive what it is to behave honourably in private life, to be upright in public life, and to seek what is good in one's spiritual life. The reason why he has that greater ability lies in the fact that his thought has been raised towards the things of heaven and is consequently drawn away from the level of the external senses. For people whose thought does not rise above the level of the senses cannot begin to see what is honourable, upright, or good. They therefore rely on what others think, and base most of what they say on matters stored in the memory, and in doing this seem to themselves to be wiser than others. But those who can think on a level above the senses possess, if the contents of their memory are all in order, a greater ability than others to understand and perceive. Their ability depends on the height of the interior standpoint from which they look at things.