126. And I will give thee the crown of life, signifies wisdom and eternal happiness therefrom. This is evident from the signification of "crown," as being wisdom, in reference to those who are in the spiritual affection of the knowledges of truth and good (of which more in what follows); and from the signification of "life," as being eternal happiness, which is also called life eternal. Those who are in the spiritual affection of truth and good, and who are here treated of, have eternal happiness, because heaven with man is implanted by means of the knowledges of truth and good from the Word. He who believes that heaven is implanted by other means is much deceived; for man is born merely natural, with the faculty of becoming spiritual, and he becomes spiritual by means of truths from the Word and a life according to them. Who can ever become spiritual unless he has some knowledge of the Lord, of heaven, of the life after death, of faith, and of love, and of the other things that are means of salvation? If man had no knowledge of these things he would remain natural; and a merely natural man can have nothing in common with the angels of heaven, who are spiritual. Man has two minds, one exterior, the other interior.

The exterior mind is called the natural mind, but the interior is called the spiritual mind. The former or natural mind is opened by means of the knowledges of the things that are in the world; but the latter or spiritual mind by means of the knowledges of the things that are in heaven, which the Word teaches, and the church from the Word; by means of these man becomes spiritual when he knows them and lives according to them.

[2] This is meant by the Lord's words in John:

Except a man has been born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5).

"Water" signifies the truths of faith, and "spirit" a life according to them (See above, n. 71); and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 202-209). Most people at this day believe that they are to come into heaven solely by virtue of holy worship in temples and by adorations and prayers; but such of them as do not care for the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, and who fail to imbue with these the life, as well as the memory, remain natural as before, and do not become spiritual; for their holy worship, adorations, and prayers, do not proceed from any spiritual origin; since their spiritual mind has not been opened by the knowledges of spiritual things and a life according to them, but is empty; and worship that proceeds from what is empty is merely natural gesture, with nothing spiritual in it. If such persons are insincere and unjust in respect to moral and civil life, their holy worship, adorations, and prayers have within them what repels heaven from them, instead of opening heaven to them as they believe; for their holy worship is like a vessel containing things putrid and filthy, which are oozing forth, or like a splendid garment investing a body covered with ulcers. I have seen many thousands of such cast into hell. But wholly different are holy worship, adorations, and prayers with those who are in the knowledges of truth and good and in a life according to them; with such these acts are pleasing to the Lord, for they are the effects wrought by their spirit in the body, or the effects of their faith and love, thus they are not merely natural gestures, but spiritual acts.

From this it can be seen that the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, and a life according to them, alone make man spiritual; and that in him who is thereby made spiritual, angelic wisdom from the Lord can be implanted together with eternal happiness. Angels derive happiness from no other source than from wisdom.

[3] A "crown" signifies wisdom, because all things by which man is clothed or distinguished derive their signification from the part of man that they clothe or distinguish (See Arcana Coelestia 9827), and "crown" signifies wisdom, because it is a sign upon the head, and "head" in the Word signifies wisdom, for there wisdom resides. So in Ezekiel:

I decked thee with ornaments, I put bracelets upon thy hands; and a chain upon thy throat. And I put a jewel upon thy nose, and earrings in thine ears, and a crown of adorning upon thy head (Ezekiel 16:11, 12).

Jerusalem, which signifies the church, is here treated of, such as it was when it was established by the Lord; by these various insignia are meant, in the spiritual sense, such things as are of the church; and each one takes its signification from the part to which it is applied, and "the crown of adorning" here means wisdom. (But what is meant by "ornament," may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 10536, 10540; by "bracelets," n. 3103, 3105; by "chain" n . 5320; by "jewel," n. 4551; by "earrings," n. 4551, 10402) Wisdom, which is from the knowledges of truth and good from the Word and from a life according to them, is likewise signified by "crown" in many other passages in the Word (as in Isaiah 28:5; Jeremiah 13:18; Lamentations 5:15, 16; Ezekiel 21:25, 26; 23:42; Zechariah 6:11-14; Psalms 89:38, 39; Psalms 132:17, 18; Job 19:9; Revelation 3:11; 4:4). The crowning of kings is from ancient times, when men were familiar with representatives and significatives, and it was known that "kings" represented the Lord in respect to Divine truth, and that a "crown" was intended to signify wisdom (that "kings" represented the Lord in respect to Divine truth, see Arcana Coelestia 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581, 4966, 5068, 6148); that those that are in truths are called "kings" and "king's sons" see above n. 31; and as these are called "kings" in the Word, and kings have crowns, so here where these are treated of it is said that they were to receive "the crown of life."

4966. 'The chief of the attendants' means which facts come first and foremost in explanations. This is clear from the meaning of 'the chief of the attendants' as the facts which come first and foremost in explanations, dealt with in 4790. Ones which come first and foremost in explanations are those which are pre-eminently suitable for explaining the Word, and so for coming to understand teachings drawn from the Word about love to God and charity towards the neighbour. It should be recognized that the factual knowledge of the people of old was entirely different from that existing at the present day. As stated above, the factual knowledge of the people of old had to do with the correspondences of things in the natural world with realities in the spiritual world. Knowledge which at the present day is called philosophical knowledge, such as Aristotelian systems and their like, did not exist among them. This is also evident from the books written by ancient authors, most of which consisted of descriptions of such things as were signs of, represented, and corresponded to more internal realities, as may be seen from the following evidence, and ignoring all else.

[2] They envisaged Helicon on a mountain and took it to mean heaven, and Parnassus on a hill below that, and took it to mean factual knowledge. They spoke of a flying horse, called Pegasus by them, which broke open a fountain there with its hoof; they called branches of knowledge virgins; and so on. For with the help of correspondences and representatives they knew that 'a mountain' meant heaven, 'a hill' the heaven beneath this, which is heaven as it exists among men, a horse' the power of understanding, 'its wings with which it flew' spiritual things, 'its hoof' that which was natural, 'a fountain' intelligence, while three virgins called 'the Graces' meant affections for good, and virgins who were named 'the Heliconians and 'the Parnassians' meant affections for truth. To the sun they likewise allotted horses, whose food they called ambrosia and whose drink they called nectar; for they knew that 'the sun' meant heavenly love, 'horses' powers of the understanding which sprang from that love, while 'food' meant celestial things and 'drink' spiritual ones.

[3] The Ancients are also the originators of customs that are still followed when kings are crowned. The king has to sit on a silver throne, wear a purple robe, and be anointed with oil. He has to wear a crown on his head, while holding in his hands a sceptre, a sword, and keys. He has to ride in regal splendour on a white horse shed with horseshoes made of silver; and he has to be waited on at table by the chief nobles of the kingdom. And many other customs are followed besides these. The Ancients knew that 'a king' represented Divine Truth that is rooted in Divine Good, and from this they knew what was meant by a silver throne, a purple robe, anointing oil, crown, sceptre, sword, keys, white horse, horseshoes made of silver, and what was meant by being waited on at table by the chief nobles. Who at the present day knows the meaning of any of these customs, or where the information exists to show him their meaning? People refer to them as symbols, but they know nothing at all about correspondence or representation. All this evidence shows what the factual knowledge possessed by the Ancients was like, and that this knowledge gave them a discernment of spiritual and heavenly realities, which at the present day are scarcely known to exist.

[4] The factual knowledge that has replaced that of the Ancients, and which strictly speaking is called philosophical knowledge, tends to draw the mind away from knowing such things because such knowledge can also be employed to substantiate false ideas. Furthermore, even when used to substantiate true ones it introduces darkness into the mind, because for the most part mere terms are used to substantiate them, which few people can understand and which the few who do understand them argue about. From this it may be seen how far the human race has departed from the learning of the Ancients, which led to wisdom. Gentiles received their factual knowledge from the Ancient Church, whose external worship consisted in representatives and meaningful signs and whose internal worship consisted in the realities represented and meant by these. This was the kind of factual knowledge that is meant in the genuine sense by 'Egypt'.