'Wilderness' signifies something with little life in it, as described in the internal sense in Luke 1:80 'Wilderness' signifies somewhere there is no good because there is no truth. 'Wilderness,' as in Jeremiah 23:10, signifies the Word when it is adulterated.

(Referencias: Arcana Coelestia 1927)

98. They are very humble in their worship, for they regard themselves as worthless in this respect. They worship our Lord, and acknowledge Him as the One and Only God. The Lord actually appears to them from time to time in the form of an angel, that is, as a man; and then His Divinity shines out from His face, and affects their minds. The inhabitants also speak with spirits, when they are old enough; the spirits teach them about the Lord, how He should be worshipped, and how they ought to live.

Whenever anyone wants to mislead the spirits from there, seducing them from their belief in the Lord, or from their self-abasement before Him and from uprightness of life, they say they want to die. Then there are to be seen in their hands small knives, with which they seem intent on striking their chests. On being asked why they do this, they reply that they would rather die than be taken away from the Lord. The spirits of our world sometimes make fun of them on this account, and heap insults on them for behaving like that. But then they reply that they are perfectly well aware that they are not killing themselves, but that this is merely an appearance arising from their intention, which makes them prefer death to being prevented from worshipping the Lord.