9280. 'In order that your ox and your ass may rest' means the peace and serenity that external forms of good and truths enjoy at the same time. This is clear from the meaning of 'resting', when it refers to the seventh day or the sabbath, as peace and serenity, as immediately above in 9279; and from the meaning of 'ox' as external good, and of 'ass' as external truth, dealt with in 2781, 9135, 9255.

Beasts were signs of affections and inclinations such as the human being shares in common with them, see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 776, 2179, 2180, 2781, 3218, 3519, 5198, 5913, 8937, 9090, 9135.

Beasts were used in sacrifices in accordance with their spiritual meaning, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519.

All things existing in the world, in its three kingdoms, were representative of the spiritual and celestial realities of the Lord's kingdom, 1632, 1881, 2758, 2987-3003, 3213-3227, 3483, 3624-3649, 4939, 5116, 5427, 5428, 5477, 8211.

All things have a correspondence, 2987-3003, 3213-3226, 3337-3352, 3472-3485, 3624-3649, 3745-3750, 3883-3896, 4039-4055, 4218-4228, 4318-4331, 4403-4420, 4523-4533, 4622-4634, 4652-4660, 4791-4806, 4931-4952, 5050-5062, 5171-5189, 5377-5396, 5552-5573, 5711-5727, 8615.

[2] These references have been drawn together to enable it to be seen that not merely all beasts but also all objects in the world have a correspondence, and that in accordance with their correspondences they all represent and serve to mean spiritual and celestial realities, and in the highest sense Divine realities that are the Lord's. And from this the character of the ancient Churches, called representative Churches, may be seen. This character was such that each one of their sacred observances served to represent things that are the Lord's and belong to His kingdom, thus aspects of love to Him and belief in Him. In those times heaven was joined to a member of the Church by means of these observances, since internal aspects were presented in heaven. The Word of the Lord has also been given to the same end, for every detail in it, even to the smallest part of a letter, has a correspondence and spiritual meaning. Through the Word alone therefore is heaven linked to mankind.

[3] No one at the present day knows that this is so. Consequently when the natural man reads the Word and seeks to discover where its Divinity lies, but does not find it in the letter on account of its very ordinary style, he at first begins to disparage it and then to reject the idea that it has been dictated by God and sent down to mankind by way of heaven. The natural man does not know that the Word is Divine by virtue of its spiritual sense, which is not visible in the letter but is nevertheless present within the letter; nor does he know that this sense is presented in heaven when someone on earth reads it devoutly, and that the subject in that sense is the Lord and His kingdom. These are the Divine things which make the Word Divine and through which holiness flows from the Lord by way of heaven, even into the literal sense and into the actual letters. But as long as a person does not know what anything spiritual is he cannot know either what the spiritual sense is, nor thus what correspondence is. And as long as a person loves the world more than heaven, and self more than the Lord, he has no wish to know these things and understand them. Yet they were the source of all intelligence among the ancients, and they are also the source of wisdom among the angels. Hidden mysteries, which numerous diviners have vainly toiled to track down in the Word, lie in those things alone.

4523. THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE EYE AND OF LIGHT WITH THE GRAND MAN - continued

Everyone who has any knowledge about air and sound may know that the formation of the ear is determined wholly and completely by the nature of the modifications of these, so that the actual physical and material ear corresponds to such modifications. And everyone who has acquired any knowledge concerning the atmosphere and light knows that the actual physical and material eye is formed in such a way that it corresponds to the modifications of these. So perfectly do the ear and the eye correspond to them that any arcanum hidden within the natural existence of air and sound is inscribed on the organism of the ear, and any arcanum hidden within the existence of the atmosphere and light is inscribed on the organism of the eye.

[2] Consequently anyone who has studied anatomy and at the same time physics may know by investigation that other physical and material organs - not merely the sensory but also the motor ones, as well as the internal organs - correspond to things that are part of the natural world. Thus the whole body is an organ composed of the deepest arcana belonging to everything which exists within the natural world, and its formation is determined by the hidden forces by which all things act and the wonderful manner in which they flow. This was why the ancients called the human being a little world or microcosm.

[3] One who knows these things may also know that whatever exists in the world and in the natural system does not come into being of itself but from something prior to itself; and that this something prior cannot come into being of itself but from something even more prior; and so on back to Him who is the First, from whom in their ordered sequence things come into being. And because they come into being from Him they are also kept in being from Him, for being kept in being is constant coming into being. Consequently all things without exception, right down to the last that belong to the natural order, have not only come into being from the First but are also being kept in being from the First. For if every single thing were not constantly coming into being, and if this continuous connection extending from the First and so linked to the First did not exist, it would instantly fall to pieces and perish.