3574. And he came near, and kissed him. That this signifies presence and unition, is evident from the signification of “coming near,” as being presence; and from the signification of “kissing,” as being unition or conjunction from affection (n. 3573). That “kissing” has this signification is evident also from the following passages in the Word.

In David:

Serve Jehovah with fear. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish in the way, for His anger will soon be kindled. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him (Psalms 2:11-12); where the Lord is treated of, whose Divine Human is the “Son;” to “kiss Him” is to be conjoined with Him through the faith of love. Again:

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other (Psalms 85:10);

“righteousness and peace have kissed each other” denotes their conjunction together.

In Hosea:

Ephraim spoke horror, and became guilty in Baal; and now they sin more and more and have made them a molten image of their silver, even idols in their own intelligence, all of them the work of the craftsmen; they say to them, Let the sacrificers of men kiss the calves (Hos. 13:1-2);

“Ephraim” denotes intelligence, here, man’s own intelligence, that is, those who believe themselves to be wise, and who desire to be wise, not from the Lord; the “molten image of their silver” denotes good falsified; “all of them the work of the craftsmen” denotes self-intelligence. They who are such are said to “kiss the calves,” that is, to embrace magic and to adjoin themselves thereto. In the first book of Kings:

Jehovah said to Elijah, I have caused to be left seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth that hath not kissed him (1 Kings 19:18); where “to kiss” denotes to join one’s self from affection, thus to worship.

3573. And kiss me my son. That this signifies whether it can be united, is evident from the signification of “kissing;” as being unition and conjunction from affection. “Kissing,” which is an outward thing, signifies nothing else than the affection of conjunction, which is an inward thing; they also correspond. As is evident from what has been said above, the subject here treated of in the supreme sense is the glorification of the natural in the Lord, that is, how the Lord made the natural in Himself Divine; but in the representative sense the subject is the regeneration of the natural in man, thus the conjunction of the natural with the rational; for the natural is not regenerated until it has been conjoined with the rational. This conjunction is effected by the immediate and mediate influx of the rational into the good and truth of the natural; that is to say, from the good of the rational immediately into the good of the natural, and through this into the truth of the natural; and mediately through the truth of the rational into the truth of the natural, and thence into the good of the natural-which conjunctions are here treated of.

[2] These conjunctions are impossible except by means provided by the Divine, and indeed by such as are utterly unknown to man, and of which he can scarcely have any idea by means of the things of the world’s light, that is, which are of the natural lumen with him; but only by means of the things which are of the light of heaven, that is, which are of rational light. Nevertheless all these means have been disclosed in the internal sense of the Word, and are manifest before those who are in that sense, thus before the angels, who see and perceive innumerable things on this subject, of which scarcely one can be unfolded and explained in a manner suited to the apprehension of man.

[3] But from effects and the signs thereof it is in some measure manifest to man how the case is with this conjunction; for the rational mind (that is, man’s interior will and understanding) ought to represent itself in the natural mind just as this mind represents itself in the face and its expressions, insomuch that as the face is the countenance of the natural man, so the natural mind should be the countenance of the rational mind. When the conjunction has been effected, as is the case with those who have been regenerated, then whatever man interiorly wills and thinks in his rational presents itself conspicuously in his natural, and this latter presents itself conspicuously in his face. Such a face have the angels; and such a face had the most ancient people who were celestial men, for they were not at all afraid that others should know their ends and intentions, inasmuch as they willed nothing but good; for he who suffers himself to be led by the Lord never intends or thinks anything else. When the state is of this character, then the rational as to good conjoins itself immediately with the good of the natural, and through this with its truths; and also mediately through the truth that is conjoined with itself in the rational with the truth of the natural, and through this with the good therein; and in this way the conjunction becomes indissoluble.

[4] But how far man is at this day removed from this state, thus from the heavenly state, may be seen from the fact that it is believed to be of civil prudence to speak, to act, and also to express by the countenance, something else than what one thinks and intends, and even to dispose the natural mind in such a manner that together with its face it may act contrary to the things which it interiorly thinks and wills from an end of evil. To the most ancient people this was an enormous wickedness, and such persons were cast out from their society as devils. From these things, as from effects and their signs, it is evident in what consists the conjunction of the rational or internal of man as to good and truth with his natural or external man; and thus what is the quality of a man-angel, and what the quality of a man-devil.