4038. 'And camels and asses' means the rather external and the fully external truths of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'camels' as general facts belonging to the natural man, dealt with in 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145 - general facts being lower or rather external truths of good; and from the meaning of 'asses' as still lower or fully external truths of natural good, dealt with in 2781. What interior goods and truths are, also what intermediate ones are, as well as what the rather external and the fully external are, may be seen from what has been stated in 4009. With man three general areas exist - the bodily, the natural, and the rational. The bodily is outermost, the natural is intermediate, and the rational is interior. Insofar as one of these reigns over another in someone he is called either bodily-minded, or natural, or rational. These three parts of man's mind intercommunicate in a wonderful way - the bodily part with the natural, and the natural with the rational.

[2] When a person is first born only the immature bodily part exists; but this has within it the capacity to become fully developed. Subsequently he becomes natural, and at length rational. From this one may see that communication takes place between one part and another. The bodily part communicates with the natural by means of the senses, doing so through the senses belonging to the understanding in a distinct and separate way from its communication through those belonging to the will; for both understanding and will have to become fully developed in a person if he is to become and is to be fully human. The perceptions of the senses of sight and hearing serve in particular to develop fully his understanding, while the other three senses have regard in particular to his will. The bodily part of man's mind communicates with his natural - which, as has been stated, is the intermediate part - by means of the senses. For the things that enter through sensory experience accommodate themselves within the natural as a kind of receptacle for them. This receptacle is the memory. The delight, pleasure, and desire there belong to the will and are called natural goods, but the facts there belong to the understanding and are called natural truths.

[3] By means of these things just mentioned the natural part of man's mind communicates with his rational which, as has been stated, is the interior part. The things which rise up from the natural to the rational accommodate themselves in the rational likewise as in a kind of receptacle. This receptacle is the interior memory, dealt with in 2469-2480. The blessing and happiness there belong to the will and are forms of rational good, while the interior insights into things, and the perceptions of these, belong to the understanding, the objects of those insights and perceptions being called rational truths. These three - the bodily, the natural, and the rational - are what constitute a human being. Means of communication exist between these three, the external senses being the means by which the bodily part of a person's mind communicates with his natural, and the interior senses those by which the natural part of his mind communicates with his rational. Therefore it is those things which are present in the natural part of a person's mind, and which have been derived from the external senses that belong properly to the body, that are called the rather external and the fully external truths of good. But those which have been derived from the interior senses, which belong properly to his spirit and communicate with the rational, are the ones which are called interior goods and truths. And those which come in between and partake of both are the ones which are called intermediate goods and truths. These three groups of truths, starting in order with interior, are what are meant in the internal sense by 'flocks', by 'servant-girls and slaves', and by 'camels and asses'.

1949. That 'he will be a wild-ass man' means rational truth, which is described, is clear from the meaning of 'a wild ass' as rational truth. In the Word, horses, horsemen, mules, and asses are mentioned many times, but nobody up to now has known that they mean intellectual concepts, rational concepts, and factual knowledge. That these are meant will be abundantly confirmed, in the Lord's Divine mercy, in their separate places. Belonging to the same group is the wild-ass, for such is a mule living in the wilderness or an ass in the wild and means man's rational - not the rational in its entirety, but only rational truth. The rational is composed of good and of truth, that is, of things belonging to charity and of those belonging to faith. It is rational truth that is meant by a wild ass. This then is what Ishmael represents and is described in the present verse.

[2] How can anyone believe that rational truth separated from rational good is of such a nature? I myself would not have known if I had not been taught from actual experience. Whether you refer to it as rational truth or as the person whose rational is of that nature, it amounts to the same thing. The person whose rational is such as consists in truth alone, even though this is the truth of faith, and does not at the same time consist in the good of charity, is altogether such. He is quick to find fault, makes no allowances, is against all, regards everyone as being in error, is instantly prepared to rebuke, to chasten, and to punish, shows no pity, does not apply himself and makes no effort to redirect people's thinking; for he views everything from the standpoint of truth, and nothing from the standpoint of good. In short, he is a hard man. The one thing to soften his hardness is the good of charity, for good is the soul of truth, and when good draws near and implants itself in truth the latter becomes so different that it can hardly be recognized. 'Isaac' represents the Lord's Rational Man which sprang from good, not from truth separated from good. So it was that Ishmael was cast out and after that dwelt in the desert, and that his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt, Genesis 21:9-21, all of which events are representative of a person who is endowed with a rational such as that.

[3] Mention is made of wild asses in the prophetical parts of the Word, as in Isaiah,

The palace will be deserted, the multitude of the city forsaken; the hill and the watchtower will become dens, even for ever the joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks. Isaiah 32:14.

This refers to the devastation of intellectual concepts - which when devastated of truths are called 'the joy of wild asses' and when devastated of goods 'a pasture of flocks' - so that the rational does not exist. In Jeremiah,

The wild asses stood on the hills, they panted for air like sea-monsters; their eyes failed because there was no herbage. Jeremiah 14:6.

This refers to a drought, or absence of good and truth. Reference is made to the wild asses 'panting for air' when people lay hold of inane ideas instead of realities which are truths. 'Their eyes failed' stands for failing to grasp what truth is.

[4] In Hosea,

For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself; Ephraim has sought lovers ¹ with a prostitute's hire. Hosea 8:9.

This refers to Israel or the spiritual Church. 'Ephraim' stands for the understanding part of it. 'Going up to Assyria' stands for reasoning about whether the truth is indeed the truth. 'A wild ass alone' stands for the rational thus destitute of truths. In the same prophet,

For he will be among his brothers like a wild ass, Jehovah's east wind will come rising up from the desert, and his spring will become dry, and his fountain dried up. It will strip his treasury of all precious vessels. Hosea 13:15.

This refers to 'Ephraim' by whom the understanding part of the spiritual Church is meant, and to the dissolution of the rational which is like 'a wild ass'. In David,

Jehovah God will send forth springs into the rivers; they will go among the mountains. They give drink to every wild beast of the fields; the wild asses quench their thirst. Psalms 104:10-11.

'Springs' stands for cognitions, 'wild beasts of the fields' for goods, 'the wild asses' for the truths of reason.

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