6072. 'And Pharaoh said to his brothers' means perception regarding the truths of the Church within the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as perception, dealt with above in 6063; from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the natural, and factual knowledge in general, also dealt with above in 6063; and from the representation of the sons of Jacob, to whom 'brothers' refers here, as the truths of the Church within the natural, dealt with above in 6064. From all this it is evident that 'Pharaoh said to his brothers' means the perception of the natural regarding the truths of the Church there.

6313. When a person is raised up to more internal levels he passes from the dull light on the level of the senses to a quite gentle light. At the same time he is removed from the inflow of what is disgraceful or foul and is brought closer to what is just and fair, because he is brought closer to the angels present with him, thus closer to the light of heaven. This raising up from the level of the senses was well-known to the ancients, and also to gentiles; and that is why the sages among them have said that when the mind is removed from the sensory level, it comes into inner light and at the same time into a state filled with peace and into a kind of heavenly bliss. From this they also made deductions about the immortality of the mind. A person can be raised to even more internal levels; and the further he goes, the clearer is the light that he comes into. At length he is raised up into the light of heaven, a light that is nothing else than wisdom and intelligence from the Lord. With the three heavens nothing else marks off one from another than the internal levels to which it is raised, and so also the degree of light that it possesses. Because it exists at the inmost levels the third heaven is in the greatest light, thus in wisdom far surpassing the wisdom of lower heavens.