172. Of the Profane and Profanation, spoken of above at (n. 169).

Profanation is a commixture of good and evil, as also of truth and falsity in man (n. 6348). None can profane goods and truths, or the holy things of the church and the Word, except those who first acknowledge, believe, and still more live according to them, and afterwards recede from and do not believe, and who live to themselves and the world (n. 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 3398-3399, 3898, 4289, 4601, 8394, 10287). He who believes truths in his childhood, and afterwards does not believe them, profanes lightly; but he who confirms truths in himself and after that denies them, profanes grievously (n. 6959, 6963, 6971). They who believe truths, and live evilly, commit profanation; as also they who do not believe truths and live holily (n. 8882). If man, after repentance of heart, relapses to his former evils, he profanes, and then his latter state is worse than his former (n. 8394). Those in the Christian world who defile the holy things of the Word by unclean thoughts and discourses, profane (n. 4050, 5390). There are various kinds of profanation (n. 10287).

They who do not acknowledge holy things cannot profane them, still less they who do not know them (n. 1008, 1010, 1059, 9188, 10287). They who are within the church, can profane holy things, but not they who are out of it (n. 2051). The Gentiles, because out of the church, and who do not have the Word, cannot profane (n. 1327-1328, 2051, 9021). Neither can the Jews profane the holy interior things of the Word and the church, because they do not acknowledge them (n. 6963). Therefore interior truths were not revealed to the Jews, for if they had been revealed and acknowledged, they would have profaned them (n. 3398, 3479, 6963). Profanation is meant by the words of the Lord above quoted at n. 169:

When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, but finding none; then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I went out; and when he comes and finds it empty, and swept, and garnished, then he goes away, and takes to himself seven other spirits worse than himself, and entering in they dwell there, and the latter things of the man become worse than the first (Matt. 12:43-45).

"The unclean spirit going out of a man," signifies the repentance of him who is in evil; his "walking through dry places and not finding rest" signifies that to such a person, a life of good is of that quality; "the house" into which he returned, and which he found empty, swept, and garnished, signifies the man himself, and his will, as being without good. "The seven spirits" which he took to himself and with whom he returned, signify evil conjoined to good; "his state then being worse than his former," signifies profanation. This is the internal sense of these words, for the Lord spoke by correspondences. The same thing is meant by the words of the Lord to the man whom He healed in the Pool of Bethesda:

Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee (John 5:14).

Also by these words of the Lord:

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them (John 12:40).

"To be converted and healed," signifies to profane, which takes place when truth and good are acknowledged, and afterwards rejected, which would have been the case if the Jews had been converted and healed.

The lot of profaners in the other life is the worst of all, because the good and truth which they have acknowledged remain, and also the evil and falsity; and because they cohere, a tearing asunder of the life takes place (n. 571, 582, 6348). The greatest care is therefore taken by the Lord, to prevent profanation (n. 2426, 10287). Therefore man is withheld from acknowledgment and faith, if he cannot remain therein to the end of life (n. 3398, 3402). On this account also man is rather kept in ignorance, and in external worship (n. 301-303, 1327-1328). The Lord also stores up the goods and truths which man has received by acknowledgment, in his interiors (n. 6595).

Lest interior truths should be profaned, they are not revealed before the church is at its end (n. 3398-3399). Wherefore the Lord came into the world, and opened interior truths, when the church was wholly vastated (n. 3398). See what is adduced on this subject in the work on The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed (n. 73, 74).

In the Word "Babel" signifies the profanation of good, and "Chaldea," the profanation of truth (n. 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306-1308, 1321-1322, 1326). These profanations correspond to the prohibited degrees, or foul adulteries, spoken of in the Word (n. 6348). Profanation was represented in the Israelitish and Jewish church by eating blood, wherefore this was so severely prohibited (n. 1003).

1306. That 'a tower' means worship of self is clear from the meaning of 'a tower'. It is worship of self when a person sets himself up above everybody else even to the point of his being worshipped. Consequently self-love, which is pride and arrogance, is called height, loftiness, and exaltedness, and everything high is used to describe it, as in Isaiah,

The eyes of man's (homo) loftiness will be humbled, and the height of men (vir) brought low, and Jehovah alone will be exalted on that day, for the day of Jehovah Zebaoth will be against everyone that is lofty and high, and against everyone that is lifted up. and he will be humbled, and against all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up and against all the oaks of Bashan, and against all high mountains, and against all hills that are lifted up, and against every lofty tower and against every fortified wall. Isaiah 2:11-18.

This refers to self-love, described by the cedars, oaks, mountains, hills, and tower that are high and exalted.

[2] In the same prophet,

There will be brooks, streams of water, on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Isaiah 30:25.

Here likewise 'tower' stands for self-love and for exaltedness in worship. In the same prophet,

Behold, the land of the Chaldeans! This people was not. Asshur founded her in tziim. ¹ They will erect their watch-towers; they will raise up her palaces, he will make her into a ruin. Isaiah 23:13.

This refers to Tyre and laying it waste. 'Watch-towers', a different expression from 'towers', stands for resulting delusions. In Ezekiel,

I will cause many nations to come up against Tyre, and they will break down the walls of Tyre, and destroy her towers, and I will scrape her dust from her and make her a bare rock. Ezekiel 26:3-4.

Here likewise 'towers' has the same meaning.

[3] The reason why self-love in worship, or worship of self, is called 'a tower' is that 'a city' means doctrine, as shown already in 402, and cities in former times were fortified by towers with watchmen in them. Towers were also placed on their borders, and they were therefore called towers for watchmen, 2 Kings 9:17; 17:9; 18:8, and watchtowers, Isaiah 23:13. In addition, when the Lord's Church is compared to a vineyard, things of worship and also the preservation of it are compared to a winepress and to 'a tower in the vineyard', as is clear in Isaiah 5:1-2; Matthew 21:33; Mark 12:1.

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