9373. Come up unto Jehovah. That this signifies conjunction with the Lord, is evident from the signification of “coming up,” as being to be raised toward interior things (see n. 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007), consequently also to be conjoined (n. 8760). That it denotes conjunction with the Lord, is because by “Jehovah” in the Word is meant the the Lord, (n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315). A secret which also lies hidden in the internal sense of these words, is that the sons of Jacob, over whom Moses was the head, were not called and chosen; but they themselves insisted that Divine worship should be instituted among them (according to wh at has been said in n. 4290, 4293); and therefore it is here said, “and He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah,” as if not Jehovah, but another, had said that he should come up. For the same reason in what follows it is said that “the people should not go up” (verse 2); and that “Jehovah sent not His hand unto the sons of Israel who were set apart” (verse 11); and that “the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel” (verse 17); and lastly that Moses, being called the seventh day, “entered into the midst of the cloud.” For by “the cloud” is meant the Word in the letter (n. 5922, 6343, 6752, 6832, 8106, 8443, 8781); and with the sons of Jacob the Word was separated from its internal sense, because they were in external worship without internal, as can be clearly seen from the fact that now, as before, they said, “all the words which Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (verse 3); and yet scarcely forty days afterward they worshiped a golden calf instead of Jehovah; which shows that this was hidden in their hearts while they were saying with their lips that they would serve Jehovah alone. But nevertheless those who are meant by “the called and the chosen” are those who are in internal worship, and who from internal worship are in external; that is, those who are in love to and faith in the Lord, and from this in love toward the neighbor.

Since we are beings experiencing life as our very own, doubt about spiritual realities such as eternal life, the loving kindness of God, or even that God exists, may sometimes arise. Swedenborg suggests that having such doubts is a normal and important part of our regeneration cycles.

There are two kinds of doubt: affirmative and negative. Affirmative doubt might be expressed something like this: "I don't understand this, but I would like to, and will try to live rightly and seek more understanding". Negative doubt might be more like, "I don't understand this, so I'm going to reject it."

In "A Guide for the Perplexed", by E.F. Schumacher, there's a scene right at the beginning of the book where the author is in Moscow on a tour of the city. He sees a beautiful church ahead of him. He consults his map, and it's not marked there. He consults his Soviet tour guide, who says that the church is not on the map because it's still an active church - not a monument or museum. Schumacher is struck by this -- and extends the thought to be that our maps of knowledge often leave out the important living unanswered questions.

(सन्दर्भ: Arcana Coelestia 4099, 5044 [1-13])

4931. CONTINUATION CONCERNING THE CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE GRAND MAN, HERE CONCERNING THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE HANDS, ARMS, FEET, AND LOINS THEREWITH.

It has been already shown that the whole heaven has reference to one Man with his several organs, members, and viscera; and this because heaven has reference to the Lord, for the Lord is the all in all of heaven, insomuch that heaven is in the proper sense the Divine good and Divine truth which are from the Lord. For this reason heaven is distinguished into as many provinces, so to speak, as there are viscera, organs, and members in man, and with these also there is correspondence. Unless there were such a correspondence of man with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord, man would not subsist even a single moment. All these things are kept in connection by influx.

[2] But all these provinces have reference to two kingdoms—the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. The celestial kingdom is the kingdom of the heart in the Grand Man, and the spiritual kingdom is the kingdom of the lungs; in like manner as in man, in the whole and every part of whom reign the heart and the lungs. These two kingdoms are wonderfully conjoined; and this conjunction is represented in the conjunction of the heart and lungs in man, and in the conjunction of their operations in the several members and viscera.

[3] While man is an embryo, or while he is yet in the womb, he is in the kingdom of the heart; but when he has come forth from the womb, he comes into the kingdom of the lungs; and if through the truths of faith he suffers himself to be brought into the good of love, he then returns from the kingdom of the lungs into the kingdom of the heart in the Grand Man; for he thus comes a second time into the womb and is born again. Then also these two kingdoms are conjoined in him, but in an inverted order; for previously the kingdom of the heart in him was under the rule of the lungs, that is, the truth of faith previously ruled in him; but afterward the good of charity rules. That the heart corresponds to the good of love, and the lungs to the truth of faith, may be seen above (n. 3635, 3883-3896).