3131. And Laban ran out of doors unto the man, unto the fountain. That this signifies its desire, that is, the desire of the affection of good, toward the truth which was to be initiated into truth Divine, is evident from the signification of running,” as manifesting the inclination or desire (as above, n. 3127); from the representation of Laban, as being the affection of good (of which just above, n. 3129, 3130); from the signification of “the man,” as being truth (of which, n. 265, 749, 1007); and from the signification of a “fountain,” as also being truth, here truth Divine (see n. 2702, 3096 below, n. 3137).

[2] From these and from the other things here treated of, we can see what is the quality of the internal sense, and what arcana there are in it. Who could know, except from an interior searching of the Word, and at the same time from revelation, that these words, “Laban ran out of doors unto the man, unto the fountain,” signify the desire of the affection of good toward the truth that was to be initiated into truth Divine? And yet this is what the angels perceive when these words are read by man; for such are the correspondences between a man’s ideas and an angel’s that while the man takes these words according to the sense of the letter, and has the idea of Laban as running out of doors to the man unto the fountain, the angel perceives the desire of the affection of good toward the truth which was to be initiated into truth Divine. For the angels have no idea of Laban, nor of running, nor of a fountain, but they have spiritual ideas corresponding to these. That there is such a correspondence of actual things, and thence of ideas, natural and spiritual, may be seen from what was said above concerning correspondences (see n. 1563, 1568, 2763, 2987-3003, 3021).

[3] As regards the actual thing itself, namely, that truth was to be initiated into truth Divine, the case is this: The first truth in the natural man was not truth Divine, but was truth that appeared as if Divine; for in its first infancy no truth is truth, but is apparent truth; but in process of time it puts off the appearance, and puts on the essence of truth. In order that this may be comprehended, it may be illustrated by examples, but for the present merely by the following. It is a truth Divine that the Lord is never angry, never punishes anyone, still less does evil to anyone, and that from the Lord there never comes anything but good; nevertheless in its first infancy this truth takes the form that the Lord is angry when anyone sins, and that therefore the Lord punishes; nay, with some that evil is from the Lord; but as a man advances from childhood, and grows up and matures in judgment, he puts off that which was as truth to him from its appearing to be so, and gradually puts on the real truth, namely that the Lord is never angry, that He does not punish, that still less does He do what is evil; and thus by the former truth he is initiated into this. For that which first enters is the general truth, which in itself is obscure, and in which scarcely anything appears until it has been enlightened by particulars, and these by singulars; and when it has been enlightened the interior things are clear. Thus fallacies and appearances, which in time of ignorance are truths, are dissipated and shaken off.

1563. And Lot also, who went with Abram. That this signifies the external man that was in the Lord, is evident from the representation of Lot, as being the sensuous man, or what is the same, the external man. That there is an internal and an external in every man, or what is the same, that man is internal and external, is known to everyone within the church (concerning which see what has been said before, n. 978, 994, 995, 1015). The external man receives its life principally from the internal man, that is, from the spirit or soul. Thence comes its very life in general; but this life cannot be received in its particulars, or distinctly, by the external man, unless its organic vessels are opened, which must be the recipients of the particulars and the singulars of the internal man. These organic vessels, which are to be the recipients, are not opened except by means of the senses, especially those of hearing and sight; and, as they are opened, the internal man can flow in with its particulars and singulars. They are opened with the senses as the media, by means of knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones], and also by means of pleasures and delights; those belonging to the understanding by means of knowledges, and those belonging to the will by means of pleasures and delights.

[2] From these things it may be seen that it must necessarily happen that such knowledges as cannot agree with spiritual truths will insinuate themselves into the external man; and that such pleasures and delights will insinuate themselves as cannot agree with celestial goods; as is the case with all those things which regard corporeal, worldly, and earthly things as the ends; which, when regarded as ends, draw the external man outward and downward, and so remove it from the internal man. Wherefore, unless such things are first dispersed, the internal man cannot possibly agree with the external; so that before the internal man can agree with the external, such things must first be removed. That with the Lord these things were removed or separated, is represented and signified by the separation of Lot from Abram.