3131. 'And Laban ran to the man outside, to the spring' means its inclination, that is to say, the inclination of the affection for good towards truth that was to be introduced into Divine truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'running' as some leaning or inclination towards, as above in 3127; from the representation of 'Laban' as the affection for good, dealt with immediately above in 3129, 3130; from the meaning of 'men' as truth, dealt with in 265, 749, 1007; and from the meaning of 'a spring' also as truth, here Divine truth, dealt with in 2702, 3096, and below in 3137.
[2] These considerations and everything else dealt with show the nature of the internal sense and what arcana exist there. Except from interior exploration of the Word and at the same time from revelation, how can anyone know that these words - 'Laban ran to the man outside, to the spring' - mean the inclination of the affection for good towards truth that was to be introduced into Divine truth? Yet these are the things that angels perceive when these words are read by man. Indeed such are the correspondences between man's ideas and an angel's ideas that while man understands these words according to the sense of the letter and has the idea of Laban running to the man outside, to the spring, an angel perceives the inclination of the affection for good towards truth that was to be introduced into Divine truth. With angels there is no idea of Laban, or of running, or of a spring, but spiritual ideas corresponding to these. The existence of such correspondence between natural things and ideas based on these and spiritual things and ideas may also be seen from what has been stated about correspondences in 1563, 1568, 2763, 2987-3003, 3021.
[3] As to the specific matter dealt with here - that truth was to be introduced into Divine truth - the situation is that at first truth in the natural man was not Divine truth but truth that had the appearance of being Divine. For no truth in its earliest stages is the actual truth but an appearance of truth. In the course of time however it sheds the cloak of appearance and puts on the real essence of truth. To make this intelligible it can be illustrated by examples, for the moment by this alone: It is a Divine truth that the Lord is never angry, never punishes anyone, let alone does evil to anyone, and that from the Lord nothing but good ever comes. Nevertheless in its earliest stages this truth declares that the Lord is angry when someone sins, and that the Lord therefore punishes; indeed with some people it declares that evil comes from the Lord. But as a person progresses from early childhood, grows up, and matures in judgement he casts away that which from the appearance seemed to him to be the truth and gradually takes up the truth itself, which is that the Lord is never angry and does not punish, let alone perform evil. Accordingly it is by means of apparent truth that a person is introduced into actual truth; for it is a general concept that enters first, which in itself is obscure, containing scarcely anything that is to be seen until it has been enlightened by means of particular ideas, and these in turn by specific details. And once it has been enlightened interior things are discernible. In this way the delusions and appearances which are truths at the time of ignorance are dispersed and banished.
