118. As for the Lord's actually appearing in heaven as the sun, this is something I have not simply been told by angels but have also been allowed to see a number of times; so I should like at this point to describe briefly what I have heard and seen concerning the Lord as the sun.

The Lord does not appear as a sun in the heavens, but high above them, and not directly overhead but in front of angels at a middle elevation. He appears in two places, in one for the right eye and in another for the left, noticeably far apart. For the right eye he looks just like a sun, with much the same fire and size as our world's sun. For the left eye, though, he does not look like a sun but like a moon, with similar brilliance but more sparkling, and with much the same size as our earth's moon; but he seems to be surrounded by many apparent lesser moonlets, each similarly brilliant and sparkling.

The reason the Lord appears in two places, so differently, is that he appears to people according to their receptiveness. So he looks one way to people who accept him through the good of love and another way to people who accept him through the good of faith. To people who accept him through the good of love, he looks like a sun, fiery and flaming in response to their receptivity. These people are in his heavenly kingdom. To people who accept him through the good of faith, though, he looks like a moon, brilliant and sparkling in response to their receptivity. These people are in his spiritual kingdom. ¹ This is because the good of love corresponds to fire, so that fire, in its spiritual meaning, is love; while the good of faith corresponds to light, so that light, in its spiritual meaning, is faith. ²

The reason he appears to the eyes is that the deeper levels of the mind see through the eyes, looking from the good of love through the right eye and from the good of faith through the left eye. ³ You see, everything on the right side of an angel or one of us corresponds to what is good and yields truth, while everything on the left side corresponds to that truth that comes from what is good. ⁴ "The good of faith" is, essentially, truth that comes from what is good.

Bilješke:

7270. 'You Shall speak all that I command you, [and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh,] means the reception of Divine influx, and communication. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses', who is to speak, as Divine Truth, and from the representation of 'Aaron as teachings derived from it, both dealt with in 7089; from the meaning of 'speaking' as influx and the reception of it, dealt with in 5797; and from the meaning of 'commanding' too as influx, dealt with in 5486, 5732, here the reception of influx. From all this it is evident that 'speaking' means the influx of Divine Truth in an indirect way into doctrinal teachings, that is, with the teacher, (for it is implied that Moses, representing Divine Truth, was to speak what Jehovah commanded to Aaron, who represents doctrinal teachings or the teacher, thus to him who was to communicate it) and that 'commanding' means a direct Divine influx into the Divine Law, which 'Moses' represents.

[2] How these matters are to be understood may be seen from what has been stated already in 7009, 7010, Where it is shown that 'Moses' represents truth that comes forth directly from the Divine, and that 'Aaron' represents the truth that comes forth in an indirect way. Anyone unacquainted with the nature of order consisting in consecutive degrees cannot be acquainted with the nature of influx either. Therefore let a brief statement be made on this subject. Since truth which comes forth directly from the Lord is from the Infinite and Divine Being Himself, it cannot be received at all by any living, finite substance, thus not by any angel. This being so, the Lord created degrees consecutively descending to serve as the means by which Divine Truth coming forth directly from Him could be communicated. But the first degree away from Him is still too full of the Divine to enable that Truth to be received by any living, finite substance, and so by any angel. On account of this the Lord created a further degree down, by which Divine Truth coming forth directly from Him was to some extent able to be received. This degree is God's truth which exists in heaven. These first two degrees are above the heavens; they are like belts, made radiant by a fiery source, which surround the Sun, which is the Lord. This is the nature of the consecutive degrees of order down to the heaven nearest to the Lord, which is the third heaven where the innocent and wise live. From there consecutive degrees continue down to the lowest heaven, and from the lowest heaven down to the degree of the senses and the body in man, the last in the series to receive influx.

[3] From all this it is clear that degrees one after another continue from Him who is the First, that is, the Lord, right down to the last and lowest present with man, indeed right down to the last and lowest present in the natural order. The last and lowest degrees present with man, like those in the natural order, are relatively unresponsive and consequently frigid; they are also relatively general and consequently obscure. From this it is also evident that through those consecutive degrees all things exist in a continuous chain linked to the First Being (Esse). And it is in accordance with those degrees that influx takes place; for Divine Truth coming forth directly from Divine Good flows into one degree after another. On the way down or with each new degree it becomes more general, and so grosser and more obscure, and becomes more sluggish, and so more unresponsive and frigid. All this clarifies the nature of Divine Order consisting of consecutive degrees and consequently of the nature of influx.

[4] But it should be fully recognized that God's truth, which flows into the third heaven nearest to the Lord, at the same time flows right down into the last and lowest degrees of order as well, without undergoing consecutive degrees of formation. Every single thing at that level is also directly governed and provided by Him who is the First. In this way the consecutive degrees are held together in their proper order and connection. The truth of this may also be recognized to some extent from the law not unknown to the learned in the world that there is only one substance which really is substance. Everything else is a formation from it, and that one and only substance reigns not solely as the form but as that too which is not the form, for instance, as that which gave rise to them. If this were not so, what has been formed could not remain in being and operate. But these matters are stated for him who may be able to understand them.