143. Nowadays it may seem strange that 'beasts' and 'animals' in ancient times meant affections and similar things residing with man. But because people had heavenly ideas then, and because such things are also represented in the world of spirits by animals - by such animals in fact as resemble those affections - this alone is what they therefore understood when they spoke in this fashion. And this alone is what is meant in the Word whenever beasts are mentioned in general or in particular. The whole prophetical section of the Word is full of things such as these, and therefore anyone who does not know the particular meaning of any beast cannot possibly understand what the Word contains in the internal sense. But as slated already, there are two kinds of beasts - evil ones, because they are harmful, and good ones, because they are harmless. Good beasts, such as sheep, lambs, and doves, mean good affections. Here, because the subject is the celestial man, or the celestial-spiritual man, the same applies. The fact that 'beasts' in general means affections has been confirmed from several places in the Word quoted already in 45, 46. So there is no need of further confirmation.

2706. That 'God was with the boy' means the Lord's presence with those who are spiritual is clear from the meaning of 'God being with someone' and from the meaning of 'the boy'.

With regard to 'God's being with someone' meaning the Lord's presence, this may be seen without any explanation. The Lord is indeed present with everyone, for from no other source does life flow, and He governs every specific detail of it. This is so even with the worst of men, and in hell itself. But the nature of His presence varies according to the way His life is received. In the case of those who receive the life of the love of His good and truth wrongfully and who pervert it into the loves of what is evil and false, the Lord is present and as far as possible overrules for good their ends in view. But His presence with them is called 'absence' - an absence to the degree that evil is distant from good, and falsity from truth. With those however who do receive the life of the love of the Lord's good and truth it is referred to as 'presence', a presence to the degree of reception. The Lord's presence may be compared to the sun which is present with its heat and light in all plant life according to the reception of it.

With regard to 'the boy' meaning the spiritual as regards truth, this has been stated above. But here he means those who are spiritual because he represents the member of the spiritual Church, also the spiritual Church itself, and in the universal sense the Lord's spiritual kingdom. For when it is said that anyone means that which is spiritual, as here where 'the boy' means the spiritual as regards truth, those who are spiritual are included in the meaning, since the spiritual does not exist without a subject. The same applies to everything else spoken of in the abstracted sense.