664. Verse 11. And after the three days and a half, signifies when it is finished, thus the end of the old church and the beginning of the New Church. This is evident from the signification of "the three days and a half," as being fullness and completion as to the end of the old church, when there is the beginning of the New Church (See above, n. 658). It is said "after the three days and a half" because in the Word "days" signify states, here the last state of the church; for in the Word all times, as "hours," "days," "weeks," "months," "years," "ages," signify states, as here the last state of the church, when there is no longer any good of love or truth of faith left. Because "days" signify states, and the establishment of the Most Ancient Church is treated of in the first chapter of Genesis, and it becomes established successively from one state to another, it is there said:

That there was evening and there was morning the first day, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth days, even to the seventh, when it was finished (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; 2:2);

and the "days" there do not mean days, but the successive states of the regeneration of men at that time, and the consequent establishment of the church with them. So also elsewhere in the Word.

4799. Spirits from another planet which will be described elsewhere were once present with me, whose faces were different from those of people belonging to our own planet. Their faces protruded, especially around the lips; and in addition to this, they were flexible. When I spoke to them about their normal lifestyle and about the nature of their associations with one another, they said that they spoke to one another in particular by means of the production of variations of their faces, chiefly by variations around the lips, and that they expressed their affections by means of those parts of the face which are around the eyes, so that their companions could thereby have a full understanding not only of what they were thinking but also of what their wishes were. They also tried to demonstrate this to me by entering my own lips, round about which they tried to produce various folds and twists. But I could not receive these variations because my lips had not been trained since I was a small child to make such movements there. Nevertheless I was able to ascertain what they said through their communication of their thought to me. Yet the possibility of speech in general being expressed by means of the lips becomes clear to me from the manifold series of muscle fibres which exist in the lips and have become twisted together. If these were unravelled, so that they acted without any entanglements and freely, they would be able to produce many variations there that are unknown to those with whom those muscle fibres lie squashed together.

[2] The reason the speech of the spirits there was as described is that they are incapable of presence, that is, of thinking one thing and expressing another with their face; for they live with one another with such openness that they do not conceal anything whatever from fellow spirits. Indeed these know instantly what they are thinking and what their wishes are, also what kind of people they are, as well as what deeds they have done; for the acts done by those who live in that openness are lodged in their conscience, and therefore others can, when they first see them, discern what their inner countenances or dispositions of mind are.

[3] The spirits showed me that they do not strain their faces but let them move freely, unlike those people who since their youth have become accustomed to put on a presence, that is to say, to speak and act in a different way from how they think and desire. The faces of the latter are kept taut, ready to produce the kind of variation which their artfulness tells them to produce. Anything a person wishes to conceal causes his face to be made taut; and this ceases to be taut and expands when something seemingly open and sincere can be fraudulently displayed there.

[4] While I was reading about the Lord in the New Testament Word, the spirits from another planet were with me as well as certain Christians. I perceived that inwardly these Christians cherished offensive ideas opposed to the Lord, and also that they wished in some quiet way to communicate these. Those from another planet were astonished that they were like this, but I was allowed to tell them that in the world they had not been such in their utterances, but had been in their hearts. There even exist, I added, people like them who nevertheless preach about the Lord. When these do so it is with a pseudo-religious zeal by which they move the common people to emit groans and sometimes to shed tears; yet they communicate nothing at all of what is in their hearts. On hearing all this the spirits from another planet were astounded that such a dichotomy between interior things and exterior ones could exist, that is, between thought and speech. They said they were totally unacquainted with that kind of dichotomy, and that it was impossible for them to utter anything with the lips or to express anything in the face other than that which matched the affections of the heart; and that if it were other than this, they would be torn asunder and would perish.