1384. Wat de eerste soort betreft, die de engelen eigen is, en daarin bestaat, dat zij innerlijk gewaarworden, wat waar en goed is, en gewaarworden wat van de Heer komt, en wat van henzelf, en verder ook van waar en hoedanig datgene is wat zij denken, spreken en doen, wanneer het uit henzelf komt. Het werd mij gegeven met de zonen van de Oudste Kerk te spreken over hun innerlijke gewaarwording; zij zeiden dat zij niets uit zichzelf denken of denken kunnen, en niets uit zichzelf willen, maar dat zij bij alles, wat zij in het algemeen en in het bijzonder denken en willen en gewaarworden, wat van de Heer en wat van elders komt, en dat zij niet alleen gewaarworden, hoeveel van de Heer en hoeveel als van henzelf komt, maar ook, wanneer iets als van henzelf komt, waar het dan vandaan komt, van welke engelen, en verder van welke aard die engelen zijn, van welke aard hun gedachten, met alle verscheidenheid, en zo dus welke invloed het is, en ontelbare andere dingen meer. De innerlijke gewaarwording van deze soort zijn van een grote verscheidenheid; bij de hemelse engelen, die in de liefde tot de Heer zijn, bestaat een innerlijke gewaarwording van het goede en vandaar van al wat tot het ware behoort, en omdat zij uit het goede het ware gewaarworden, laten zij niet toe dat er gesproken, nog minder dat er geredeneerd wordt over het ware, maar zij zeggen: zo is het of zo is het niet. De geestelijke engelen echter, die ook innerlijke gewaarwording hebben, maar niet van dien aard als de hemelse engelen, spreken over het ware en het goede; niettemin worden zij het ware en het goede gewaar, maar met onderscheid, want de verscheidenheden van deze innerlijke gewaarwording zijn ontelbaar. De verscheidenheden rusten hierop, dat zij gewaarworden of iets komt van de wil van de Heer, of dat Hij het vergunt, of dat Hij het toelaat, waartussen een scherp onderscheid ligt.

2144. 'In the oak-groves of Mamre' means the character of the perception. This is clear from the representation and meaning of 'oak-groves', and also from the representation and meaning of 'Mamre'. What oak-groves in general represented and meant has been shown in Volume One, in 1442, 1443, and what the oak-grove of Mamre specifically represented and meant, in 1616, namely perceptions, though of a human kind such as spring from factual knowledge and from the initial rational concepts derived from that knowledge.

[2] What perception is, is totally unknown at the present day, for nobody today possesses the kind of perception that the ancient and especially the most ancient people possessed. The latter knew from perception whether a thing was good and consequently whether it was true. There was an influx from the Lord by way of heaven into the rational part of their minds, and from that influx when they thought about anything holy, they perceived instantly whether a thing was so or was not so. Later on such perception with mankind perished and people began to entertain heavenly ideas no more but only worldly and bodily ones; and when this happened the place of such perception was taken by conscience (which also is a kind of perception), for acting contrary to conscience and according to conscience is nothing else than discerning from conscience whether a thing is so or not so, or whether it ought to be done.

[3] But perception that goes with conscience does not originate in inflowing good but in truth which from earliest childhood has been implanted in the rational part of the mind in accordance with the holiness of people's worship, and after that has been confirmed; for that truth alone is believed by them to be good. Consequently conscience is a kind of perception, but it has its origin in truth such as this; and when charity and innocence are introduced into it by the Lord, the good that goes with that conscience is then brought into being. These few considerations show what perception is. Yet between perception and conscience there is a wide difference. See what has been stated about perception in Volume One, in 104, 125, 371, 483, 495, 503, 521, 536, 597, 607, 784, 865, 895, 1121, 1616; about the perception spirits and angels have, in 202, 203, 1008, 1383, 1384, 1390-1392, 1394, 1397, 1504; and about the learned not knowing what perception is, in 1387.

[4] As regards the Lord when He lived in the world, all of His thought sprang from Divine perception since He alone was a Divine and Celestial Man. For He has been the only one in whom Jehovah Himself was present and from whom His perception came, also dealt with in Volume One, in 1616, 1791. His perceptions became more and more interior the closer He came to union with Jehovah. The nature of His perception at this time becomes clear from what has been stated in Volume One, in 1616, about the oak-groves of Mamre; and then the nature of it when He perceived the things contained in this chapter is described in what follows below.

7089. 'And afterwards Moses and Aaron came' means the Divine Law and the teachings derived from it. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the Lord in respect of the Divine Law, dealt with in 6752; and from the representation of 'Aaron' as teachings that present what is good and true, dealt with in 6998. The expression 'Divine Law', which Moses represents, is used to mean the Word as it is in its internal sense, thus as it is in heaven, whereas the expression 'teaching' is used to mean the Word as it is in its literal sense, thus as it is on earth. How great the difference is may be recognized from the explanations given so far that have regard to the internal sense of the Word. Let the Ten Commandments, which specifically are called the Law, be used to illustrate the point. The literal meaning of them is that one should honour one's parents, not kill, commit adultery, or steal, and so on. But the internal sense is that one should worship the Lord, not harbour hatred, falsify what is true, or claim for oneself what is the Lord's. These are the ways in which those four commandments are understood in heaven, and the rest too in their own manner. For in heaven they know no other Father than the Lord; therefore instead of honouring parents they take the commandment to mean that the Lord should be worshipped. In heaven they do not know what it is to kill, for they live for ever; but instead of killing they understand harbouring hatred and harming another person's spiritual life. Nor in heaven do they know what it is to commit adultery; consequently they perceive instead what corresponds to that prohibition - being forbidden to falsify what is true. And instead of stealing they take the prohibition to mean that one should not take away from the Lord anything such as goodness and truth and claim it as one's own.

[2] This is what the Law and also the whole of the Word is like in heaven, and so what it is like in its internal sense. Indeed it is far more profound, for most of what they think and say in heaven cannot find expression in the words of human speech, because they are in the spiritual world, not the natural world, and things belonging to the spiritual world are as greatly superior to those belonging to the natural world as non-material things are to material. Yet because material things nevertheless correspond to them, material things can be used to disclose them. That is, natural speech can be used but not spiritual, for spiritual speech does not consist of material words but of spiritual words. And spiritual words consist of ideas that are converted into words in the spiritual atmosphere, and are represented by variegations of heavenly light, heavenly light being in itself nothing other than Divine intelligence and wisdom radiating from the Lord. All this shows what is meant by the Divine Law in its genuine sense, which 'Moses' represents, and what is meant by teaching, which 'Aaron' represents.