'Wilderness' signifies something with little life in it, as described in the internal sense in Luke 1:80 'Wilderness' signifies somewhere there is no good because there is no truth. 'Wilderness,' as in Jeremiah 23:10, signifies the Word when it is adulterated.

(参照: Arcana Coelestia 1927)

3159. 'And I will look to the right or to the left' means reciprocal freedom. This is clear without any explanation. The situation is that good from the Lord is constantly flowing in by way of the internal man into the external, and in earliest years takes shape in the external man as the affection for truth. To the extent a person looks to celestial and spiritual good as the end in view, truth is introduced and joined to good, or what amounts to the same, the affection for truth is introduced and joined to the affection for good. To the extent however that a person looks to his own good, and so to himself and the world, as the end in view, celestial and spiritual good depart. This is the reciprocal freedom which is meant by 'looking to the right or to the left'.