8858. A person's whole character is determined by the nature of whatever dominates his life; this is what marks him off from others. His heaven is formed in accordance with it if he is good, or his hell if he is bad. For it constitutes his true will and so the true being of his life, which is unchangeable after death. From all this one may see what the life is like in a person who has been regenerated, and what it is like in one who has not been regenerated.

9286. 'Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year' means enduring worship of the Lord and thanksgiving on account of deliverance from damnation. This is clear from the meaning of 'keeping a feast' or 'holding a feast' as worshipping the Lord with gladness of mind on account of deliverance from damnation, dealt with in 7093; and from the meaning of 'three times in the year' as a state complete right to its end, for 'three' means complete from the beginning to the end, 2788, 4495, 7715, 9198, and 'year' a whole period, 2906, 7839, 8070. At this point therefore complete and whole deliverance is meant; for 'the feast of unleavened bread' means purification from falsities, 'the feast of harvest' means the planting of truth in good, and 'the feast of ingathering' means the implanting of good from there. Thus complete deliverance from damnation is meant by these feasts; for when a person has been purified from falsities, and after this has been brought by means of truths into good, and is at length governed by good, he is in heaven with the Lord and has accordingly undergone complete deliverance.

[2] The consecutive stages of deliverance from damnation are like the consecutive stages of regeneration; for regeneration is deliverance by the Lord from hell and being led by Him into heaven. For a person who is being regenerated is first purified from falsities, after that the truths of faith he knows are planted in the good of charity, and finally that good itself is implanted in him. When all this has been done the person has been regenerated and he is then in heaven with the Lord. Therefore the three feasts in the year also meant worship of the Lord and thanksgiving on account of regeneration. Because these feasts were established on account of the everlasting remembrance of those things, the worship and thanksgiving are called enduring; for the most important things in worship should endure forever. The things which should endure forever are those which have been inscribed not only on the memory but also on the actual life that is led. When this is so they are said to reign universally with a person, see 5949, 6159, 6571, 8853-8858, 8865.

10242. 'When they go into the tent of meeting' means worship springing from the good of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'going into the tent of meeting', when said in reference to Aaron and his sons, as representing all things of worship springing from the good of faith. The reason why these things were represented by going into the tent of meeting is that all things of worship springing from the good of love were represented by approaching the altar. There are two essential constituents of Divine worship, the good of faith and the good of love; Divine worship must consist of the first kind of good or else of the second. The good of faith is the good of charity towards the neighbour, and the good of love is the good of love to the Lord. These two kinds of good differ from each other as what is spiritual and what is celestial do; for the nature of the difference between them, see in the places referred to in 9277. Worship springing from spiritual good, which is the good of faith, that is, from the good of charity towards the neighbour, was represented by the services performed by Aaron and his sons in the tent of meeting, in which those services were performed every day; for that tent represented the heaven where spiritual good reigns. But worship springing from celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord, was represented by the services performed by Aaron and his sons at the altar, see 9963, 9964, 10001, 10025.