Heart
![heart hands fire by Caleb Kerr](/bundles/ncbsw/media/heart_hands_fire_by_CKerr.webp)
The heart means love. A good heart means love to the Lord and to the neighbor, while a hard or stony heart means the love of self or the world -- riches and things. When the psalmist asks the Lord to search his heart, he wants the Lord to see what it is that he loves. And we are what we love. What we eat may form our earthly body, but it's only temporary, what we love forms our spiritual body, beautiful or ugly as we have chosen. It's interesting to note that the first multi-cellular motion of our embryo is the pulsating that starts in a twist of blood vessel that is to become our heart, and the last motion of our natural body is our heartbeat. It is there for all of our natural life. And of course there is a beating heart in our spiritual bodies when we come to put them on.
Arcana Coelestia # 8368
8368. 'And here there were twelve springs of water' means that in that state they had truths in full abundance. This is clear from the meaning of 'twelve' as all things in their entirety, dealt with in 2089, 2129 (end), 2130 (end), 3272, 3858, 3913, 7973, and so full abundance; and from the meaning of 'springs' as the truths of faith, dealt with in 2702, 3096, 3424, 4861. From these meanings it is evident that 'twelve springs of water' means truths in full abundance; and from them it follows that those words also mean enlightenment and resulting pleasure. For a person possessing truths in full abundance is also enlightened; and if a person who is enlightened desires truth out of affection for it, he is given pleasure by his enlightenment.