10036. 'And its skin' means falsity on lowest levels. This is clear from the meaning of 'skin' as truth on lowest levels, and in the contrary sense as falsity there. The origin of this meaning of 'skin' lies in correspondence; for those who in the Grand Man or heaven who correlate with the skin are people who are governed by the truths of faith and not so much by the good which goes with those truths, and who live on the borders of heaven, see 5552-5559. So it is that 'skin' means in the abstract sense truth on lowest levels, 3540, 8980. But here falsity on those levels is meant by it, because 'flesh' means the evil of [self] love, dealt with immediately above in 10035. When 'flesh' means the evil of [self] love its 'skin' means the falsity of faith arising from it.

4328. I have also been shown the situation in general with regard to the will part of the mind and the understanding part. The most ancient people who constituted the Lord's celestial Church, and who are described in 1114-1123, had a will which contained good and an understanding which contained truth derived from that good; and with them these two parts made one. The ancients however who formed the Lord's spiritual Church had a will that was completely destroyed, but an intact understanding within which, through regeneration, the Lord formed a new area of will, and through this a new area of understanding also, see 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256.

[2] What the situation had been in the celestial Church so far as good was concerned was demonstrated by means of a blue-coloured column coming down from the sky, the left side of which was full of light, like the blazing light of the sun. This was a representation of the first state of those people, the blue colour representing their will, which was good, and the blazing light their understanding. After that the blue of the column turned to a dull red, which was a representation of their second state, a state in which their two kinds of life - that of the will and that of the understanding - still acted as one, though this was more dull so far as good from the will was concerned. For blue means good, and blazing light truth derived from good. After that the column became completely black, and surrounding the column there was a brightness which was variegated by means of something glittering and which presented colours. These changes meant the state of the spiritual Church. The black column meant that the will had been completely destroyed and that it was nothing but evil. The light variegated by something glittering meant the understanding in which a new will was provided by the Lord; for in heaven the understanding is represented by brightness.