41. Anything that is man's own has no life in it; and when depicted visually it looks like something hard as a bone and black. But anything that comes from the Lord does contain life. It has that which is spiritual and celestial within it, and when depicted visually it looks human and alive. It is perhaps incredible, but nevertheless absolutely true, that every expression, every idea, and every least thought of an angelic spirit is alive. In even the most detailed areas of his thought there is an affection that comes from the Lord, who is life itself. Consequently all that derives from the Lord has life within it, for it contains faith in Him, and is here meant by 'a living creature'. It then has the outward appearance of a body, meant here by that which is moving, or creeping. To man these matters remain arcana, but since the subject here is the living and moving creature, they ought at least to be mentioned here.

8982. 'And [she has borne him] sons or daughters' means truths and forms of good which are derived from that good. This is clear from the meaning of 'sons' as truths, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257; and from the meaning of 'daughters' as forms of good, dealt with in 489-491, 2362, 3024. The fact that they are derived truths and forms of good is self-evident, because 'the woman', the mother from whom they were born, means spiritual good, 8981, and 'generations' means derivatives in the internal sense, 1330, 3263, 3279.