517. And there fell from heaven a great star burning as a lamp, signifies the truth of the Word falsified by self-love. This is evident from the signification of "stars," as being the knowledges of truth and good, likewise the truths and goods of knowledges from the Word (See above, n. 72, 402); also from the signification of "burning as a lamp," as being to be falsified by self-love; "to burn" is predicated of self-love because this love is signified by "fire" (See above, n. 504, and a "lamp" signifies the truth of the Word, of doctrine, and of faith (See also above, n. 274. From this it can be seen that "there fell from heaven a great star burning as a lamp" signifies the truth of the Word falsified by self-love.

[2] It is to be noted that all those who are in the love of self, if they study the Word, falsify its truths, for the reason that all truth is out of heaven from the Lord, and nothing of it from what is man's own [proprium], and those who are in the love of self are immersed in what is their own [proprium], and from that they obtain every idea of thought respecting the truths of the Word. In consequence of this they falsify these truths, not in respect to the sense of the letter of the Word, but in respect to the understanding of the truth that is in it; for to understand words otherwise than according to their true sense is to falsify them.

[3] There are two states of man's thoughts, one when from the Lord he is in thought respecting truths, the other when from himself. When from the Lord he is in thought respecting truths his mind is elevated even into the light of heaven, from which he has illustration and right perception of truth; but when from himself he is in thought respecting truths, his mind falls into the light of the world; and that light, in respect to things spiritual, or the things of heaven and the church, is thick darkness, in which man sees only such things as shine from the fire or the love of self and of the world, and these in themselves are falsities that are opposites of truths.

291. The Union of Heaven with the Human Race

It is acknowledged in the church that everything good comes from God and nothing of it from us, and therefore that we should never take personal credit for anything good. It is also recognized that evil comes from the devil. This is why people who talk from the doctrine of the church describe people who are acting well and who are talking devoutly and preaching as being led by God, and say the opposite about people who are acting maliciously and speaking blasphemously. None of this could happen unless we had a union with heaven and a union with hell, and unless those unions were with our volition and our understanding, since it is from these that the body acts and the mouth speaks. We need now to describe what this union is like.