5342. 'And laid up food in the cities' means that it stored them - truths linked to good - in the interior parts. This is clear from the meaning here of 'laying up' as storing; from the meaning of 'food' as truth linked to good, dealt with just above in 5340; and from the meaning of 'the cities' as the interior parts of the natural mind, dealt with above in 5297. The idea that truths linked to good are stored in the interior parts of the natural mind, and are preserved there for use subsequently in life, in particular for use in temptations when a person is being regenerated, is an arcanum known to few at the present day. Therefore the nature of this arcanum must be stated. The seven years of abundance of corn mean the truths multiplied initially, and the storage of grain in the cities, in the midst of them, means that those truths linked to good were stored away in a person's interior parts. The seven years of famine and the sustainment provided by the bunches that had been gathered means the state of regeneration effected by means of the truths that had been linked to good and stored away in the interior parts.

[2] The arcanum is this: During the time from earliest infancy through to early childhood a person is led by the Lord into heaven; indeed he is placed among celestial angels who serve to keep him in a state of innocence. This state which infants pass through until early childhood is a well-known one. At the beginning of childhood a gradual shedding of that state of innocence takes place; but even so, the person is kept in a state of charity through the charitable affection which he and his companions feel for one another. During this state, which with many people lasts through to adolescence, he is among spiritual angels. Because he begins at this time to think from what is within himself and to act in accordance with this, he cannot be kept any longer in charity, as he was previously; for now he calls on hereditary evils and allows them to lead him. Once this state has arrived the forms of the good of charity and innocence adopted by him previously are banished, to the extent that forms of evil are present in his thinking and are reinforced by his actions. Actually those forms of good are not banished but are withdrawn by the Lord to interior parts where they are stored away.

[3] But because he does not as yet know any truths, those forms of the good of innocence and charity which he has adopted during those two states do not possess any qualities as yet; for truths give good its qualities, while good gives truths their essence. From this time of life onwards therefore he is being equipped with truths by means of the teaching he receives, and especially by means of his own thoughts about and consequent verification of those truths. Insofar as he is moved at this time by an affection for good, the Lord joins truths to good in him, 5340, and stores them away for [future] use. This is the state that is meant by the seven years of abundance of corn. These truths linked to good are the ones which in a proper sense are called remnants. In the measure therefore that a person allows himself to be regenerated, the remnants serve a useful purpose; for the Lord draws in the same measure on that store of remnants and returns them to the natural. As a result a correspondence of exterior things with interior ones, or natural things with spiritual ones, is brought about; and this happens in the state that is meant by 'the seven years of famine'. This is the arcanum.

[4] At the present day the member of the Church thinks that no matter what anyone's life is like he can nevertheless by an act of mercy be accepted into heaven and enjoy eternal blessedness there; for the member of the Church imagines that it is simply a matter of being let in. But he is much mistaken, because no one can be let into heaven and find acceptance there unless he has acquired spiritual life, and no one can acquire spiritual life unless he is being regenerated, and no one can undergo regeneration except by means of goodness of life coupled to truth taught by doctrine. This is the way spiritual life is acquired by him. The fact that no one can enter heaven unless he has acquired spiritual life through regeneration is stated plainly by the Lord in John,

Truly, truly I say to you, Unless anyone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 9:9.

And just after this,

Truly, truly I say to you, Unless a person has been born from water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John 3:5.

'Water' is the truth taught by doctrine, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, and 'the spirit' is goodness of life. No one enters the kingdom simply through being baptized; rather, baptism is the sign denoting regeneration which the member of the Church should call to mind.

5023. 'Until his lord came to his house' means so that it might communicate with natural good. This is clear from the meaning of 'lord' as unspiritual natural good, dealt with in 4973, 4988. 'House' in the internal sense is the natural mind, for the natural mind, like the rational mind also, resembles a house. 'The husband' in it is good, 'the wife' truth; 'the daughters and sons' are affections for good and truth, as well as being forms of good and truth which are begotten from that aforesaid good and truth as their parents, while 'the women servants and the men servants' are the desires and the known facts that minister to and support them. Here therefore 'until his lord came to his house' means when natural good comes to its own dwelling-place, where also there is the truth that is joined to it, though in this case it is falsity which convinces the good that it is truth. For unspiritual natural good is easily convinced that falsity is truth and that truth is falsity. The expression 'his lord' is used because the unspiritual natural looks on the spiritual as something servile, 5013.

[2] The fact that a person's natural mind, like his rational mind, is called 'a house' is evident from the following places:

In Luke,

When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person he passes through dry places seeking rest; and if he does not find any he says, I will return to my house out of which I came. And if when he comes he finds it swept and decorated, he goes away and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. Luke 11:24-26.

'House' here stands for the natural mind, which is called a house that is 'empty and swept' ¹ when there are no forms of good and truth in it meant by 'husband and wife', no affections for good and truth meant by 'daughters and sons', nor anything such as supports these meant by 'women servants and men servants'. The person himself is 'the house' because the rational mind together with the natural mind constitutes a human being. Without the inhabitants just mentioned - that is, without the forms of good and truth, and without the affections for these, and the service rendered by those affections - a person is not a human being but a beast.

[3] The human mind is again meant by 'a house' in the same gospel,

Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and house falls upon house. Luke 11:17.

And in Mark,

If a kingdom is divided against itself, this kingdom cannot stand. Also, if a house is divided against itself, this house cannot stand. No one can go into the house and plunder the vessels of a strong man unless he first binds the strong man, and then he may plunder his house. Mark 3:14, 25, 27.

'Kingdom' means truth, 1672, 2547, 4691, and 'house' good, 2233, 2234, 3720, 4982, 'house' meaning good on account of its greater importance.

[4] In Luke,

If the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming he would certainly have been awake and would not have permitted his house to be broken into. Luke 12:39.

In the same gospel,

From now on there will be in one house five divided, three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother. Luke 12:52-53.

This refers to the spiritual conflicts which members of the Church enter into once the internal or spiritual contents of the Word have been opened up to them. 'House' stands for the actual person or his mind, while the 'father', 'mother', 'son', and 'daughter' in it are forms of good and truth together with affections for these, or in the contrary sense evils and falsities together with affections for these, which are the source of conflict and the things to be grappled with in such conflict.

[5] The Lord commanded His disciples, in Luke,

Whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house! And if indeed a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest on it; but if not, it shall return to you. But remain in the same house; eat and drink what they have there. Do not pass on from house to house. Luke 10:5-7.

This represented the requirement for them to remain with genuine good, that is, with the good of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbour, and not to pass on to any other kind. For more about the actual person or his mind being meant by 'a house', see also 3538, 4973.

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