The 23rd Psalm is one of the best-known and most-loved literary works in the world, and it may well be the best poem ever written. It is also a fine example of the power of figurative language: We read deep things into the vision of ourselves as sheep, led to green pastures and good water by a kind shepherd. It’s empowering to feel the confidence to go fearlessly into the valley of the shadow of death, and to feel the love and caring of a table prepared by the Lord and a cup so full it overflows.

What people don’t know, however, is that this language actually has precise internal meanings, and that when we see them there is an even deeper beauty in the poem. That’s because what it actually describes is the path to heaven, and the fierce desire the Lord has to lead us there.

The first step is to let the Lord be our shepherd – to accept His teaching and His leadership. The green pastures and the still waters represent the things He will teach us for the journey. Then He begins working inside is, setting our spiritual lives in order, so that we desire to do what’s good and to love one another. That’s represented by restoring our souls and leading us in the paths of righteousness.

But we will still face challenges. We still live external lives, out in the world, and we are subject to desires that arise in those externals, in our bodily lives. That’s the valley of the shadow of death. But the rod and staff represent truth from the Lord on both external and internal levels, ideas that can defend us against those desires.

And if we keep following, the Lord will prepare a table for us – a place inside us that he can fill with love (the anointing oil) and wisdom (the overflowing cup). Thus transformed, we can enter heaven, with love for others (“goodness”) and love from the Lord (“mercy”) and can love and be loved to eternity.

One of many beautiful things about this is the fact that it is the Lord who really does all the work. In the whole text, the only action taken by the sheep is walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Other than that, they follow the Lord, trust the Lord, accept the blessings of the Lord. And that is really true! In external states (in the valley) we might seem to be doing the work ourselves, but internally, spiritually, we simply need to give ourselves to the Lord and let Him bless us.

The underlying idea here is that the Lord created us so that He could love us, in loving us wants us to be happy, knows that our greatest happiness will come from being conjoined to Him in heaven, and Himself wants nothing more than to be conjoined to us. So everything He does, in every moment of every day for every person on the face of the planet, is centered on the goal of getting that person to heaven. He wants each and every one of us in heaven more than we are capable of imagining. We just need to cooperate.

(참조: Apocalypse Explained 375 [34], 727 [2]; The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms 273)

3815. 'And Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my brother' means, because they are kindred, by virtue of good. This is clear from the representation of 'Laban' as a parallel good that springs from a common stock, and from the representation of 'Jacob' as the good of the natural, both dealt with above; and from the meaning of 'brother' as good, dealt with in 3803, in this case that which is kindred since these words are spoken by Laban to Jacob, and therefore by good to good. Furthermore every kinship has its origin in good, for good is related to love. It is the nearest degree of love in the line of descent that is called kindred, and is meant in the proper sense by 'brother'. In the spiritual world or in heaven no other kinships or relationships by marriage exist except those of love to the Lord and of love towards the neighbour, or what amounts to the same, those of good. This has been made clear to me by the fact that all the communities that constitute heaven, and that are countless, are quite distinct and separate from one another according to degrees and differences of love and of faith deriving from this, see 685, 917, 2739, 3612.

[2] This has also been made clear to me by the fact that in heaven they do not acknowledge one another because of any family relationship that had been theirs during their lifetime but solely on the basis of good and attendant truth. A father does not acknowledge a son or daughter, a brother does not acknowledge a brother or sister, and even a husband does not acknowledge his wife, unless they have been governed by similar good. They do, it is true, meet when they first enter the next life, but they part company after that; for good itself - that is, love and charity - determines whichever community a person is sent to. Kinship begins in the community in which each person belongs and spreads from there into all places round about.