1015. The fact that reproduce and multiply symbolizes increasing goodness and truth in our intermediate self, and that reproducing has to do with goodness, and multiplying with truth, can be seen from explanations above at verse 1 of this chapter [§983], which uses the same words.
Evidence that the increase takes place in the intermediate self is provided by the next clause, which repeats the word multiply. Redundancy would make the second instance pointless if it did not have its own meaning — a meaning different from that of the first. From this and other statements made along the way it stands to reason that the reproducing and multiplying have to do with goodness and truth in our intermediate self.
The term "intermediate self" is used because the heavenly and spiritual traits in us, which belong to the Lord alone, supply us with an internal self, as shown earlier. Our rational processes, on the other hand, supply us with an intermediate self, or one midway between internal and external. And our responses to goodness, and the facts in our memory, create an external self for us.
[2] Section 978 in the remarks introducing this chapter shows that we have these levels, but the reason we are unaware of it while living in our bodies is that we are absorbed by bodily interests. As a consequence we do not even recognize the existence of deeper elements, let alone the fact that they are arranged into these distinct layers. If we are willing to reflect on it, though, we can see it clearly enough by drawing our thoughts up out of our body and thinking in our spirit, so to speak.
The reason that reproducing and multiplying have to do with the intermediate self — the rational self — is that we do not feel the operation of the internal self except in a very general way, at that intermediate level. A single general impression or even a comprehensive general impression is created in our intermediate self by a boundless number of individual components. Just how far beyond counting they are, what they are like, and how they create a dim, general impression can be seen from the demonstration offered earlier at §545.
