7442. 'And the houses of the Egyptians will be full of the noxious flying insects, and also the land on which they are' means that malevolent falsities will take possession of everything in the natural mind. This is clear from the meaning of 'filling' as taking possession of; from the meaning of 'the houses of the Egyptians' as the interior parts of the natural mind, dealt with above in 7407; from the meaning of 'noxious flying insects' as malevolent falsities, dealt with immediately above in 7441; and from the meaning of 'the land of Egypt' as the natural mind in general, dealt with in 5276, 5178, 5180, 5288, 5301.

[2] A brief statement needs to be made about what is implied in the meaning here - by the idea that even the interior parts of the natural mind will be taken possession of by the falsities arising from evil which are present in the outermost parts of that mind. What a person has flowing into him from the Lord by way of heaven flows into the interior parts of him, and then spreads right down to the lowest or outermost levels, where he becomes conscious of it. Consequently it comes right down into the level of the senses, and through this into parts of the body. If the level of the senses is filled with mistaken ideas based on illusions and appearances, and especially if they are based on falsities, the truths that flow in are turned there into similar ideas, since they are received there in accordance with the form imposed on them, see 7743. Also to the extent that truths are turned into falsities the interior parts of the mind serving as channels for the passage of truths are closed. Eventually the opening is only just large enough for the smallest amount of influx that the person needs to engage in reasoning and to use falsities to justify evils.

[3] This being the situation with a person, it is necessary when he is being regenerated for his natural to be regenerated right down to the sensory level. For unless that level is regenerated no reception of truth and good takes place, because - as stated above - truth that is flowing in is perverted there and the interiors parts are in those circumstances closed. Consequently when the exterior parts have been regenerated the whole person has been regenerated. This was what the Lord meant by His words to Peter when He washed his feet, in John,

Simon Peter said, Lord, You are not to wash my feet only, but also my hands and head. Jesus said to him, He who has been washed has no need except to wash his feet, and the whole person is clean. John 13:9-10.

'Feet' means the parts forming the natural, 2162, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952; 'washing' means purifying, 3147, 5954 (end); 'hands' means the interior parts of the natural; and 'head' means the parts forming the spiritual. These meanings show what precisely one should understand by 'he who has been washed has no need except to wash his feet, and the whole person is clean' - that a person has been regenerated when even the exterior parts forming the natural have been regenerated. When therefore a person has had even his natural regenerated everything on that level is subordinated to more internal levels. And when the contents of the more internal levels enter they flow into images on that level which serve as the general vessels to contain them, and through those images the person is made conscious of them. When this is the situation with a person, he has conscious feelings of an affection for the truth of faith and of an affection for the good of charity.

[4] But it is difficult for the actual level of the senses, which is the lowest of the natural, to be regenerated, because it is completely filled with material ideas formed from earthly, bodily, and worldly things. For this reason a person who is being regenerated, especially at the present day, does not undergo regeneration at the sensory level, only at the natural level immediately above it, to which the Lord raises him from the level of the senses when he thinks about the truths and forms of the good of faith. The ability to be raised from the sensory level is what is imparted to the person who is being regenerated by the Lord. Regarding what the sensory level is like, and the raising of thought above it, see 5084, 5089, 5094, 5125, 5118, 5767, 6183, 6201, 6310, 6311, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624, 6844, 6845, 6948.

5180. There are genii and spirits who subject the head to a kind of sucking or drawing out, which they do in such a way that pain is felt at the point where that drawing or sucking out takes place. I have experienced a definite sensation of suction, altogether as if a membrane was being sucked out. I doubt whether anyone else could put up with the pain of it; but because I have become accustomed to the experience I have at length come to bear it without noticing the pain. The chief place subjected to suction was the top of my head, and from there it spread towards the region of my left ear and also towards that of my left eye, the spread towards the eye being caused by spirits and that towards the ear by genii. These genii and spirits belong to the province of the Cistema Chyli and its ducts, to which point chyle is drawn from everywhere around, even though other chyle is being sent forth at the same time from there. Besides those genii and spirits there were also others acting inside my head in almost the same manner, though not with so great a power of suction. I was told that these are the ones to whom the fine chyle corresponds - the fine chyle which is conveyed towards the brain and there mingled with new animal spirit ¹ so as to be sent down to the heart. At first I had seen those acting on the outside in front, a little to the left; but subsequently I saw them in a higher position there, which made me realize that their region extended from the level of the septum of the nose upwards to the level of the left ear. Those who constitute this province are of two kinds, for some are quite constrained while others are impudent. The constrained are ones who have sought to know other people's thoughts to the end that they might gain those people's interest and become attached to them; for a person who knows another's thoughts knows his secret and inner feelings, and these link the two together. The end in view is company and friendship. These constrained spirits desire to know simply about the good things, finding out more about these and placing a good interpretation on all else. But the impudent ones have a longing to know - and strive in various ways to fish out - other people's thoughts, their end in view being to take advantage of those people or harm them. Now because that kind of longing and striving is present in them they fix another person's mind steadfastly on the matter which they themselves wish to know about, showing him affection and approval as they do so. By acting in this way they get out of him even his secret thoughts. They behave in the same way in the next life within the communities there, yet in a more expert manner. There too they do not allow another to stray from whatever idea he has in mind; indeed they foster it and thereby get it out of him. As a consequence these impudent spirits then have a hold so to speak on others and subject them to their own will; for they know what those others' evils are. These spirits however, being some of those who are wanderers, suffer frequent punishment.

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