1385. Er zijn geesten, die tot de streek van de huid, vooral van de schubachtige huid behoren, die over alles willen redeneren en geenszins gewaarworden, wat goed en waar is, en die het zelfs hoe meer zij redeneren, des te minder gewaarworden, doordat zij in het redeneren de wijsheid stellen, en ook zo als wijs gezien te worden. Hun werd gezegd, dat de wijsheid van de engelen bestaat in het innerlijk gewaarworden of iets goed en waar is, zonder geredeneer; maar zij begrijpen niet, dat zo’n innerlijke gewaarwording kan bestaan Het zijn diegenen, die in het leven van het lichaam het goede en het ware verward hebben door wetenschappelijke en filosofische dingen, en zich vandaar voor geleerder hielden dan anderen en die van te voren niet enig beginsel van het ware uit het Woord hadden opgenomen; en zij hebben daarom minder gezonde rede.

52. Of the natural memory, which is of the external man, and of the spiritual memory, which is of the internal man.

Man has two memories, an exterior and an interior memory, or a natural and a spiritual memory (n. 2469-2494). Man does not know that he has an interior memory (n. 2470-2471). How much the interior memory excels the exterior memory (n. 2473). The things in the exterior memory are in natural light, but the things in the interior memory, in spiritual light (n. 5212). It is from the interior memory that man is able to think and speak intellectually and rationally (n. 9394[1-6]). All and every particular which man has thought, spoken, and done, and all that he has heard and seen, are inscribed on his interior memory (n. 2474, 7398). That memory is man's book of life (n. 2474, 9386, 9841, 10505). In the interior memory are the truths which are become of faith, and the goods which are become of love (n. 5212, 8067). The things which are rendered habitual, and have become of the life, are in the interior memory (n. 9394, 9723, 9841). Scientifics and knowledges are of the exterior memory (n. 5212, 9922). They are very obscure and involved, respectively to those things which are of the interior memory (n. 2831). The languages which man speaks in the world are from the exterior memory (n. 2472, 2476). Spirits and angels speak from the interior memory, and consequently their language is universal, being such that all can converse together, of whatever land they may be (n. 2472, 2476, 2490, 2493); concerning which language, see the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 234-245); and concerning the wonders of the interior memory; which remains with man after death (see n. 463).

5259. 'And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph' means thought expressed by the natural but belonging to the celestial of the spiritual. This is clear from what has been stated above in 5151. Where the same words occur, except that there it says that Pharaoh said to Joseph, here that he spoke to him; for 'said' means perception, whereas 'spoke' means thought, 2271, 2287, 2619. The reason 'Pharaoh spoke to Joseph' means thought which is expressed by the natural but belongs to the celestial of the spiritual, and not the other way round, is that when thought is going on in what is exterior, the source of such thought does not lie there but in what is interior. Or what amounts to the same, when thought is going on in what is lower, nothing else than what is higher is the source of it. Even so, while the thought belonging to what is interior or higher is going on in what is exterior or lower, it does seem as though the exterior or lower is itself the source of the thought going on in it. But that is an illusion. It is like a person who sees some object in a mirror but does not know that the mirror is there. He supposes that the object exists where it appears to do so, but in reality it does not exist there.

[2] Now because the celestial of the spiritual is interior or higher, and the natural is exterior or lower, 'Pharaoh spoke to Joseph' therefore means in the internal sense thought expressed by the natural but belonging to the celestial of the spiritual. In short, nothing in a lower position possesses anything self-derived whatsoever. Any ability it possesses comes from what is higher, which being so it plainly follows that the Highest one of all, that is, the Divine, is the source of everything. Consequently the source of a person's thought proceeding from his understanding and of his activity proceeding from his will is the Highest one or the Divine. If however a person thinks false ideas and acts in evil ways, this is due to the form he has stamped on his own character; but if he thinks right ideas and acts in ways that are good, it is due to the form he has received from the Lord. For it is well known that one and the same power and force produces differing movements which are determined by the ways in which the intermediate and outermost parts are structured, so that in the human being life from the Divine produces differing thoughts and actions, determined by the forms existing there.