1911. And she saw that she had conceived, and her mistress was despised in her eyes. That this signifies that this rational, at its conception, lightly esteemed the truth itself that was adjoined to good, is evident from the signification of the “mistress,” or Sarai, as being truth adjoined to good. The rational first conceived cannot acknowledge intellectual or spiritual truth as truth, because there adhere to this rational many fallacies from the memory-knowledges drawn from the world and from nature, and many appearances from the knowledges taken from the literal sense of the Word, and these are not truths.

[2] For example: it is an intellectual truth that all life is from the Lord; but the rational first conceived does not apprehend this, and supposes that if it did not live from itself it would have no life; nay, it is indignant if the contrary is said, as has been many times perceived from the spirits who still cling to the fallacies of the senses.

[3] It is an intellectual truth that all good and truth are from the Lord; but the rational first conceived does not apprehend this, because it has the feeling that they are as from itself; and it also supposes that if good and truth were not from itself, it could have no thought of good and truth, and still less do anything good and true; and that if they are from another it should let itself go, and wait all the time for influx.

[4] It is an intellectual truth that nothing but good is from the Lord, and not even the least of evil; and this too the rational first conceived does not believe, but supposes that because the Lord governs everything, evil also is from Him; and that because He is omnipotent and omnipresent, and is good itself, and does not take away the punishments of the evil in hell, He wills the evil of punishment; when yet He does evil to no one, nor does He will that anyone should be punished.

[5] It is an intellectual truth that the celestial man has from the Lord a perception of good and truth; but the first rational either denies the existence of perception altogether, or supposes that if a man were to perceive from another, and not from himself, he would be as if inanimate, or devoid of life. In fact the more the rational thinks from memory-knowledges that originate from sensuous things and from philosophical reasonings, the less does it apprehend the foregoing and all other intellectual truths, for the fallacies therefrom are involved in so much the darker shades. Hence it is that the learned believe less than others.

[6] Since the rational first conceived is such, it is evident that it despises its mistress, that is, it lightly esteems intellectual truth. Intellectual truth does not become manifest, that is, is not acknowledged, except insofar as fallacies and appearances are dispersed, and these are not dispersed so long as the man reasons about truths themselves from things of sense and from memory-knowledges, but it for the first time becomes manifest when he believes from a simple heart that it is truth because so said by the Lord. Then the shades of fallacies are dispersed, and then nothing in him prevents him from apprehending it.

[7] In the Lord however there were no fallacies, but when His rational was first conceived there were appearances of truth that in themselves were not truths, as is evident from what has been already said (n. 1661). Hence also His rational at its first conception lightly esteemed intellectual truth; but gradually, as His rational was made Divine, the clouds of the appearances were dispersed, and intellectual truths lay open to Him in their light; and this is represented and signified by Ishmael being expelled from the house when Isaac grew up. That the Lord did not lightly esteem intellectual truth, but that He perceived and saw that His new rational did so, will be seen from what follows (n. 1914).

1914. My wrong be upon thee; I gave my handmaid into thy bosom. That this signifies unwillingness to take blame upon itself, is evident without explication. In the internal sense there is involved in these words that the Lord perceived this first rational to be such as to lightly esteem intellectual truth, on which account He rebuked it. For the Lord thought from intellectual truth, as before said (n. 1904); and because this truth is above the rational, it could perceive and see the quality of this rational, namely, that it held that truth in low esteem.

[2] That the Lord could perceive and see from the interior man what was the quality of the new rational in Himself, may be seen from the fact that the interior can perceive what takes place in the exterior, or what is the same, that the higher can see what is in the lower; but not the reverse. Moreover they who have conscience can do this and are accustomed to do it, for when anything contrary to the truth of conscience flows into the thought, or into the endeavor of the will, they not only perceive it, but also find fault with it; and it even grieves them to be of such a character. Still more can those do this who have perception, as perception is more interior in the rational. What then could not the Lord do, who had Divine celestial perception, and thought from the affection of intellectual truth, which is above the rational! Therefore He could not but be indignant, knowing that nothing of evil and falsity was from Himself, and that from the affection of truth He took the greatest pains that His rational should be pure. This shows that the Lord did not lightly esteem intellectual truth, but that He perceived the first rational in Himself to be thinking lightly of it.

[3] What it is to think from intellectual truth cannot be explained to the apprehension, and the less so because no one but the Lord ever thought from this affection and from this truth. He who thinks therefrom is above the angelic heaven, for even the angels of the third heaven do not think from intellectual truth, but from the interior of the rational. But so far as the Lord united His Human Essence to His Divine Essence, He thought from the Divine good itself, that is, from Jehovah.

[4] The fathers of the Most Ancient Church who had perception, thought from the interior rational. The fathers of the Ancient Church, who had not perception but conscience, thought from the exterior or natural rational. But all who are without conscience do not think at all from the rational, since they have not the rational, although they appear to have it; but they think from the sensuous and corporeal natural. The reason why they who have no conscience cannot think from the rational, is that they have no rational, as just said. The rational man is he who thinks the good and truth of faith, and by no means he who thinks contrary thereto. They who think evil and falsity are insane in their thought, and therefore the rational can by no means be predicated of them.